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It was virtually a foregone conclusion that the Princeton women’s basketball team would beat the last-place Dartmouth Big Green on the second leg of a back-to-back weekend on Saturday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium.
The only real questions coming into this contest were how many points Princeton would win by and whether the Tigers could use the game to regain its swagger.
There haven’t been too many happy moments for Penn men’s basketball over the course of the last two-plus months. But the Quakers got one on Saturday night.
Penn cruised to a fairly stress-free win over Columbia at the Palestra, 84-72. The Quakers (11-17, 3-10 Ivy) roared past the Lions (13-13, 4-9) on the back of standout performances from the two players they expected were going to carry the team on opening night: senior guard Clark Slajchert and junior forward Nick Spinoso.
Spinoso scored a career-high 23 points on 11-for-18 shooting from the field, while Slajchert added 22 and finished with an eye-popping KenPom offensive rating of 163 points per 100 possessions while on the floor. He crossed the 1,000 points scored barrier late in the first half.
For once, it’s all happy Quakeaways.
Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark reflects on Friday’s 84-70 win for Princeton men’s basketball (22-3, 10-2 Ivy) over Columbia (13-12, 4-8) and looks ahead to the Tigers’ high-stakes matchup with Cornell (21-5, 10-2) Saturday evening:
Jonathan Schiller was a three-year letterwinner for Columbia men’s basketball and was a member of the legendary 1967-68 Columbia team. He was inducted into the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006 and named a Legend of Ivy Basketball in 2017. He is a founding partner of the law firm of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. Ivy Hoops Online recently sat down with him:
Coach Mitch Henderson, freshman guard Dalen Davis and junior guard Blake Peters look back on an 84-70 win for Princeton men’s basketball (22-3, 10-2 Ivy) over Columbia (13-12, 4-8) and their adjustments after the early exit of senior guard Matt Allocco:
Yale men’s basketball shook off the rust of a narrow loss in Ithaca Friday night and closed strong to defeat Columbia at Levien Gym, 84-76.
“Really gutsy performance with some guys injured,” Yale coach James Jones said.
Seven-foot sophomore frontcourt stalwart Danny Wolf played the game with a mask after suffering a broken nose against Cornell. Wolf, Yale’s leading scorer, was coming off two subpar performances at Princeton and Cornell. Wolf finished with 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting and added a team-leading nine rebounds.
Jones said that Wolf “played the way he is capable (of).”
The Columbia women’s basketball team toppled No. 25 Princeton, 67-65, before a sold out and raucous crowd at Levien Gymnasium on Senior Day. The win pulled Columbia (19-5, 10-1 Ivy) into a tie with Princeton (20-4, 10-1) for first place in the Ivy League with three games remaining for each team in the regular season. Both teams have already clinched spots in the Ivy League tournament, which will be held in three weeks at Columbia.
Columbia men’s basketball battled back several times against Brown on Friday evening, eventually taking its first lead with 4:10 to go. But clutch defense and free throw shooting helped the Bears claim a hard fought 68-66 victory at Levien Gymnasium.
The win for Brown (8-17, 4-6 Ivy), coupled with Harvard’s loss to Princeton, leaves the Bears, Columbia (13-10, 4-6) and Harvard tied for fourth place and the final spot in the Ivy League Tournament with only four games remaining in the regular season.
Editor’s note: Columbia women’s basketball coach Megan Griffith held an in-depth press conference call with reporters Thursday ahead of Saturday’s sold-out Levien Gym showdown between Ivy second-place squad Columbia (18-5, 9-1 Ivy) and first-place No. 25 Princeton (20-3, 10-0), including Ivy Hoops Online contributors Rob Browne, George Clark, Richard Kent and Steve Silverman.
Part 1 – Griffith discusses where she sees her team having an advantage versus the Tigers, how the game is a litmus test and more:
The No. 25 Princeton women’s basketball team travels to New York City on Saturday to face the Columbia Lions in a marquee showdown at Levien Gymnasium at 2 p.m. Here are three thoughts on the most anticipated clash of the season so far in the Ivy League: