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It was supposed to be a tune-up game for the beginning of the Ivy League season.
But the Le Moyne Dolphins of the Northeast Conference gave the Princeton women’s basketball team all it could handle Sunday in a 66-55 win for the Tigers at Ted Grant Court in Syracuse, N.Y.
Yale men’s basketball had that California feeling Saturday night at Santa Clara.
The team came away with a strong 66-58 road win at Leavey Center over the Broncos in perhaps the Bulldogs’ best defensive performance of the 2023-24 campaign.
Yale coach James Jones called it a “tremendous effort, probably our most complete game of the season.”
Penn was always going to have trouble competing on the road against Associated Press No. 3 Houston, which ranks first in overall efficiency margin and first in defensive efficiency on KenPom.
But what happened to the Red and Blue on Saturday was worse than what any Penn fan could reasonably have predicted. Houston delivered an 81-42 beatdown, which was the visitors’ worst loss since they endured a 114-55 humiliation at the hands of Duke on New Year’s Eve in 2009.
Houston (13-0) started the game on an 18-0 run. Penn (8-6) did not score until more than nine minutes had passed in the first half, when freshman Sam Brown drained a long contested three-pointer off a feed from classmate Tyler Perkins.
The ugly final score wasn’t even the worst thing about Saturday. Senior Clark Slajchert rolled his ankle midway through the first half and did not return.
There’s not much to take away from a “burn the tape game,” but you can start with how …
Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps Princeton men’s basketball’s advancement to 12-1 with an 84-82 win Saturday over host Delaware (8-5):
The Yale women’s basketball team returned five players who scored 10 or more points in a game last season, along with its top four scorers and rebounders. There was reason for optimism coming off of a 13-14 season which included 7-7 in Ivy play.
But the Bulldogs have opened up the season 3-10.
Even so, Yale’s on a one-game winning streak after finally putting together 40 minutes of solid basketball Saturday at John J. Lee Amphitheater with a 72-48 wire-to-wire win over in-state rival Quinnipiac.
STONY BROOK, N.Y. — For the second straight game, Brown men’s basketball was plagued by inconsistency and found itself in a double-digit second-half hole. Unlike last week’s victory over Siena, however, Bruno couldn’t muster any last-second magic and fell to Stony Brook, 69-65, at Island Federal Credit Union Arena.
The Bears (4-10) started with a different rotation on Friday night, adding senior guard Kimo Ferrari and sophomore wing Alexander Lesburt Jr., in place of Felix Kloman and Aaron Cooley, respectively. In addition, Malachi Ndur, who averages over 12 minutes a game, only played four minutes in the second half.
According to coach Mike Martin, who spoke with Ivy Hoops Online following the game, the changes were due to internal team policy issues.
The Princeton women’s basketball team returned to action after a 16-day exam and holiday break to defeat the Vermont Catamounts, 67-47, Saturday afternoon at Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington, Vt.
Once again, the Tigers proved to be rude guests, spoiling Vermont’s 16-game home winning streak. Earlier this season, Princeton snapped Middle Tennessee’s impressive 29-game home court winning streak. With the win, the Tigers moved to 9-3 on the season, while Vermont, the reigning champions of the America East Conference, fell to 8-6.
Brown junior guard Kino Lilly Jr. tallied 11 straight points, including his first two three-pointers of the game, to complete the Bears’ 18-point comeback over Siena at the Pizzitola Sports Center Friday afternoon in a 71-67 win.
Following a 12-day break for final exams, Bruno (4-9) came out flat in the first half and found itself down 38-23 at the half.
“They (Siena) played with way more energy than we did,” Brown head coach Mike Martin remarked to ESPN+ at halftime. “They were more excited to be here, and that should never be the case. Unacceptable on our end.”
Penn men’s basketball picked up its first win outside of the friendly confines of the Palestra on Saturday, though it wound up being a much more circuitous path to victory than expected.
The Quakers (8-5) threw away a 13-point second-half lead at Rider in a collapse that brought back bad memories of last year’s Ivy title-deciding loss at Princeton. But they rebounded in overtime to escape Lawrenceville, N.J. with a 77-73 win.
Penn never trailed in the extra session. Junior Nick Spinoso opened the scoring with a putback and-one (he missed the free-throw), while freshman Tyler Perkins gave the Quakers some much-needed breathing room, hitting a banked-in three as the shot clock expired with 90 seconds to play in overtime to extend Penn’s lead to five points.
There’s a lot for Penn fans to be happy about but some reason for concern ahead of a road matchup next Saturday at Associated Press No. 3 Houston, starting with how …