Harvard men’s basketball clamps down on Cornell to clinch Ivy Madness slot

Harvard men’s basketball is headed back to the Ivy League Tournament.

Powered by a stifling 40-minute defense and strong second-half offensive production, the Crimson throttled the Big Red, 73-54, at Newman Arena on Saturday afternoon to clinch a spot in the Ancient Eight’s upper division.

“It feels great to get to Ivy Madness. It’s been a while since this program has been there,” Tey Barbour said to ESPN+’s Eric Taylor after the sophomore guard’s career-best 30-point performance. “We had a heartbreaking loss (to Yale) last week, but I’m proud of our team to bounce back and have a great win.”

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Cornell 4.0 may just be the one

For Cornell’s first-year head coach Brian Earl, the 2016-17 campaign was going to have challenges typical to many new Ivy League coaches. In addition to bringing some new staff and a different playing style, the coach was not able to recruit any of his own players. With only one first-year coming to East Hill in the fall, the team was similar to the one that went 10-18 overall and 3-11 in the conference last year.

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The issue of identity in Ithaca

Early in last Saturday’s broadcast of the Penn-Cornell game, Big Red announcers Barry Leonard and Eric Taylor recounted a recent conversation with coach Bill Courtney in which the coach was unsure of the identity of his team. After 22 games and in the throes of a four-game losing streak, what does this mean for the program going forward?

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