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Mike Tony Penn 80, La Salle 64
Penn came into this Big 5 matchup with a three-game losing streak, having lost its last three games to La Salle by a combined 53 points. The Quakers’ previous three wins had come against weak competition, including two of the worst nine teams in Division I according to KenPom. After La Salle built a 30-20 lead with 2:42 left in the first half, it seemed inevitable that the Explorers were ready to roll again as a top 150 team over the young Quakers.
New Hampshire 88, Brown 77
This could have been a really solid win against a KenPom No. 165 team for Brown, but it didn’t happen because its defense hasn’t gelled around two-time Ivy Defensive Player of the Year Cedric Kuakumensah yet. New Hampshire shot 54 percent from the floor and got to the line 34 times, making more free throws (28) than Brown made field goals (26). Freshman forward Travis Fuller fouled out in just 10 minutes and the Bears racked up 23 fouls on the night. On offense, the Bears play fast and loose, and tonight, junior guard JR Hobbie stepped up with 12 points on 3-for-8 shooting from beyond the arc in 25 minutes off the bench. But just because Brown has a strong bench full of sharpshooters (now including freshman guard Corey Daugherty) and a defensive anchor doesn’t mean it has ample defensive discipline to make a run at the top half of the Ivy League.
Columbia 70, Wofford 59
This was a weird game for the Lions, and yet it revealed them to have one of the most complete offensive attacks the league has seen in some time. In the first half, senior forward Alex Rosenberg and senior guard Maodo Lo struggled offensively, with junior forward Jeff Coby leading all Lion scorers early into the next stanza – more than Lo and Rosenberg combined at that point. The Lions’ best ball distributor wasn’t Lo but senior guard Isaac Cohen, who notched nine assists. For more on Cohen’s crucial performance, check out Sam Tydings’ story on Columbia’s wonderfully weird win over Wofford.
Boston College 69, Harvard 56
Free throws. They’re important. The Crimson attempted 23 and missed 14. Harvard lost by 13. You do the math.
Okay, that’s an overly simplistic numbers comparison, but this can’t keep up. Junior center Zena Edosomwan and sophomore forward Chris Egi combined to shoot 5-for-15 from the charity stripe by themselves. Come on. Harvard’s a defense-oriented team that wants to grind it out with some freshman backcourt threes thrown in. If you’re going to play that way, you better make the most of your foul line trips.
Washington 104, Penn 67
This one was over before it started. The Huskies raced out to a 16-0 lead and never let up, maintaining a full-court press that Washington coach Lorenzo Romar kept up even when the Huskies built a 42-point lead. The Quakers needed to be lights out from deep and weren’t, hitting just six of 28 three-point attempts. It also seems Penn will be one of many Ivies – Columbia, Princeton and Cornell included – who will struggle defensively this season. Penn got open looks but could not convert, and its interior defense got exposed early and often. Probably won’t be the last time that happens, either.
With Harvard’s matchup at Boston College less than 24 hours away, it’s time to go behind enemy lines with Arthur Bailin, hoops writer at BC Interruption, the SB Nation Washington Huskies community.
Ivy Hoops Online: The Eagles came into this season with nine vacant roster spots. Is there anything resembling a general rotation around senior guard Eli Carter and freshman guard Jerome Robinson yet, and what are general expectations for the team this season?
BC Interruption: would say that they both have really good chemistry when they are on the floor. Both are bona fide scorers that are a threat whenever they are on the floor. They complement each other really well. For example, last Thursday night Eli Carter had a lot of trouble from the field in the first half. Jerome Robinson was able to keep BC afloat and when Carter caught fire in the second BC was solid. They complement each other really well, and that gives them dangerousness.
IHO: Harvard had beaten Boston College six straight times before last season’s 64-57 overtime loss to the Eagles, in no small part due to the fact that the Eagles outscored the Crimson 38-16 in the paint. What does BC’s interior offensive attack look like this season?
Columbia raced out to a 17-5 lead at Northwestern and led 74-68 as late as the 2:18 mark. So how did the Lions lose?
Maodo Lo’s foul trouble
Lo picked up his second foul with 8:10 left in the first half and his fourth foul with 11:31 left in the game. He never fouled out, he spent much of the second half limited defensively by his inability to stay aggressive, a huge loss since he had three steals in the game’s first 12:36 and the Wildcats had trouble with his on-the-ball pressure. Lo playing just 26 minutes – four fewer than any other starter and at least 12 fewer than starters besides Isaac Cohen – meant Columbia’s defense was that much more exposed for longer stretches than usual.
With Penn’s matchup at Washington less than 24 hours away, it’s time to go behind enemy lines with Lucas Shannon, hoops editor of UW Dawg Pound, the SB Nation Washington Huskies community.
Check out a flipped Q&A at UW Dawg Pound in which I let Husky fans know what to expect from the Quakers.
Ivy Hoops Online: UW Dawg Pound editor Kirk DeGrasse said you didn’t have high hopes the Huskies would win vs. Texas Friday, but they did. What did this young team show you against the Longhorns that was a pleasant surprise?
UW Dawg Pound: I shared his sentiment. Like many other Husky fans, I didn’t expect the Huskies to knock off the Longhorns, so the win itself was a pleasant surprise.
The team as a whole showed that they are already able to fight through adversity. They had to travel nearly 5,000 miles for the game as it took place in Beijing, (though to be fair, Texas had to travel 7,000 miles for the game) and overcame a tough shooting night, and were able to scrap out a hard fought victory. This team is obviously very raw and needs to clean up their play a bit—they coughed the ball up 17 times — but the fact that they were able to travel across the world and beat a relatively experienced Texas team is impressive.
Yale – With Princeton missing Hans Brase for the 2015-16 season due to injury and Columbia’s defense still struggling to make an impact, Yale has to be considered the favorite to win the Ivy League title at this early point. The comfort sophomore guard Makai Mason has displayed in running this offense is perhaps the biggest reason why. Mason posted 21 points and five assists in 36 minutes in Yale’s 99-77 home win over Sacred Heart Monday, a game in which pretty much everything came together for the Elis. Yale notched 16 offensive rebounds, scored 27 second-chance points to Sacred Heart’s 10 and took 17 more shots than SHU as a result. The Bulldogs also enjoyed 24 bench points and shot 52.9 percent (9-for-17) from three.
A lot of Ivies can shoot the ball from deep and have offensive depth. None can hit the boards like the Bulldogs can, especially on the offensive end, and that will pay dividends for them come conference play. Yale proved in its season opener that it can win without reigning Ivy Player of the Year Justin Sears.
Princeton Athletics announced Saturday night that senior forward and co-captain Hans Brase will miss the 2015-16 season with a torn ACL and return for his senior season in 2016-17.
This is a huge blow for the Tigers, as Brase was the team’s second-leading scorer and leading rebounder in each of the past two seasons. Brase notched 11.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists in 31.1 minutes per contest in 2014-15, and scored in double figures in six of 14 conference games a year ago.
Brase’s exit will put pressure on junior forwards Henry Caruso and Pete Miller as well as sophomore forward Alec Brennan in the frontcourt of what has been a balanced offensive attack under coach Mitch Henderson.
What happened: It’d be easy to say Harvard simply ran into the buzzsaw that is likely future NBA Draft lottery pick Kris Dunn, who posted 32 points, six rebounds, two blocks and an incredible eight steals (seven of which came in the first half). But the Crimson’s turnovers – 22 for the game – are what kept them from taking over the game in the first half when the Friars, Dunn included, were struggling to convert at the rim.
What to look for next: Harvard’s halfcourt defense acquitted itself relatively well, even in spite of Dunn’s next-level second half. I expect that defense to continue to strengthen as the season progresses. If freshman guard Corey Johnson can keep up his deep shooting streak – 15 of his 17 points came from downtown – the Crimson will be able to stretch defenses and keep them honest. Junior center Zena Edosomwan got into early foul trouble and missed six of his first seven free throws, only contributing on offense after Dunn had put the game out of reach. Simply put, Harvard needs more offense out of its frontcourt earlier in contests going forward, and that starts with Edosomwan.