Road to redemption: A look ahead to 2023-24 for Penn men’s basketball

Penn gets to benefit from Jordan Dingle’s dynamic scoring prowess again next season. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

March is defined by thin margins.

Penn’s season collapsed with the blow of a referee’s whistle with 90 seconds to go in its Ivy League tournament semifinal against Princeton. If Nick Spinoso’s charge on the Tigers’ Keeshawn Kellman in a one-point game had been ruled a no-call or a flop, would Penn have advanced?

Yale can ask itself a similar question. If August Mahoney — the third-best free throw shooter in the country — converted his one-and-one with 2:18 to go in a three-point game in the Ivy League Tournament final against Princeton, would the Bulldogs have completed their furious second-half rally?

Both those teams could only watch as Princeton went on to go on a magical run to the Sweet 16, the deepest an Ivy League champion has gone in the NCAA Tournament since 2010.

Plenty of Penn fans are probably still bitter, and could you blame them?

But a look at the Quakers’ returning roster indicates that fans’ high expectations for redemption in 2023-24 will be well-justified:

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Ivy League Tournament men’s semifinal preview: No. 4 Cornell vs. No. 1 Yale

Ivy League Tournament – at Jadwin Gymnasium (Princeton)

Saturday, March 11: Semifinals

No. 1 Yale (20-7, 10-4 Ivy) vs No. 4 Cornell (17-10, 7-7 Ivy) at 11:00 a.m. (available on ESPNU and ESPN+)

Game #1, 1/13/23: Cornell (home) over Yale, 94-82
Game #2, 2/25/23: Yale (home) over Cornell, 76-58

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2022-23 IHO Men’s All-Ivy Awards

The Ivy League announced its major men’s awards Tuesday, but we know this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Ivy Hoops Online’s 2022-23 All-Ivy Awards, as determined by IHO’s contributors:

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Yale men best Brown on the road to claim Ivy title, deny Bears Ivy Madness berth

Yale sophomore guard Bez Mbeng scored 27 points in 27 minutes in Yale’s Ivy League championship-clinching win at Brown Saturday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Yale won its fifth Ivy League championship in the last eight seasons Saturday with an 84-75 win at Brown before a sold-out, rowdy crowd of 2,003 at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

“It’s a wonderful feeling,” 24-year Yale coach James Jones said. “To be able to win on the road in a hostile environment shows the character of the guys in our locker room.”

Brown, meanwhile, missed out on an opportunity to punch the program’s first ever Ivy League Tournament ticket with the loss, allowing Cornell to sneak into the tourney.

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Jarvis’ “out-of-body experience” lifts shorthanded Yale men past Cornell

Senior forward EJ Jarvis gave shorthanded Yale a major lift with a career-high 34 points in its 76-58 win over Cornell Saturday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Yale completed its revenge tour of teams against defeated the Bulldogs earlier in the season with a decisive 76-58 win over Cornell at John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday.

And oh, what a Senior Night it was for senior forward EJ Jarvis.

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Cornell men’s offense sputters in key loss at Yale

In a critical game in the fight for an Ivy Madness berth, the Cornell men’s offense never made the trip up to New Haven.

The Big Red scored fewer than 60 points for the second consecutive game, losing 76-58 to Yale for their fifth loss in the last six games

The loss takes Cornell out of the driver’s seat for the final spot in Ivy Madness.

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Yale men lose Knowling and tight defensive battle at Penn, 66-64

Yale lost Matt Knowling to injury in its 66-64 defeat versus Penn at the Palestra Friday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

A key injury spelled doom for Yale at the Palestra in a 66-64 loss to Penn Friday.

With 18 minutes left in the game and the score knotted at 33-33, Yale leading scorer Matt Knowling rolled his ankle. He would not return to the game and his status for tonight against Princeton is questionable.

Penn hung on in a defensive struggle featuring 14 lead changes in which Yale converted just three field goals in the final 5:26. The visitors’ fate was sealed when a fallaway shot landed off base after Yale got the ball back down two with 5.1 seconds left following a 1-for-2 trip to the foul line by Ivy League free-throw percentage leader Clark Slajchert.

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Ivy men’s week seven roundup: Ancient Eight’s top 10

Week seven for the Ancient Eight saw Yale avenge its shocking opening day loss at Columbia and move into a tie at the top of the conference leaderboard.  After a close half that saw the Bulldogs holding onto a slim 31-26 lead, the Bulldogs outscored the last-place Lions 58-32 for the dominant 31-point win.  Yale, winners of six straight, had 13 different players in the scoring column and shot 65% from the field. 

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Yale men get revenge in 99-68 rout of Columbia

Matt Knowling went 9-for-10 from the field to score 22 points in Yale’s 99-68 rout of Columbia at John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Revenge was certainly on the docket for Yale when it hosted Columbia at John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday.

The Lions had upset Yale 62-60 on New Year’s Eve at Levien Gym in what remains their only Ivy win. Yale returned the favor Saturday with a resounding 99-68 win.

“We certainly wanted to avenge the loss,” Yale coach James Jones said. “I told them that I didn’t have to motivate them.”

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