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Yale men’s basketball held a 12-point halftime lead at Rhode Island after having led by as many as 18 points in the first half.
And then Yale’s wheels fell off.
Penn avoided a second consecutive disastrous loss thanks to some heroics from its upperclassmen Friday.
The Quakers opened the Cathedral of College Basketball Classic with a narrow 74-72 win over Lafayette after junior guard George Smith buried a go-ahead three-pointer from the right wing with 33 seconds to go on a broken play.
Smith and the rest of the Quakers (4-2) definitely owe senior guard Clark Slajchert a big thank you. Slajchert set Smith up for the game-winning shot after he recovered a deflection in the backcourt and found the open shooter following a mad scramble for the ball.
Slajchert finished with a team-high 18 points and tied a career high with five assists. The senior played 37 minutes, so load management for Slajchert will be something to monitor as the Red and Blue play three games in as many days this weekend.
It’s (mostly) happy Quakeaways for the day, led by how …
Penn followed up one of its best victories in years with one of its worst defeats.
The Quakers failed repeatedly to put away host and KenPom No. 352 Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) in the second half and eventually got burned in a 83-80 overtime loss.
UMES is the worst-ranked team Penn (3-2) has ever lost to in the KenPom era (which has data going back to the 1998-99 season).
Penn’s loss was sealed by a three with nine-tenths of a second to play in overtime from UMES’ Elijah Wilson on a play that strongly resembled Kris Jenkins’ shot to win the 2016 national championship game for Villanova.
The shot spoiled a furious Penn rally that was led by freshman Sam Brown, who buried two three-pointers in an eight-second span to tie the game before the final sequence.
Penn should have sealed up a win easily well before Wilson’s shot, mostly because …
It took almost 14 years to the date for Yale men’s basketball to get to play Colgate, and it took a trip to Moncton, New Brunswick to do it.
Ivy Hoops Online contributor Steve Silverman caught up with first-year Dartmouth women’s basketball coach Linda Cimino Monday to discuss her key influences on the path to taking over in Hanover, plans to strengthen the program, takeaways from her team’s home loss to Siena Sunday, first-year guard Nina Minicozzi’s strong work ethic, how she’d define a successful first season as coach and much more:
Penn beats Villanova in an amazing game! Congratulations men! Enjoy this special moment! pic.twitter.com/ts4FQrY9xr
— Mike McLaughlin (@MikeMcLaughli) November 14, 2023
With a little ball-fake and a half jab step, Tyler Perkins generated just enough space to rise up over Villanova’s Brendan Hausen and create a memory Penn fans will remember forever.
The freshman sensation used those moves to bury a corner three in front of the Penn bench that pushed the Quakers’ lead over the Associated Press No. 21 Wildcats to 11 points with four minutes to play and sent the Palestra into a frenzy. After weathering one last barrage of Villanova three-pointers, Penn sealed a stunning 76-72 upset over the Wildcats.
For the Quakers (3-1, 1-1 Big 5), the win was their first triumph over a ranked team since a nearly identical upset over Villanova at the Palestra in December 2018; that edition of the Wildcats was defending an NCAA title and entered ranked 17th in the AP poll.
The images the upset generated — Perkins throwing the ball into the air in joy as time expired, fans storming the court — are the ones that, in a perfect world, would create a whole new generation of dedicated Quakers fans.
What else can Penn fans hold onto from a magical Monday night?
Ivy Hoops Online writers George “Toothless Tiger” Clark and Rob Browne deliver their respective audio and written reports on Princeton men’a basketball’s 74-67 victory at Hofstra Friday night:
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — No Mitch Henderson, no problem.
Princeton men’s basketball’s leader was ejected eight minutes into Friday night’s contest, but a career-high 26 points and 15 rebounds from Caden Pierce propelled Princeton to a convincing 74-67 victory over Hofstra at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex Friday night.
Following a Pierce travel, Henderson yelled at the lead official and was quickly called for two technical fouls. As the coach headed towards the locker room or the nearby Jersey Mike’s on Hempstead Turnpike, associated head coach Brett MacConnell took over the reins for fourth time in his career.
Welcome back to Ancient Nine! You probably know the deal by now: fill in each square with a player from the corresponding team who fits that category. For example, if the row was Yale and the column was Ivy Player of the Year, “Paul Atkinson” or “Miye Oni” would each be a correct answer.
You can play in your head or visit this Google sheet to fill in answers directly (click File -> Make a Copy to get an editable version). Here’s today’s grid, featuring two new teams and two new categories: