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Yale men’s basketball owns Brown.
The Bulldogs have now won 10 out of their last 11 games against the Bears under coach James Jones, whose team won another road contest in the series Tuesday night, 80-70. Brown never led.
“Great way to start league play,” Jones said. “Always tough to win on the road, especially with our travel partner. The team is starting to come together. We’re close to playing Bulldog basketball.”
STONY BROOK, N.Y. — For the second straight game, Brown men’s basketball was plagued by inconsistency and found itself in a double-digit second-half hole. Unlike last week’s victory over Siena, however, Bruno couldn’t muster any last-second magic and fell to Stony Brook, 69-65, at Island Federal Credit Union Arena.
The Bears (4-10) started with a different rotation on Friday night, adding senior guard Kimo Ferrari and sophomore wing Alexander Lesburt Jr., in place of Felix Kloman and Aaron Cooley, respectively. In addition, Malachi Ndur, who averages over 12 minutes a game, only played four minutes in the second half.
According to coach Mike Martin, who spoke with Ivy Hoops Online following the game, the changes were due to internal team policy issues.
Brown junior guard Kino Lilly Jr. tallied 11 straight points, including his first two three-pointers of the game, to complete the Bears’ 18-point comeback over Siena at the Pizzitola Sports Center Friday afternoon in a 71-67 win.
Following a 12-day break for final exams, Bruno (4-9) came out flat in the first half and found itself down 38-23 at the half.
“They (Siena) played with way more energy than we did,” Brown head coach Mike Martin remarked to ESPN+ at halftime. “They were more excited to be here, and that should never be the case. Unacceptable on our end.”
Check out our in-depth interview with Brown men’s coach Mike Martin, in which Martin considers the challenge of replacing Paxson Wojcik, the benefits of Kino Lilly Jr.’s unselfishness, his international class of newcomers, the team’s August trip to France and much more:
With the season a few weeks away, the Ivy League hosted its Men’s Basketball Media Day on Thursday. the second of two hoops-themed media availabilities. The event was hosted over Zoom for media members and is available on the conference’s YouTube channel.
The preseason media poll was released on Tuesday with Yale, last year’s regular season co-champions, securing the top spot. Princeton, which used its Ivy League Tournament title victory as a springboard to a Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament run, was picked second.
The Bulldogs received 14 of 16 first-place votes, while the Tigers earned the other two top votes.
Welcome to the 2023-24 Ivy League basketball season preview edition of Inside Ivy Hoops. Ivy Hoops Online editor Mike Tony is joined by IHO writer Rob Browne for a wide-ranging discussion that takes stock of the Ivy men’s and women’s basketball preseason media polls and what to expect from all 16 teams, while also reflecting on off-the-court developments, including NIL (name, image and likeness), labor unionization momentum and more:
With the season a few weeks away, the Ivy League hosted Women’s Basketball Media Day on Monday, the first of two media availabilities this week. The event was hosted over Zoom for media members and is available on the conference’s YouTube channel.
The preseason media poll was released last Thursday with Princeton earning all 16 first-place votes. Last year’s Ivy Tournament winner and regular season co-champions are the sixth unanimous pick in league history and the first since Penn in 2016-2017.
As we enter the July 4th holiday weekend, we at Ivy Hoops Online wanted to round up some postseason updates:
Heading into the last two days of the regular season, Columbia and Princeton were tied for first, while Penn held a one-game lead over Harvard for third place. After the Lions, Tigers and Crimson each grabbed a win, the Ivy League Tournament semifinal matchups of Columbia against Harvard and Princeton versus Penn had been set. What needed to be determined was the seeding of the four teams and the timing of the two matchups.
When the updated NCAA NET rankings were posted on Sunday morning, Princeton’s convincing road victory over upper division Penn combined with Columbia’s narrow escape at home against seventh-place Cornell resulted in the Tigers overcoming an 11-position difference from last week and taking the No. 1 seed away from the Lions.
A wild Saturday capped the regular season for the Ancient Eight. When the dust settled, Yale and Princeton tied for the league title, while Penn settled for third place and Cornell captured the final spot for this weekend’s Ivy League Tournament at Jadwin Gymnasium.
In what was arguably the conference game of the year, it was the worst of times in the opening half and the best of times in the second stanza for the hometown Tigers.