Cornell

Ivy men’s final: No. 1 Yale takes Ivy League Tournament title in 90-84 shootout over No. 2 Cornell

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Yale men’s basketball celebrates its 2025 Ivy League Tournament championship at the Pizzitola Sports Center (Steve Silverman | Ivy Hoops Online)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Faced with a 16-point deficit early in the second half against the conference’s best team, Cornell staged a furious rally to get within a single possession on several occasions. But Yale always found a way to hold on and came away with a hard-fought 90-84 win to claim the 2025 men’s Ivy League Tournament championship.

“You know, it’s a hard game between us and Cornell, what you might expect playing the team a third time,” Jones told the media after the award ceremony. “I thought our guys battled and played really tough.”

Celebrating on the floor of Brown’s Pizzitola Sports Center, the Bulldogs (22-7) hoisted their second straight Ivy League Tournament trophy and fourth overall. James Jones’ squad, the first to win the conference tournament as the top seed since Princeton did it in 2017, will wait a few hours to hear its name called for next week’s NCAA Tournament.

“A tough game, obviously, Yale is really hard to beat, as someone in the tournament is going to find out in a week, Cornell coach Jon Jaques told the media immediately after the game. “You know, I thought we gave him a really good punch.”

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Ivy men’s semifinal: No. 2 Cornell decks No. 3 Dartmouth, 87-71

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The Cornell men’s basketball team walks off the Pizzitola Sports Center floor victorious after an 87-71 win over Dartmouth in Saturday’s Ivy League Tournament semifinal in Providence, R.I. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Cornell men’s basketball team can’t really explain what happened in a 39-point loss at Dartmouth exactly one month ago today.

It did know that, presented with a second opportunity, it would not happen again.

Second-seeded Cornell not only gained revenge but booked its place in the Ivy League Tournament final for the first time with an 87-71 win Saturday afternoon at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

“It really started the night before when we lost to Harvard and didn’t play well,” Cornell senior Nazir Williams said. “There were some things that happened that weekend that weren’t good and it showed on the court. We needed to reset and get back to the basketball we knew we could play. We obviously knew we were much better than that, and our coaches helped us understand that, we had a good week of practice, and we were back.”

That loss at Dartmouth, in which the Big Red trailed 21-2 and then 44-18 at the half, was a catalyst for Cornell (18-10), which has played some of its best basketball since, especially on the offensive end. Saturday’s win was its fifth straight and the first one in three that it hasn’t scored 100 points.

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Ivy Madness: Men’s Basketball Media Day

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A memorial to Washington Post reporter John Feinstein, who unexpectedly passed away on March 13, was stationed in the Ivy Tournament Media Room (photo: Rob Browne for Ivy Hoops Online)

PROVIDENCE, R.I.- Day two at Ivy Madness started in the mid-morning with the four participants on the men’s side of the ledger.

In a very nice gesture, the Ivy League memorialized a seat for Washington Post sportswriter John Feinstein, who unexpectedly passed away at 68 Thursday. Despite attending Duke, John was a big fan of Ivy League sports, attending several Ivy League tournaments and writing about the conference’s gridiron in this past November’s “The Ancient Eight: College Football’s Ivy League and the Game They Play Today.”

Yale arrives as the regular season champion and heavy favorite to the be the first No. 1 seed to win the conference tournament since Princeton did it in 2017.

While this is the fifth time at Ivy Madness for No. 2 Cornell, it is the first time the Big Red enter as a semifinal favorite and are being led by former player and longtime assistant Jon Jaques.

Speaking of first timers, Dave McLaughlin and Dartmouth are making their inaugural appearance at the Ivy League’s Big Dance. The Big Green are looking to emulate Brown, which upset higher-seeded Princeton last year in its debut tournament last year.

Dartmouth was picked eighth in the preseason media poll and ended up third. On the other hand, the Tigers were picked to repeat as regular-season champions but ended up fourth. They clinched their seventh top-four finish in the tournament era on the final day of the season.

 As the top seed, Yale opted to hang out for an extra hour and gave the opening slot to Princeton. After the Bulldogs’ press conference, Cornell and Dartmouth followed in the traditional No. 2 and No. 3-seed slots.

Below are highlights from the four media sessions:

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2024-25 IHO Men’s All-Ivy Awards

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The Ivy League announced its major men’s awards Wednesday. But we know this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Ivy Hoops Online’s 2024-25 All-Ivy Awards, as determined by IHO’s contributors:

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Thoughts on the Ivy League’s All-Ivy awards for women’s basketball

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Editor’s note: Here are Steve Silverman’s reactions to Ivy League All-Ivy awards for players and coaches for the 2024-25 women’s basketball season announced Tuesday. Ivy Hoops Online’s 2024-25 Men’s and Women’s All-Ivy Awards are soon to come.:

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2025 Ivy Madness fields are set

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The field is set for Ivy Madness.

Penn finished with a higher NCAA NET ranking (No. 162) than Brown (No. 184), the Ivy League confirmed Sunday morning, making the Quakers the fourth and final team to clinch an Ivy League Tournament berth with the Bears on the outside looking into the tourney to be held on their home floor at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

The full women’s and men’s slate for the Ivy League Tournaments are below, with automatic bids going to the tourney winners:

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LISTEN – Cornell men’s basketball pummels Princeton, 102-70

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Ivy Hoops Online correspondent George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps Sunday afternoon’s 102-70 blowout win for Cornell (16-10, 8-5 Ivy) over Princeton (18-10, 7-6) at Newman Arena:

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Penn women’s basketball stops Cornell in must-win game

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With both sides playing to preserve a chance at a spot in Ivy Madness, the Penn women’s basketball team overcame a resurgent Cornell on Saturday in West Philly, 68-63.
“We always like to make things interesting,” Penn senior Stina Almqvist told ESPN+ after her 25 points led the Quakers to the win. “We know we have our backs against the wall. We really want to make the tournament.”

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“It evens out”: Cornell men’s basketball has momentum after flipping late-game script at Brown

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Cornell and Brown men’s basketball tip off at the Pizzitola Sports Center Saturday for what became an 85-81 win for Cornell over Brown. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – After Friday night’s tough loss at Yale, Cornell first-year head coach Jon Jaques lamented that if a break or two had gone his team’s way down the stretch, the final result might have been different.

Sure enough, less than 24 hours later, in an even bigger spot for the Big Red at a Brown team they were tied with in the Ivy League standings, there they were in the closing minutes with the game in the balance.

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Cornell men’s basketball beats Brown, 85-81, to move into third place

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Brown basketball fans got to see two thrillers at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Saturday. Unfortunately for them, the Bears went down to crushing defeats in both contests.

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