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 …
The Princeton women’s basketball team nearly pulled off an upset for the ages as the Tigers fell on Friday afternoon, 77-74, to the No. 3 UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion. It was Princeton’s first loss of the season.
Five days earlier, the Tigers had visited Middle Tennessee State and ended the Blue Raiders’ 49-game homecourt winning streak. On Friday afternoon, in the first game of a two-game West Coast swing, the Tigers entered the Bruins’ den at Pauley Pavilion in hunt of another statement win.
Cornell junior guard Nazir Williams notched 13 points and six rebounds in Cornell’s loss to George Mason Wednesday. (Mitchell Richtmyre | Fourth Estate)
For the first time in four years, Cornell men’s basketball lost a mid-major nonconference game. The Big Red fell to George Mason 90-83 on Wednesday in Fairfax, Va., getting handed their first loss of the season.
The Patriots of the Atlantic 10 Conference earned their third win of the 2023-24 campaign in the paint. Though it had the size, Cornell just couldn’t counter George Mason’s physicality. The hosts scored nearly half (44) of their points in the paint, forcing the Big Red to have to shoot their way to a win.
That said, Cornell did a pretty solid job of hanging around. The visitors made eight threes in the first half and trailed just 42-41 heading into the locker room.
But the Patriots opened up a 10-3 run to start the second half as the well started to run dry for Cornell. The Big Red couldn’t make enough timely shots in the final 20 minutes to put themselves in a position to win.
Junior guard Nazir Williams hit a three-pointer with 4:19 remaining to get Cornell within one, but that’s the closest it got. Keyshawn Hall, who scored 29 for George Mason and led all scorers, connected on a pair of free throws and Amari Kelly hit a jumper to put the Patriots up five. On the following possession, Sean Hansen rolled toward the rim wide open and missed a dunk to seemingly give George Mason momentum.
After Williams missed a pair of free throws, Hansen got an offensive rebound and to the line, redeeming himself with a pair of makes. But George Mason guard Darius Maddox connected on a contested triple on the other end to put the Patriots up six and essentially seal the victory.
Despite the loss, the Big Red still have positives they can take away. For the second consecutive game, they held their ground against an A-10 school. After defeating Fordham on the road Saturday, Cornell should feel good about playing a stout George Mason team well.
The Big Red went 14-for-29 from distance and a lot of that came from the success of junior forward Guy Ragland Jr. and senior forward Keller Boothby. They each ripped the nets at 4-for-5 shooting with Ragland ending at 16 points and Boothby at 12. The always consistent Williams added 13 as he stepped into the starting lineup for the first time this season.
Cornell heads to Florida at 3-1 on the season for a matchup with Cal St. Fullerton on Sunday. It’ll play either Southern Mississippi or Utah Valley on Monday in Brian Earl’s first multiple-team event as coach of the Big Red.
After defeating the Duquesne Dukes of the Atlantic 10 Conference, 70-67, Wednesday night at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh, Princeton men’s basketball is off to a 3-0 start, its best beginning since the 2015-16 campaign, when the Tigers won their first four games.
Here are four reflections on the season so far for the two-time defending Ivy League champions:
Listen to Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark analyze Princeton men’s basketball’s 70-67 win in Pittsburgh over a KenPom top-85 Duquesne squad, the Tigers’ second win over a team in that echelon away from Jadwin Gym in three games to become one itself:
Senior guard Abbey Hsu’s 25 points on 10-for-17 shooting weren’t quite enough for Columbia to top No. 22 Duke at Levien Gym Tuesday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)
While the Columbia campus is divided over global events, most are united over the performance of the school’s athletic programs.
On Sunday, the women’s soccer team faced Rutgers in front of a raucous crowd during its NCAA Tournament first-round victory. Two days later, the Lions’ faithful (and Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris) packed Levien Gymnasium as the women’s basketball team welcomed Kara Lawson and Duke, the first time a top-25 team ever visited Morningside Heights.
Megan Griffith’s Light Blue squad went toe-to-toe with the No. 22 Blue Devils the entire evening but came up short in a 66-62 defeat.
Mataya Gayle notched 14 points on 5-for-16 shooting for Penn in her second collegiate game Tuesday. (Penn Athletics)
Saint Joseph’s gave Penn women’s basketball a reality check Tuesday night at the Palestra. After the Quakers’ comfortable season-opening victory Saturday over Marist, the undefeated Hawks cut them down, 72-48.
The Hawks have run up 20-plus-point margins of victory in each of their first three games (including at Yale). Their top scorers from last year have returned, joined by grad student Chloe Welch and freshman Gabby Casey, two of the five Hawks who hit double figures at Penn. Sophomore forward Laura Ziegler led the way with 18 points and 14 rebounds.
How good are these Hawks offensively? Well, in the first quarter, they hit a third of their shots, including 1-for-3 from three, and the Quakers kept pace. In the second quarter, St. Joe’s hit half of its shots, including 2-for-4 from three (the killer being a buzzer-beater from just inside half-court to leave Penn seven points down). In the third quarter: 57% overall, 40% of threes. In the final quarter, 75% on all shots, including 3-for-4 on threes.
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:
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?
