Brett MacConnell

Caden Pierce explosion sparks Princeton men’s basketball in 74-67 win at Hofstra

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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:

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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.

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Q&As with Princeton men’s coaches Mitch Henderson and Brett MacConnell

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Our George “Toothless Tiger” Clark caught up with Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson and associate head coach Brett MacConnell at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville ahead of No. 15 Princeton’s Sweet 16 matchup with No. 6 Creighton slated for 9 p.m. ET on TBS:

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Missing Henderson but not shooting touch, Princeton men bounce back at Columbia

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What promised to be a chaotic weekend for the Tigers got off to a troubling start when the head coach had to leave the team after a failed COVID-19 test.

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Ivy League coaching carousel

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After three years without any head coaching changes, things changed in a big way at the end of April.  Princeton’s Courtney Banghart left after 12 seasons and seven Ivy titles to rebuild the program at the University of North Carolina. The Tigers search lasted a month, ending with the hiring of former UConn guard and long-time Tufts head coach Carla Berube.

On the men’s side, the conference almost lost James Jones to St. John’s, but the Yale coach finished as the Red Storm’s runner-up.  Weeks later, Jones signed an extension that will keep him in New Haven until the end of the 2025-2026 campaign.  In May, Brown’s Mike Martin was reported to be at Holy Cross interviewing for the Crusaders job, but a probable extension kept him in Providence.

Several Ivy assistants made the jump to head coaching positions with Columbia’s (and former Harvard’s) Kenny Blakeney heading to Howard, Penn’s Bernadette Laukaitis returning to Holy Family, Brown’s Tyler Simms going to Clark, and Brown’s Sara Binkhorst moving to Wheaton.

In the off-season’s strangest coaching news, Dartmouth promoted assistant coach Pete Hutchins to associate head coach on March 19th, only to see him jump to an assistant coaching position at George Mason on May 2nd.

The complete list of changes, from 2018-2019 to 2019-2020, for all 16 Ivy teams are noted below.

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News from around the Ivy League – Apr. 5, 2019

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Some Ivy updates before heading into Final Four weekends in Tampa and Minneapolis:

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IHO 2018-19 Men’s All-Ivy Awards

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If you missed the Ivy League’s own men’s All-Ivy awards, you can find them here. As selected by Ivy Hoops Online’s contributors, here are the IHO 2017-18 Men’s All-Ivy Awards:

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Q&A with Princeton associate head coach Brett MacConnell

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In an in-depth interview, Princeton associate head coach Brett MacConnell talks about filling in for an ill Mitch Henderson during Princeton’s win at Dartmouth last weekend, the Tigers’ many personnel changes this season, another Ivy Defensive Player of the Year-caliber campaign for Myles Stephens and why Jaelin Llewellyn could be a future Ivy Defensive Player of the Year, Richmond Aririguzoh’s development and impact guarding the post, his own path to becoming associate head coach and much more:

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Princeton ekes past Dartmouth, bows to Harvard

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With a record of 7-3, the Tigers headed to New England for the Dartmouth-Harvard trip needing a win on the weekend to punch its ticket to Ivy Madness. The fact that the Tigers’ record against their four remaining opponents contained all three of those losses and only one of the wins was a matter of grave concern to the Tiger staff. The lone win was a 69-68 nail-biter in Jadwin against the Friday foe, Dartmouth’s Big Green.

The staff itself suffered an unexpected loss when its head coach was unable to answer the bell in Hanover. Mitch Henderson was forced to scurry from the floor just prior to tip-off, suffering from what we shall describe as “flu-like symptoms.”

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ICYMI: Catching up on the Ivy offseason

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With teams a few short weeks away from actual games, here is a collection of off-season stories to catch up on before the start of the 2018-2019 season.

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Q&A with Princeton assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Brett MacConnell

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Ivy Hoops Online’s Richard Kent caught up with Brett MacConnell, an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Princeton. He is a Rutgers graduate and a long-time New Jersey resident.

Ivy Hoops Online: Tell us your thoughts about this most recent Princeton-Penn game?
Brett MacConnell: Penn was tougher. They dominated the paint. (Ryan) Betley wasn’t a surprise. We couldn’t get big stops at the end. We are a young team with some new guys.

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