Rally for No. 14 Yale falls short vs. No. 3 LSU in NCAA Tournament

No. 14 Yale made four of its last seven three-point attempts in its NCAA Tournament Round of 64 appearance vs. No. 3 Louisiana State at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville Thursday afternoon.

The problem was it missed 26 of its previous 30 despite being a dangerous outside shooting team all season, digging just too deep a hole for the Elis to overcome in a 79-74 loss to LSU, marking Yale’s second straight comeback fallen just short in a NCAA Tournament game.

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Ivy Madness: An appreciation

Constance Cotton and her son, Yale first-year guard Matthue Cotton, with Yale first-year forward Isaiah Kelly and his mother Beverly (from left), as they share a moment of familial celebration on the floor of the John J. Lee Amphitheater following the Bulldogs’ 97-85 championship victory over Harvard in Sunday’s Ivy League Tournament final. (Photo courtesy of Constance Cotton)

With the Yale men and the Princeton women winning their respective divisions on Sunday, another Ivy League Tournament is in the books.  Here are a few of my personal highlights that were not found on the television or the box scores:

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Ivy League Tournament at Yale lived up to definition of ‘atmosphere’

Merriam-Webster defines atmosphere as a “surrounding influence or environment.”
Working from that definition, the recently concluded Ivy League Tournament was a huge success.
With 2,633 occupying the 2,800-seat John J. Lee Amphitheater, the fans were treated to some very special games which created quite an atmosphere.

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No. 2 Yale shoots its way past No. 1 Harvard, 97-85, for second NCAA Tournament berth in four years

With Yale trailing by one, 54-53, in a back-and-forth Ivy League Tournament final battle Sunday, Yale junior guard and Ivy Player of the Year Miye Oni picked up his fourth foul and was promptly benched. Even on its home floor at John J. Lee Amphitheater, the Bulldogs looked like they’d been bit.

But they were about to bite back.

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Ivy Madness media day tidbits

 

  • Penn men’s coach Steve Donahue noted Penn’s “interesting path” to the Ivy League Tournament, which included a 0-3 start to league play for the second time in three seasons, Antonio Woods noted he’ll shoulder the burden of guarding Bryce Aiken, and AJ Brodeur said that it may be more difficult to play Ivy teams than Big 5 teams because the Ivies know the Red & Blue so well and are more prepared to face them.

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Q&A with Yale junior forward Miye Oni

Miye Oni took game MVP honors after Yale’s 77-73 win over Miami on Dec. 1 in the Hoophall Miami Invitational at American Airlines Arena. (Next Ones)

We recently connected with Yale junior forward Miye Oni, who ranks in the Ivy League’s top 10 in scoring, rebounding, assists, free-throw percentage, three-point percentage, blocks and assist-to-turnover ratio, leading the Bulldogs to a share of their second Ivy League regular season championship in four years.

Ivy Hoops Online: You had an incredible season. Did it meet your preseason expectations?
Miye Oni: Thank you. The season so far has been great. I expected our team to win the championship and we did. Now we need to reach our next goal and get to the NCAA tournament.

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Ancient Eight thoughts – Ivy Saturday men’s edition

Eight thoughts on the Ivy men’s basketball, which, per KenPom, gave us the highest percentage of games decided by three or fewer points or in overtime in all of Division I for the second straight season:

Crimson are No. 1 for a reason 

Harvard conquered its house of horrors, Levien Gym, 83-81, after an obligatory overtime period to claim its seventh Ivy League championship under Tommy Amaker and the No. 1 seed in the Ivy League Tournament. But is Harvard a vulnerable No. 1 seed?

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Princeton’s calamitous weekend leaves Tigers looking to atone in Ivy Madness

Princeton’s roller-coaster regular season ended in calamity this weekend.  In a season of ups and downs, the Tigers saved their worst for last, losing back-to-back games in convincing fashion at home to Brown and Yale.  After surrendering an astounding 25 turnovers to Brown on Friday night, the Tigers completely collapsed on Senior Night, losing by 22 points on Saturday to Yale, 81-59.  It was the most lopsided loss by a Princeton team at home to Yale in program history.

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