While there were no head coaching changes in the Ivy League for the second straight year, there was plenty of action among the conference’s assistants and directors of basketball operations. Here are some of the highlights:
Princeton
Princeton men’s and women’s basketball release ’18-’19 schedules
Princeton Athletics announced the 2018-2019 schedules for its men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Men’s key nonconference games:
11/16/18 at Lehigh
Princeton (13-16 overall; 5-9 Ivy) will be looking to avenge last season’s 85-76 defeat at Jadwin when they travel to Bethlehem. The Mountain Hawks, which was 16-14 overall and 11-7 (tied for third) in the Patriot League, is predicted, by Bart Torvik, to be the No. 197 team in the nation and the top team in its conference in ’18-’19. Lehigh will look to second team All-Patriot senior guard Lance Tejada (14.7 ppg, 2.5 rpg and 2.0 apg) and junior forward Pat Andres (12.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg) to lead the way.
Princeton women’s basketball unveils six-member recruiting class
The Princeton women’s team finished the 2017-2018 season 24-6 overall and 12-2 in the Ivy League. They opened up conference play with a 70-55 victory at the Palestra over two-time defending champion Penn and never looked back on their way to the regular season title. They dominated Yale and Penn in the Ivy Tournament to claim the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, their seventh appearance in the last nine years. Their magical season ended in a first round loss to the University of Maryland, the nation’s #16 team.
The Tigers had the Ivy League Player of the Year in sophomore forward Bella Alarie, who averaged 13.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 2.3 assists per game. Alarie, the league’s Rookie of the Year and a first team All-Ivy member in 2016-2017, was joined on this year’s first team by senior forward Leslie Robinson. Robinson, who was selected to last year’s second team All-Ivy, finished the season averaging 10.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per contest.
Courtney Banghart was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year for the second time in her career and the first time since she led the school to an undefeated 30-0 regular season record in 2014-2015. The former two-time first team All-Ivy Dartmouth guard completed this year with her sixth regular season Ivy championship, eighth 20-plus win season and eighth 11-plus conference win season in her 11th year at Old Nassau.
No. 12 Princeton loses to No. 5 Maryland in NCAA Tournament
Princeton last faced Maryland at College Park in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament, losing to the Terrapins for its first and only defeat of the year. Playing at a neutral site in North Carolina, the No. 12-seeded Tigers not only entertained thoughts of a revenge victory against Maryland, but a possible second round win against N.C. State or Elon. Unfortunately for the Orange & Black, the No. 5-seeded Terrapins (No. 16 nationally) had other ideas, ending the Tigers’ season for the second time in four years with a convincing 77-57 victory.
The Tigers could not control the tempo or the boards against the Terrapins, especially in the early parts of both halves. In the opening 10 minutes, Maryland only shot 27 percent from two and 38 percent from three, but the Terrapins outrebounded Princeton by 52 percent and got seven more attempts in the quarter to open a 17-11 lead. The Tigers, who got pushed away from the basket through most of the first half, finally broke through in the second quarter, hitting five of 10 two-pointers while their defense held the Terrapins without a three to go into the locker room only down 31-26.
Women’s Ivy Tournament teams continue onward in postseason
For the second consecutive year, all four participants in the women’s Ivy Tournament have earned postseason bids. Following top seeded Princeton’s championship victory over second place Penn early Sunday evening, the Tigers clinched the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and Penn claimed the conference’s automatic qualifying spot in the Women’s NIT. On Monday night, Harvard received an at-large bid to the WNIT and Yale was selected for the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI).
The Tigers were chosen as the No. 12 seed in the Kansas City regional, where they will face No. 5 Maryland in Raleigh on Friday at noon on ESPN2 and online at ESPN3. For Princeton, this is their ninth straight postseason appearance and seventh trip to the Big Dance. The Quakers will be going up against Albany at the Palestra on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. on the Ivy League Network. Penn is competing in its sixth straight postseason tournament and its second trip to the WNIT. The Crimson will travel to the Bronx on Friday night at 7:00 pm to take on Fordham on the A-10 Network, as they make their 14th overall postseason tournament, eighth all-time WNIT showing and sixth WNIT appearance in the last seven seasons. The Bulldogs will visit Northeastern on Thursday night at 7:00 pm on Northeastern’s NUxtreme. This is the team’s first postseason play under third-year head coach Allison Guth, and the first of any kind since a 2011 WNIT bid.
Here is a short primer on the Ivy representatives’ opponents for this week’s action:
No. 12 Princeton to face No. 5 Maryland in NCAA Tournament
After stymieing Penn in the Ivy League Tournament final Sunday, Princeton (24-5) was assigned a No. 12 seed Monday and a matchup with No. 5 Maryland (25-7) at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C. in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers and Terrapins will tango Friday at noon.
Princeton returns to the Big Dance after a one-year absence, having become the first at-large Ivy to nab a NCAA bid in 2016.
Princeton blasts Penn, 63-34, to clinch NCAA Tournament berth
On Sunday evening, the Princeton women dominated the Penn Quakers, 63-34, to complete a three-game season sweep of the two-time defending champions, taking the League Ivy Tournament title and the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Coupled with their strong performance against Yale on Saturday night, Courtney Banghart’s squad left no doubt in showing which team is the Ancient Eight’s best.
Like they did against the Bulldogs, the Orange & Black were aggressive from the start. Sydney Jordan hit a layup 49 seconds into the game and that was the beginning of the end for Penn. The Tigers went out to an 8-0 lead before Michelle Nwokedi hit a three-pointer at the 5:55 mark. Princeton’s Abby Meyers came off the bench to score the next 11 points to open a commanding 19-3 lead at the end of the opening frame. The Tigers defensive intensity led them to a 16-6 rebounding advantage as they held Penn to a 1-for-14 performance from the field.
Princeton bests Yale, 78-57, to advance to Ivy League Tournament final
In the teams’ first two matchups, Yale came out of the gate quickly against Princeton, the Ivy League’s regular season champion. Tonight’s 78-57 Princeton win over the Bulldogs was a different story.
The No. 1 Tigers came out playing more aggressively and capitalized on early foul trouble for the Bulldogs’ Roxy Barahman to open up a nine-point first-half lead. No. 4 Yale managed to make it a five-point game with 4:59 to go in the first half, but three consecutive three-pointers from Carlie Littlefield and Tia Weledji upped the lead to 15 and the Tigers eventually went into the locker room up 39-23.
Inside Ivy Hoops – Mar. 1, 2018
In the latest episode of Inside Ivy Hoops, Jill Glessner and Brett Franklin talk with Yale Athletic Director Tom Beckett and Princeton women’s coach Courtney Banghart while also previewing the final weekend of regular season play on both the men’s and women’s sides.
Examining the men’s side, Brett and Jill recap No. 4 seed tiebreakers and pick favorites to take the No. 4 seed, while Jill highlights what she thinks has been the game of the Ivy season so far:
Princeton’s peak performance pummels Penn
The Princeton women (17-4, 7-1 Ivy) made a strong statement on the first night of league play, when they defeated two-time defending champion Penn (15-5, 6-2) at the Palestra, 70-55. After Tuesday night’s even more convincing 20-point blowout of the Quakers at Jadwin Gymnasium, the Tigers have put the rest of the conference on notice that they are the clear favorites to take the regular season and tournament titles.