This holiday season, Ivy Hoops Online contributors weigh in on what their holiday wishes are for the 2022 Ivy League basketball campaign. Coming off a season that wasn’t, hopes for a safe, full slate of games come first, but our contributors’ wish list is much longer than that. Happy holidays and warm wishes to all!
Yale
Yale women fade late and fall at Drexel, 59-52
The pattern was largely the same, but unfortunately for Yale, the result was different from some recent comeback wins in the Bulldogs’ 59-52 loss at Drexel Tuesday.
The Bulldogs fell behind Drexel, 31-12, and were down 33-24 at the half.
The third quarter was a different story. Yale won the stanza, 18-8, with Camilla Emsbo scoring 12 of her 21 points. The visitors took a 42-41 lead.
Yale men put away Albany, 71-52
It was just a day at the office for Yale Tuesday night at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
The Bulldogs started strong, grabbed a 30-19 lead over Albany at intermission and never looked back en route to a 71-52 win.
Yale (6-5) led at one point by 56-31. Albany (1-7) did go on a 13-0 run to narrow the deficit a bit.
Even with the easy win, coach James Jones found ample room for improvement.
”I didn’t think we were very sharp,” the Albany alumnus said.
Yale men can’t dig out of early hole at No. 21 Auburn
Yale fell behind No. 21 Auburn 11-0 on the road Saturday.
The game wasn’t even that close at the time, with the Tigers blocking six Yale shots during the run.
Bruce Pearl’s squad secured the win with relative ease, 86-64.
Yale coach James Jones adjusted his defense after the early Auburn surge. The Bulldogs (5-5) went on their own run and started to dictate the tempo of the game.
But the War Eagle relentless pressure and superior athleticism was too much for the smaller Elis, and Auburn (7-1) took a 47-30 lead into the half. It was the most first-half points notched by the Tigers this season.
The second half brought much of the same.
Sophomore guard K.D. Johnson led the Tigers with 19 points and freshman forward Jabari Smith posted 17 points and eight rebounds.
Junior guard Matt Cotton pitched in 14 points for Yale, while and junior forward EJ Jarvis had arguably his best game of the season, contributing nine points and eight boards in just 19 minutes in a reserve role.
The Elis are next in action Tuesday at 7 p.m. at John J. Lee Amphitheater against Albany, Jones’ alma mater.
Yale women finish strong in victory at Fairfield in 71-64 win
Yale had Camilla Emsbo and Fairfield didn’t.
That tells the whole story.
The junior forward completed her seventh double-double in as many games with 26 points and 11 rebounds as Yale outlasted Fairfield, 71-64, before a crowd of 1,529 at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport as part of a doubleheader with the Fairfield men.
With the win, Yale improved to 5-2 and 4-1 on the road. Fairfield fell to 3-3.
Yale opened strong and seized a first-quarter lead. That didn’t last long.
Yale men’s defense falters in home loss to Stony Brook
A 22-point first-half deficit was too much for Yale to overcome Sunday as the Bulldogs fell at home to Stony Brook, 85-81.
It snapped a 10-game home winning streak for Yale (4-4) which goes back to December 2019 and a home loss to Monmouth.
The Seawolves (2-3) shot 53.7% from the field against a usually tough and reliable Yale defense.
“We were really poor defensively,” Yale coach James Jones said.
Yale women outlast Boston University, 57-51
They needed a win badly, both to improve their record and to stop a two-game skid. And something had to give with their shooting woes.
The Yale women got what they needed Wednesday afternoon. defeating Boston University on the road, 57-51.
It wasn’t easy, as the Bulldogs (4-2) trailed the Terriers (2-3) entire first half.
But the second half and especially the last quarter were a different story.
Yale men fall to Southern Utah in overtime, 88-85
Yale opened the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off with a tough 88-85 loss in overtime to worthy Big Sky foe Southern Utah in Florida Tuesday afternoon.
The Bulldogs (3-3) led for much of the game, but the Thunderbirds (2-3) kept clawing back.
Southern Utah senior forward Maizen Fausett made three free throws with 13 seconds to go in regulation to tie the game and force overtime, and redshirt senior guard John Knight III made another three from the charity stripe with 0.8 ticks left in overtime to seal the victory.
Yale led 39-33 at the half. The Thunderbirds went on a 16-2 run early in the second half to tie the score at 51. Yale then went on an eight-point run of its own, but Southern Utah rallied to send the game into overtime.
All five Yale starters scored in double figures, led yet again by senior guard Azar Swain with 21. But Swain was only 1-for-9 from three-point range.
Yale was outrebounded, 42-36.
Yale will face Milwaukee in the consolation game Wednesday at 11 a.m. The Panthers feature freshman sensation Patrick Baldwin, Jr. (son of Milwaukee coach Pat Baldwin), who apparently suffered a slight ankle sprain Tuesday.
Yale men split a pair at Vermont and Albany
The Yale men fell on the road to a strong Vermont team Friday, 61-53, before a crowd of 2,188.
The Elis clung to a one-point lead at the half, and the second stanza was nip and tuck the whole way.
Senior guard Azar Swain led the way with 22 points, while senior forward Ryan Davis paced the Catamounts with 18.
The Bulldogs were ranked No. 20 in the CollegeInsider.com men’s mid-major top 25 entering the contest, while Vermont was perched just below them at No. 22.
Will Venable: From Princeton-Penn to Red Sox-Yankees
Editor’s note: Ivy Hoops Online contributor Erica Denhoff caught up with former Princeton hoops great Will Venable, who just finished his first season as Boston Red Sox bench coach and reflected on a remarkable two-sport career and Ivy League basketball’s place in it.
Will Venable, Princeton ‘05, shines brightest on the biggest stages.
Against JJ Redick-led No. 5 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 5, 2005, Venable, a senior guard, played 39 minutes and put on an offensive skills clinic. He scored 21 points, dished out three assists and collected four rebounds in a 59-46 loss for the Tigers. Venable’s athletic defensive play came to the fore as he stole the ball three times from the Blue Devils.
“Venable was terrific tonight,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. ” … He is a heck of a competitor, in the Ivy League or any league.”
“As we go into our league play, I know that Will Venable is going to give me that 100 percent effort for 40 minutes every single night,” then-Princeton coach Joe Scott said.
Almost one month to the day later, Venable demonstrated both coaches described him accurately.