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Up 71-58 with 2:30 left in regulation, the Columbia men looked well on their way to a comfortable victory at Levien Gymnasium, but Lehigh rode a huge 17-4 run to knot the game at 75 with seconds on the clock.
A controversial foul on the Mountain Hawks sent Lions junior guard Avery Brown to the line with 0.8 left, and the junior guard sank one of two free throws to seal the deal.
The relieved Lions are 4-0 for the first time since 2005, while a frustrated Lehigh sits at 0-3.
The Ivy League hosted media day on Tuesday for the upcoming men’s basketball season.
Here’s one key impression from interviews with players and coaches from each of the eight Ancient Eight programs:
With the non-conference schedule set to begin in less than three weeks, the Ivy League held its annual Media Day on Tuesday afternoon. The three-hour event, hosted by Lance Medow, featured coaches and players from each of the eight programs.
Fans can check out the recording on the conference’s YouTube channel.
Below are some highlights:
Princeton, last year’s undisputed regular season champions, were picked to take home the 2025 Ivy title in the preseason media poll released on Tuesday.
Led by junior forward Caden Pierce, the 2024 Player of the Year, and first team All-Ivy junior guard Xaivian Lee, Mitch Henderson’s Tigers picked up 15 of 16 first place votes and 127 of a maximum 128 points.
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:
Yale men’s basketball shook off the rust of a narrow loss in Ithaca Friday night and closed strong to defeat Columbia at Levien Gym, 84-76.
“Really gutsy performance with some guys injured,” Yale coach James Jones said.
Seven-foot sophomore frontcourt stalwart Danny Wolf played the game with a mask after suffering a broken nose against Cornell. Wolf, Yale’s leading scorer, was coming off two subpar performances at Princeton and Cornell. Wolf finished with 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting and added a team-leading nine rebounds.
Jones said that Wolf “played the way he is capable (of).”
Columbia men’s basketball battled back several times against Brown on Friday evening, eventually taking its first lead with 4:10 to go. But clutch defense and free throw shooting helped the Bears claim a hard fought 68-66 victory at Levien Gymnasium.
The win for Brown (8-17, 4-6 Ivy), coupled with Harvard’s loss to Princeton, leaves the Bears, Columbia (13-10, 4-6) and Harvard tied for fourth place and the final spot in the Ivy League Tournament with only four games remaining in the regular season.
Following a Friday night loss to Cornell, the dreaded bus trip from Ithaca to Morningside Heights and a nine-point deficit midway through the second half of Saturday night’s contest, Harvard men’s basketball stormed back to defeat Columbia by five, 80-75, and left Levien Gymnasium tied with the Lions in league play.
Both teams are in fourth place in the Ivy League, but the Crimson (13-9, 4-5 Ivy) swept the season series and presently hold the fourth seed for the Ivy League Tournament with only five games to go.
A career-best 17 points from Columbia men’s basketball senior forward Josh Odunowo led the Lions to a huge 83-69 road win over Brown at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
Columbia (12-8, 3-4 Ivy) was in control for most of the game, using 11-2, 9-0 and 12-0 runs in a 17-minute period overlapping the two halves to open up an insurmountable 18-point lead and remain in fourth place in its quest for the program’s first-ever appearance in the Ivy League Tournament.
On the first night of the Ivy League’s opening back-to-back weekend, the Columbia women hosted Harvard, while the Crimson men welcomed the Lions.
When the dust cleared on Friday evening, both home teams held serve in competitive contests.
With the wins, the Lions women (14-5, 5-1 Ivy) claimed sole possession of second place and the Crimson men (11-7. 2-3) sat in a fourth-place tie with Brown.
The Harvard (11-8, 4-2) women dropped to a third-place tie with Brown, while the Lions (10-8, 1-4) men fell into a sixth-place tie with Dartmouth and Penn.