After a six-game winning streak gave Harvard a fighting chance to seize the top seed in the Ivy League Tournament from arch-rival Yale, the Crimson men fell to Brown, 64-55, at home Friday night and locked themselves into a matchup with Princeton. The Bears, who are wrapping up an impressive season but failed to vault into the top tier of the league, completed a season sweep of Harvard on the strength of 20 points from Zach Hunsaker and a solid defensive effort. On Senior Night, Harvard was as usual led by Chris Lewis, who had 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting, but sorely missed the steady hand of injured guard Christian Juzang. The usually reliable Noah Kirkwood struggled from the floor, shooting only 4-for-13 with no assists, and freshman guard Idan Tretout was not able to pick up the backcourt slack after having been thrust into action.
Yale men roll to another Ivy League title
On Saturday, it will be exactly five years since one of the toughest nights in recent Yale men’s basketball history. Leading by five points in the final minute against a Dartmouth team that was playing just for pride, the Bulldogs lost in perhaps the most excruciating manner possible: a buzzer-beater by Gabas Maldunas off an inbound play. The Ivy League title trophy – set to be awarded to Yale – was quickly covered and hustled out of Leede Arena and Hanover.
After losing a tiebreaker to Harvard the following week, their NCAA Tournament drought reached 53 years, and – having graduated four contributing seniors – who knew when they would get another chance the way Harvard and Princeton were trending?
Cornell women can’t handle Penn defense in 67-46 loss
ITHACA – The Penn defense was too much to handle for Cornell women’s basketball Friday night at Newman Arena.
The Big Red fell, 67-46, to the Quakers, their ninth loss in the last 10 games.
“They denied passing lanes, our ballhandlers, our guards [and] our perimeter play was really hesitant and passive,” said Cornell coach Dayna Smith. “They put the press on because they were scoring. That really negated a lot of things.”
Inside Ivy Hoops – March 6, 2020
In the latest episode of Inside Ivy Hoops, Ivy Hoops Online editor Mike Tony is joined by IHO writer George Clark, and the two look ahead to the final weekend of regular season play and reflect on the penalties that the NCAA issued against Jerome Allen, Penn Athletics and Penn men’s basketball, and more:
The Ivy League Tournament’s X-factor: The coronavirus
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, six of the eight slots in next week’s Ivy Madness have been set. One thing that is not as secure are the final plans of the tournaments, due to the increasing public health threat form the novel coronavirus.
As the scope of the disease increases in numbers and locations throughout the United States, governments, corporations, schools, houses of worship and hospitals are among the many groups that have had to figure out how to perform normal actions while providing proper levels of safety and protection.
Add college basketball to that list.
Report: Brown Band protests coach Sarah Behn, refuses to play at women’s basketball games
The Brown University Band has refused to play at any more women’s basketball home games for the remainder of the 2019-20 season, according to a statement released by the organization on February 18 on its Facebook page. According to the letter, the decision was made due to “recent allegations regarding the conduct of Head Coach Sarah Behn.”
The story was first reported by the Brown Daily Herald on February 24.
Yale men continue success against Princeton, remain atop Ivy standings
Penn men rebound to beat Brown, 73-68, and stay in Ivy Madness hunt
Another wild night on the roller coaster that is Penn men’s basketball, so what else is new?
One night after losing a 10-point lead lead over the last 98 seconds at Yale, the Red & Blue faced a similar situation up nine at the 2:39 mark in a win-or-go home showdown against Brown. On this night, the Quakers would hold the line and defeat Brown, 73-68, to get back in the battle for the No. 4 seed in the Ivy League Tournament.
Penn women stop Brown to stop skid
Harvard men take sole possession of second place with win over Cornell
ITHACA, N.Y. – Despite the absence of Christian Juzang due to injury, Harvard pulled out a 67-58 win over Cornell, putting the Crimson in sole possession of second place in the Ivy standings.
“They’re an impressive group,” Cornell coach Brian Earl said. “I won’t miss some of their seniors on their team. They’re grown men.”
The first half was super streaky, although relatively close. Harvard (20-7, 9-3 Ivy) opened up on a 6-0 run, followed by an 8-0 run from Bryan Knapp for the Big Red (6-19, 3-9).
“My teammates [are] looking for me,” Knapp said. “I had five, then Terrance [McBride] was like, ‘I’m getting you the ball,’ and he drove, kicked it to me.”