How No. 4 Brown toppled No. 1 Princeton to head to Ivy League Tournament final

Brown head coach Mike Martin and junior forward Nana Owusu-Anane talk to the media after the Bears 90-81 upset of Princeton in the first Ivy semifinal. (Photo: Rob Browne)

NEW YORK – A jubilant and relieved Brown coach Mike Martin said time went backward over the last eight minutes as his team’s 18-point lead evaporated to three with under a minute left in regulation in Saturday’s Ivy League Tournament semifinal,

But the No. 4 Bears held on to defeat No. 1 Princeton, 90-81, in front of a packed house at Levien Gymnasium and a national ESPNU audience.

The team’s semifinal victory, the first-ever for a No. 4 seed in either the men’s or women’s division through the six-year history of the Ivy League Tournament, sends the Bears to Sunday afternoon’s finale and a chance for the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1986.

Despite a regular season championship, Saturday’s furious comeback and the national memory of last year’s Sweet 16 run, the Tigers’ chances at an at-large bid to the Big Dance appear to be slim.

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LISTEN: Thoughts on Princeton men’s basketball after its 84-70 win over Columbia

Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark reflects on Friday’s 84-70 win for Princeton men’s basketball (22-3, 10-2 Ivy) over Columbia (13-12, 4-8) and looks ahead to the Tigers’ high-stakes matchup with Cornell (21-5, 10-2) Saturday evening:

LISTEN: Princeton men’s basketball’s press conference after 84-70 win over Columbia

Coach Mitch Henderson, freshman guard Dalen Davis and junior guard Blake Peters look back on an 84-70 win for Princeton men’s basketball (22-3, 10-2 Ivy) over Columbia (13-12, 4-8) and their adjustments after the early exit of senior guard Matt Allocco:

LISTEN: Princeton men’s basketball handles Harvard, 66-53

Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps a 66-53 win for Princeton (20-3, 8-2 Ivy) at Harvard (13-10, 4-6) Friday night that allowed the Tigers to keep a game behind Cornell in the Ivy League standings:

LISTEN: Thoughts on Princeton men’s basketball’s 73-62 win over Yale

Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark makes sense of surprising storylines that emerged during a 73-62 win at Jadwin Gym for Princeton (19-3, 7-2 Ivy) over Yale (17-7, 8-1) Saturday night:

Taking stock of Princeton men’s basketball at the midway point of the Ivy League season

The Princeton men’s basketball team secured its 10th straight win over their oldest rival, the Penn Quakers, 77-70, at a sold out Jadwin Gymnasium on Saturday night in a game that officially completed the first half of the Ivy League regular season.

With seven Ivy contests in the books and seven games yet to be played, the two-time defending Ivy League champions hold a 5-2 record in conference play and occupy third place in the Ivy standings, two games behind first-place Yale (7-0) and one game behind second-place Cornell (6-1).

Princeton’s third-place position in the standings is surprising considering the way the Tigers performed during the non-conference part of the season.  Picking up where it left off after a remarkable run to the Sweet 16 in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Princeton opened the 2023-24 campaign with a program record-tying string of 10 straight victories and a gaudy overall record of 12-1, including a neutral court win over Rutgers and six true road wins over a tough slate of mid-major programs.

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LISTEN: Tiger Takeaways on Princeton men’s basketball’s 77-70 win over Penn

Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark shares his takeaways from Saturday’s 77-70 win for Princeton men’s basketball (17-3, 5-2 Ivy) over Penn (9-3, 1-6), including why the Tigers are sophomore guard Xaivian Lee’s team now:

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 77-70 loss at Princeton

Penn men’s basketball put up its best offensive effort in more than a month on Saturday against hated Princeton. It got its best player, senior guard Clark Slajchert, back from injury. It got a dominant performance from junior forward Nick Spinoso.

It still wasn’t enough.

Trailing 62-61 with seven minutes to play, the Quakers gave up a 10-0 run to the Tigers, which was capped by an open Blake Peters three-pointer from the left wing as the shot clock expired with 4:15 to play. When the dust settled, Penn saw itself looking up at Princeton, 77-70, the same final score as the Tigers’ Ivy Madness semifinal victory over the Quakers a season ago.

The result thrilled a sellout crowd for Princeton (17-3, 5-2) at Jadwin Gymnasium and was a painful reminder of just how close Penn (9-13, 1-6) came to glory last March and just what this season could have been before Slajchert suffered a high ankle sprain in December.

Read on for the biggest takeaways from a frustrating night:

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Yale men’s basketball tops Princeton, 70-64, to move to 5-0 in Ivy League play

The Princeton-Yale men’s basketball showdown lived up to its lofty expectations as the Ivy League game of the year to date and then some.

The Bulldogs defeated the Tigers, 70-64, before a standing-room-only and boisterous whiteout crowd of 2,532 at John J. Lee Amphitheater.

“[The] atmosphere was tremendous,” Yale coach James Jones said. “There were times when you felt the crowd.”

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LISTEN: Princeton men’s basketball outlasts Columbia, 70-62

Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tger” Clark delivers an audio report on a 70-62 victory for Princeton (15-1, 3-0 Ivy) over Columbia (9-7, 0-3) at Levien Gym Saturday: