Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 105-83 loss to Princeton

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Penn’s Ivy campaign came to a miserable end on Saturday night as the Quakers made history for all the wrong reasons.

The Quakers turned in a defensive no-show against rival Princeton in a 105-83 loss at the Palestra. The 100-piece was the first time either Penn (11-18, 3-11 Ivy) or Princeton (24-3, 12-2) scored 100 points in a rivalry that has spanned 250 games (shoutout to Ivy Hoops Online contributor Steven Tydings for the lookup).

Princeton sealed an outright Ivy League title and kept its hopes of attaining an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament alive with the breezy victory. The Tigers never trailed on Saturday night and shot an absurd 17-for-27 from three-point range, good for a 63% clip. Princeton has now beaten Penn 11 times in a row.

After a nonconference campaign that inspired reason for genuine hope, Penn wound up posting its worst Ivy season since 1956-57. That iteration of the Red and Blue also went 3-11 in league play.

What could Penn fans take away from a moribund evening?

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LISTEN: Princeton men’s basketball postgame press comments after clinching outright Ivy title with 105-83 win at Penn

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Coach Mitch Henderson, senior forward Zach Martini and sophomore forward Caden Pierce reflect postgame on a 105-83 win for Princeton (24-3, 12-2 Ivy) at Penn (11-18, 3-11) Saturday that clinched the Tigers an outright Ivy League championship:

Princeton women’s basketball beats Penn to secure sixth straight Ivy League title

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The Princeton women’s basketball team celebrated Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at Jadwin Gymnasium by beating the Penn Quakers, 72-55, for a sixth straight Ivy League regular season title. 

It was a triumphant day for Princeton’s spectacular troika of seniors:  Kaitlyn Chen, Ellie Mitchell and Chet Nweke.  Chen finished the game with 19 points on 9-for-13 shooting and 11 assists, a career high for the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year.  Asked by the ESPN+ broadcast crew to reflect on having played her final game at Jadwin Gym, Chen said,  “I honestly don’t think it’s hit me yet.  It just sort of felt like another game.  We had a job to do and we did it.”

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Cooley last-second shot hands Brown men’s basketball comeback win at Yale

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Brown men’s basketball led Yale once at John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday.

That lead, 84-81, was the final score courtesy of a last-second shot for the ages by Bears junior guard/forward Aaron Cooley, cementing a remarkable comeback win for the Bears over the Bulldogs in both teams’ regular season finales as they prepare for the Ivy League Tournament.

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After historic unionization vote, Dartmouth men’s basketball sweeps its final day of the 2023-24 season

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Despite a 6-21 record, Dartmouth men’s basketball will go down as one of the most impactful in NCAA history thanks to its unionization efforts. (Dartmouth Athletics)

The lead-up to the season finale for the Dartmouth men’s basketball team was like no other in program history.

In fact, it was like no other in NCAA history.

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A two-banner weekend could be in store for Princeton basketball

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Every basketball season at Princeton begins with the same goal: Win an Ivy League championship.  This weekend, both the men’s and women’s programs have an opportunity to accomplish their primary mission by winning at least a share of the regular season Ivy League title.  All they have to do is close out the regular season with a win over their most enduring rival, the Penn Quakers.

With championships on the line for both Princeton teams, let’s take a look at the prospects for each program winning a new banner and earning the right to cut down the nets on Saturday:

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“We’re a hard-playing team”: How Brown men’s basketball claimed the final Ivy League Tournament slot

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Three times in the Ivy Tournament era, Mike Martin’s Brown teams have tied for fourth place only to lose out on a postseason bid due to being on the wrong side of the league’s tiebreakers. After a thrilling overtime victory over Harvard on Friday night and a blowout win against Dartmouth on Saturday, the Bears earned its first trip to Ivy Madness.

Brown (11-17, 7-6 Ivy) seemed out of the race for the tournament after starting off league play at 2-6 and hosting only two more games in the Pizzitola Sports Center. Three weeks later, Bruno, winners of five straight, is a serious threat to challenge Princeton, Yale and Cornell for the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

After the weekend, Harvard (14-12, 5-8), which also lost to Yale on Saturday, missed out on its third straight conference tournament and can do no better than fifth place. Dartmouth (5-21, 1-12), which has never made it to Ivy Madness and was defeated by the Bulldogs on Friday, is locked into last place and plans on holding its historic unionization vote on Tuesday before welcoming the Crimson in the Tuesday season finale for both teams.

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Princeton women’s basketball dismisses Dartmouth, 68-42, to complete weekend Ivy sweep

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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.  

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Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 84-72 win over Columbia

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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.

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LISTEN: Thoughts on Princeton men’s basketball after its 79-77 win over Cornell

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Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark sizes up a scintillating 79-77 win for (23-3, 11-2 Ivy) over Cornell (21-6, 10-3) Saturday at a sold-out Jadwin Gym: