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STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Things were so bad for Brown on Saturday night that coach Mike Martin could not be found by his own staff to make it to the postgame press conference.
The coach missed out on the media after his Bears gave up a season-high 14 three-pointers on 56% shooting in a 79-63 loss to Stony Brook.
ITHACA – I’ve never seen a team so good yet so bad at the same time.
The Cornell men’s basketball team dropped its seventh straight, this time 62-59 to Lafayette at Newman Arena, as Lafayette big man Myles Cherry swished a three-pointer with three seconds left to win it for the Leopards, who are now 4-0 against the Ivy League this season with wins over Penn, Princeton and Columbia as well.
The Cornell women’s basketball team couldn’t extend its four-game winning streak against the unbeaten Binghamton Bearcats at Newman Arena Thursday, losing, 59-56.
Penn may have lost 80-69 to Villanova at Finneran Pavilion Wednesday night, but the final score doesn’t reflect the fairly even play between the Big 5 rivals, notwithstanding the strong finishes the Wildcats ended both halves on to clinch the win.
How reigning Big 5 champion Penn (5-4) hung with the Wildcats (6-2) is important.
One month into the 2019-20 season, the Princeton men’s basketball team is off to its worst seven-game start against Division I competition since the 1984-85 season, in which it started 0-6 and then 1-6 against Division I teams. The Tigers opened their 2019-20 campaign with five straight losses before finally shooting their way to a win at Bucknell last Saturday. Princeton fell flat in the second half against the Drexel Dragons Wednesday night and lost again on the road. The Tigers’ 1-6 start echoes the frustrations of the 1979-80 team, which also struggled out of the gate at 0-5 and finished the nonconference schedule with a 4-11 record.
However, that Tigers squad of 40 years ago scratched its way to a tie for the Ivy League title before falling in a playoff game by a single point to Penn. Can this year’s team come together in similar fashion once Ivy League play begins? Here is my assessment of what ails the Tigers at the halfway mark of the nonconference season.
It took 28 days, but the Yale women finally won its season opener, coming from behind to defeat previously unbeaten Providence, 82-79.
The Bulldogs (6-2) and Friars (5-1) first met on Nov. 5, with Providence taking a 42-33 lead after the first two quarters. A problem with the scoreboard kept the teams from continuing the contest, forcing them to reschedule the game to Tuesday.
Mike Smith put Columbia on his 5-foot-11 frame and carried it to a much needed 68-64 victory over Lehigh Saturday afternoon at Levien Gym. The senior leader had 30 points, six assists (with only two turnovers), and drew 10 Lehigh fouls, five in each half.
“I just kind of mixed it up, I shot the three, got to the rim, hit a couple of pull-ups,” Smith said. “I just tried to change up the game, if I can score at all three levels, it’s kind of hard to stop it.”
The Tigers’ prospects entering Saturday’s road game at Bucknell were not bright. Ken Pomeroy’s analytics suggested a six-point Bison triumph. Princeton fans, while not at all pleased with the 0-5 start, were quick to point out that their opponents were a collective 27-4. While Bucknell is projected to finish second in the Patriot League, the Bison are off to a mediocre 3-5 start, including most recently a 20-point thrashing by Yale.
It’s Thanksgiving weekend, which means it’s time to take stock of what followers of each Ivy women’s team should be thankful for at this point of the season:
Brandon Anderson returned to the lineup for Brown on Saturday afternoon, but his team-high 19 points weren’t enough as the Bears dropped a 76-56 decision to Navy at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
The first half, a back-and-forth affair with seven lead changes, ended with the Midshipmen on top, 27-26. Both teams struggled from the field, with Navy shooting 29% and Brown (4-3) hitting 37%. The Midshipmen (4-3) found success at getting to the free throw line, getting 13 chances compared to Brown’s three but only converting on six of those opportunities.