Ben Eisendrath

Quakeaways from No. 3 Penn men’s basketball defeating No. 2 Harvard to advance to Ivy League Tournament final

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ITHACA, N.Y. — Penn men’s basketball is 40 minutes away from its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in eight years after outlasting Harvard in a 62-60 overtime thriller to advance to the Ivy League Tournament final.

Sophomore point guard AJ Levine — more on him later — played the hero after he blew by Harvard sophomore guard Ben Eisendrath off the dribble for a scoop layup with 6.1 seconds to play in the extra session.

With the Crimson in scramble mode, Levine got a hand in Harvard guard Tey Barbour’s face as the sniper put up a three-point attempt to win the game.

Barbour’s shot was off line to the right and a wild celebration ensued.

The Quakers (17-11) are now in a position that few expected them to be in back in November. What did we learn about this team as it preps for an empty-the-tank game against Yale for a conference tournament championship?

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Harvard men’s basketball takes down Columbia in regular-season finale

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Senior guard Chandler Pigge matched his career high of 26 points to pace Harvard men’s basketball in an 81-71 victory over Columbia in front of a large contingent of family and friends at Lavietes Pavilion Friday evening.

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Harvard men’s basketball cruises to victory at Columbia

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Harvard men’s basketball jumped out to an 11-2 lead before the first media timeout and never looked back, as the Crimson notched a 79-54 wire-to-wire win over Columbia at Levien Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.

“I thought it was a tremendous effort from start to finish from our guys,” coach Tommy Amaker told Harvard Athletics.  “It really was defensively. We had energy. We got the stops. We were able to get out and play from ahead. We were able to play a fun style early, which makes you get confidence quickly. On the road, that is so critical.”

Amaker’s squad improved to 1-1 in Ivy play and 8-8 on the season, while Kevin Hovde’s Lions, which lost their first home game of the 2025-26 campaign, dropped to 1-1 in the Ancient Eight and 12-4 for the year.

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Harvard men’s basketball falls to St. John’s, 85-59

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Harvard men’s basketball traveled south to Queens to visit St. John’s on Wednesday night and went back north a few hours later with an 85-59 defeat to the Red Storm.

With one game left in the nonconference schedule, Tommy Amaker’s squad fell to 6-7 on the season, while Rick Pitino’s group ended its out-of-conference slate and improved to 8-4 (1-0 Big East).

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Harvard men’s basketball’s case for optimism despite loss to Boston University

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UNCASVILLE, Conn. – As you would expect, the Harvard men’s basketball pregame hype video played just before its starting lineup is announced includes clips from both its 2013 and 2014 NCAA Tournament victories.

But it also includes one from the 2015 Ivy League playoff, a grinding win over Yale at The Palestra after the Bulldogs lost on the last day of the regular season and the two rivals finished the season tied. Although they would get edged 67-65 by North Carolina to prevent its third straight season with a NCAA win the next week, it was the culmination of four straight NCAA Tournament berths and six straight 20-win campaigns.

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“We jumped on them quick”: Yale men’s basketball routs Harvard, 84-55

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Harvard and Yale tip off Saturday at John J. Lee Amphitheater, where the Bulldogs dominated in an 84-55 win. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale students were back at Lee Amphitheater, Harvard was starting three freshmen, John Poulakidas hit his first couple of shots, and all that meant the Crimson had no chance Saturday afternoon.

Harvard fought in fits and starts, but in the end, the result was a formality, an 84-55 Yale win that brought the Bulldogs to the top of the Ivy League after Princeton’s loss and setting up a showdown with the Tigers Friday night in New Jersey.

“We jumped on them quick,” Yale coach James Jones said. “We were really efficient, we didn’t have a turnover (in the first 19 minutes), we were poised and focused. We lost it a little at the end of the first half and fought to get it back, and we did in the middle of the second half. When we’re playing at a high level like we were, we’re pretty good and it’s fun to watch.”

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