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In what may end up being the Ivy League game of the year, Harvard men’s basketball topped Yale, 67-65, on a 28-foot banked trey with under five seconds remaining by Harvard sophomore guard Tey Barbour before a raucous crowd of 2,425 at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
“Very disappointing loss for us. Hats off to Harvard,” Yale coach James Jones said after a long postgame talk with his team.
Ivy Hoops Online correspondent George “Toothless Tiger” Clark brings us the press conference for No. 19 Princeton women’s basketball following a 73-67 loss for Princeton (17-2, 5-1 Ivy) to Columbia (14-5, 5-1) at Jadwin Gym Friday night:
Clark recaps how Columbia notched its second Associated Press Top 25 win in program history:
PHILADELPHIA — That Penn lost to Yale in its first matchup against the overwhelming Ivy League favorite should not have come as a shock to anyone.
But it’s the way the Quakers fell at home that should leave a frustrating taste in fans’ mouths.
Penn (9-9, 2-3 Ivy) played well below what it was capable of in a 77-60 loss to the Bulldogs (15-3, 4-1). The Quakers missed plenty of shots they normally hit and put up a season-worst 0.9 points per possession. On the other end of the floor, Yale scored 42 points in the paint, which more than made up for Penn’s admirable efforts to force turnovers and limit the damage from the Bulldogs’ elite outside shooting attack.
The Quakers held several leads throughout the first half but gave up an extended 12-2 run heading into the break which gave Yale a relatively comfortable 10-point edge. Penn had several chances to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to one possession early in the second half but never put any serious game pressure on Yale.
Penn’s defeat was expected, but it now puts a tremendous amount of pressure on next week’s road back-to-back against Columbia and Cornell. Both of these teams are right alongside the Quakers in a six-car pileup that separates second and seventh in the league standings by a single game.
A sweep would be devastating to Penn’s hopes of making Ivy Madness in its first year under Fran McCaffery.
What did fans learn from an underwhelming afternoon?
Two teams desperate for consecutive Ivy League wins after both starting 0-3 met at John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday. Penn easily downed Yale, 64-37.
In a physical battle that featured 17 lead changes and 15 ties over 45 minutes, Brown men’s basketball opened up its largest lead of the game in the extra session and held on for an 86-80 victory over Columbia at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
Mike Martin’s Bears (7-8, 1-2 Ivy League) picked up their first conference win in three tries, while Kevin Hovde’s Lions (12-5, 1-2) dropped their second straight Ancient Eight contest.
“Really, really pleased,” Martin told the ESPN+/NESN broadcast team after the game. “That was a hard, hard-fought game. They’re (Columbia) a heck of a team.”
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – After two losses at home to start the Ivy League campaign, it was time for some soul-searching for the Cornell men’s basketball team, as the Big Red look to qualify for their fifth straight Ivy Madness, this time on their home floor.
There was reason for hope.
Yale had won three out of five games and lost the other two in overtime. It grabbed a 25-18 first-quarter lead over a scrappy, veteran Brown squad and was tied with the Bears at 41 at the half in their Ivy League opener at John J. Lee Amphitheater Monday.
And then reality struck.
Yale men’s basketball overcame a subpar game from its leading scorer on the season, senior forward Nick Townsend, and a slow first-half start to defeat Brown 70-53 in Providence Monday night.
The Harvard women completely took Dartmouth out of its comfort zone in the Ivy League opener for both teams, leaving Leede Arena with a comfortable 72-47 victory on Saturday afternoon.
The conference-opening win was the fifth in the last six games for the Crimson and upped the team’s overall mark to 8-6, while the Big Green dropped its third straight game to a Division I opponent and moved to 9-5 on the year.
No Labaron Philon Jr. No problem. No. 14 Alabama beat up on Yale men’s basketball, 102-78, Monday night at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.