It shouldn’t be a surprise at this point that Brian Earl has Cornell men’s basketball off to a hot start.
Bez Mbeng shines as Yale men’s basketball ekes out 83-80 win at LMU
It was the Bez Mbeng show at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Rookies Belker and Chea pull Princeton women’s basketball past Middle Tennessee State
In winning its season opener at home against Duquesne, Princeton women’s basketball witnessed the blossoming of Madison St. Rose as a new superstar for the Orange and Black.
It was time for another coming-out party Sunday, this time by rookies Skye Belker and Ashley Chea, in a 65-60 comeback win to remember at Middle Tennessee State.
Caden Pierce explosion sparks Princeton men’s basketball in 74-67 win at Hofstra
Ivy Hoops Online writers George “Toothless Tiger” Clark and Rob Browne deliver their respective audio and written reports on Princeton men’a basketball’s 74-67 victory at Hofstra Friday night:
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — No Mitch Henderson, no problem.
Princeton men’s basketball’s leader was ejected eight minutes into Friday night’s contest, but a career-high 26 points and 15 rebounds from Caden Pierce propelled Princeton to a convincing 74-67 victory over Hofstra at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex Friday night.
Following a Pierce travel, Henderson yelled at the lead official and was quickly called for two technical fouls. As the coach headed towards the locker room or the nearby Jersey Mike’s on Hempstead Turnpike, associated head coach Brett MacConnell took over the reins for fourth time in his career.
Yale men’s basketball bows to Gonzaga in battle of the Bulldogs, 86-71
Statistics don’t lie, and two of them stand out in Gonzaga’s 86-71 home win over Yale Friday night.
The Zags outrebounded Yale 42-28, and they outscored them 44-20 in the paint.
Yale punched the other Bulldogs in the mouth at the start, building a 16-6 lead. But the Zags clawed back to gain a 47-42 halftime advantage before a raucous McCarthey Athletic Center crowd of 6,000.
Three Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 69-61 loss at St. Joseph’s
Penn’s first trip out of the friendly confines of the Palestra ended in disappointment after the Quakers couldn’t quite complete a valiant second-half comeback against Saint Joseph’s in a 69-61 loss at Hagan Arena.
Despite cutting a 19-point Hawks lead to just two points at three instances late in the second half, Penn (2-1, 0-1 Big 5) never had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead, thanks to a series of bad breaks and mistakes that were reminiscent of last season’s Ivy Madness loss to Princeton.
The backbreaking sequence came with just under four minutes left to play and the Quakers trailing just 61-59. Saint Joseph’s Kacper Klaczek bricked the front end of a one-and-one, but Penn surrendered an offensive rebound and layup to Rasheer Fleming to extend the Hawks’ lead to four.
On Penn’s next possession, normally-reliable free throw shooter Clark Slajchert missed the front end of a one-and-one. Nick Spinoso corralled the offensive board and looked like he had a clear shot at a layup, but got rejected by Klaczek.
There would be other miscues later on, including a blown fast break opportunity with two minutes to go that could have cut the Hawks’ back lead down to one possession, but that sequence hurt Penn the most.
The loss will give Penn fans plenty to mull over, like how …
Madison St. Rose blossoming for Princeton women’s basketball
Anyone thinking this might be the year to topple the Princeton women’s basketball team from its perch atop the Ivy League standings received a rude but familiar awakening on Monday night when yet another phenom took center stage in the Tigers’ season opener against the Duquesne Dukes. Princeton won a seesaw affair, 65-57, at Jadwin Gym, powered by sophomore sensation Madison St. Rose’s career-high 26 points on 9-for-18 shooting.
It was déjà vu all over again for Princeton. A year ago, the Tigers were coming off another successful campaign having won a second straight Ivy League title and toppled a power-five opponent – Kentucky – in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Although the Tigers were considered a favorite to repeat, there were questions about who could fill the very large shoes of graduated senior Abby Meyers, who had led the team in scoring and was voted Ivy League Player of the Year.
Three Quakeaways from Penn men besting Bucknell, 80-61
Penn is off to its first 2-0 start since the 2018-19 season after a wire-to-wire win over Bucknell at the Palestra by a score of 80-61.
The Quakers had a few nervous moments in the second half after a stagnant stretch on offense allowed the Bison (0-2) to cut what had been a 20-point halftime lead to just nine as the clock neared the under-eight media timeout.
Instead of relying on one player to stop Bucknell’s run, Penn persevered by committee. Junior guard George Smith restored Penn’s double-digit lead by making a nice interior find to sophomore forward Johnnie Walter (more on him later) for an easy layup late in the shot clock.
Sophomore guard Cam Thrower added seven critical points down the stretch as well, including a difficult stepback two-point jumper and a deep three-pointer with 4:45 that pushed Penn’s lead to 21 and effectively iced the game.
Bucknell may not have been the most difficult opponent — the Bison entered Wednesday ranked 349th in KenPom — but the win left Penn fans with plenty of happy Quakeaways:
Four observations on Princeton men’s season-opening win over Rutgers
The Princeton Tigers men’s basketball team opened the 2023-24 season with a statement win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 68-61, in front of more than 6,000 fans at CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton in what was dubbed the “Jersey Jam.” Here are four observations about the Tigers’ triumph over their in-state rival:
Columbia women fall to Stony Brook in season opener
Despite overcoming a 17-point deficit in the third quarter, the Columbia women went down in defeat in Monday night’s seasoner opener against Stony Brook, 85-73, at the Island Federal Credit Union.
Thanks to the graduation of eight players, including starters Kaitlyn Davis, Jaida Patrick and Hannah Pratt, the 2022-23 Ivy League co-champions and WNIT finalists entered the evening with more uncertainty than they had the last several years.