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Harvard women’s basketball wins round two at Columbia, 60-54

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Rebounding from a home loss to Columbia on national television 17 days ago, Harvard women’s basketball used its pressure defense and a big fourth-quarter run to take round two at Levien Gymnasium, 60-54, in front of a raucous sellout crowd and ESPNU audience.

“I’m just really proud of our team … We were obviously disappointed with what we were able to do in that last game. You saw more of who we are in this game,” Harvard coach Carrie Moore said. “This team being able to take a punch, and then give a punch, and take another punch and punch back. We just really showed our growth and maturity.”

Harvard (19-3, 8-2 Ivy), which beat Cornell by 37 points on Friday night and exorcised the demons of its lackluster performance against the Big Red 16 days earlier, remains in third place but now sits only one game out of first place.

While Columbia (18-5, 9-1) clinched a spot in the Ivy League Tournament with its 89-37 victory over Dartmouth on Friday night, Sunday’s defeat moved the team into a tie with Princeton and ended several impressive streaks for the program: 11 straight games, 19 consecutive conference games and 20 regular season home contests.

“I thought they (Harvard) were just the better team today,” Columbia coach Megan Griffith said. 

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Yale men’s basketball bulldozes Princeton, 84-57

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It took 71 years to accomplish it, but Yale men’s basketball is 9-0 in Ivy League play for the first time in program history.

The Bulldogs made that history emphatically Saturday night with an 84-57 win over Princeton in snowy New Haven at John J. Lee Amphitheater.

“I mean it is another part of history,” Yale coach James Jones said. “There’s so many things these guys have done over a career.”

Yale (16-6, 9-0 Ivy) led by as many as 34 points, 73-39, on a wide-open Bez Mbeng corner trey.

Princeton (16-8, 5-4) started with more energy than its loss to Yale at Jadwin Gym two weeks ago or its defeat Friday evening at Brown. The Tigers went up 8-3 on a trey from senior guard Blake Peters, 90% of whose shots this season have been from long distance.

Yale went on an 8-0 run to take a 17-12 lead.

The Bulldogs led 32-20 at the half against a Tiger team averaging 75 points per game.

Princeton scored only eight points in the last 11 minutes of the half and shot 23% from the field.

“That was as good a defensive effort as we have all year,” Jones said.

Yale went on a 10-0 run in the second half to effectively end the game at 56-31.

The Bulldogs proved once again that they could be dominant even on an off night from the Ivy League’s leading scorer, senior John Poulakidas, who was held to 11 points on 4-for-15 shooting.

The home team was led in scoring by junior forward Nick Townsend, who tallied 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Senior guard Bez Mbeng added 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting.

Junior guard Xaivian Lee was the only bright light for the Tigers with 19 points.

Junior forward Caden Pierce, reigning Ivy Player of the Year, stayed in his funk with no field goals and two free throws.

Yale clinched a slot in Ivy Madness with the win.

The Bulldogs are playing at a higher level and more cohesively than a year ago, despite the losses of Danny Wolf (Michigan), Matt Knowling (USC) and August Mahoney (graduation).

Yale has won 13 out of the last 16 meetings against Princeton. The 27-point margin is the largest in Yale history over the Tigers.

Yale hosts Cornell while Princeton hosts Harvard at 7 p.m. Friday.

 

Hot shooting leads Harvard men’s basketball to 87-75 win over Columbia

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Behind a career high 31-point performance from sophomore forward Thomas Batties II, the Harvard men cruised to an 87-75 victory over visiting Columbia at Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday night.

The win gave head coach Tommy Amaker his 301st as head coach at Cambridge and, coupled with a 75-73 triumph over Cornell on Friday night, a weekend sweep of the Empire State Ivies. The Crimson (9-13, 4-5 Ivy) finish the weekend where it started, in fifth place in the conference, only one game out of the running for the Ivy Tournament.

The Lions (12-10, 1-8), which lost to Dartmouth by 22 points the previous evening, have been in the loss column for nine of its last ten contests, including five of six since leading scorer Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa went down to an injury. Jim Engles’ squad heads back to New York City in sole possession of last place.

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Could three Ivy League teams gain berths to the 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament?

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With fewer than five weeks to go before Selection Sunday, coaches, players and the soothsayers known as bracketologists are beginning to focus their attention on which teams might gain a coveted berth to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Three teams in the Ivy League realistically are in contention for the 68 invitations that will be spread among the 362 Division I teams this year: Columbia, Harvard and Princeton.  

One of these three teams is very likely to earn the automatic qualification slotted for the team that wins the Ivy League Tournament in Providence on March 15. For the past five years in which Ivy teams have competed (COVID resulted in no Ivy League postseason play in in 2020 and 2021), Princeton has secured the automatic bid by winning the Ivy League Tournament.  

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Why Dartmouth men’s basketball believes after a 76-56 romp over Harvard

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Harvard and Dartmouth tip off at Leede Arena in Hanover, N.H. in what became a 76-56 win for the Big Green Saturday. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

HANOVER, N.H. – It’s getting to be Ted Lasso time for the Dartmouth men’s basketball team as we reach the midpoint of the 2024-25 Ivy League campaign.

The Big Green believe.

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Yale men’s basketball throttles Cornell at Newman Arena

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Total domination. There’s no other way to describe Yale’s 103-88 win over Cornell at Newman Arena, in a battle between two of the top three teams in the Ivy League standings.

Cornell (13-7, 5-2 Ivy) led 44-40 in a nip-and-tuck battle in which neither team held more than a five-point lead.

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Taking stock of the big three at the midway point of the Ivy League women’s basketball season

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With seven conference games in the books for every Ivy League women’s basketball team, the race for the regular season conference title has reached the halfway mark. 

The three teams picked in the preseason to contend for an Ivy League title – Princeton, Columbia and Harvard – have lived up to their billing, racking up big wins in the nonconference season and largely dominating the other five Ivy teams in league play.

Here’s where each of the big three stands as we head into the final five weeks of the Ivy League regular season:

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Cornell men’s basketball sweeps Dartmouth and Harvard to maintain second place in Ivy League race

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Cornell men’s basketball has been known for its offensive prowess over the last several seasons. But it added strong defensive efforts on Friday and Saturday night to defeat Dartmouth and Harvard at Newman Arena.

The Cornell (13-6, 5-1 Ivy) sweep left Jon Jaques’ squad in sole possession of second place in the Ivy League standings, one week before a crucial home game against first-place Yale.

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“We jumped on them quick”: Yale men’s basketball routs Harvard, 84-55

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Harvard and Yale tip off Saturday at John J. Lee Amphitheater, where the Bulldogs dominated in an 84-55 win. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale students were back at Lee Amphitheater, Harvard was starting three freshmen, John Poulakidas hit his first couple of shots, and all that meant the Crimson had no chance Saturday afternoon.

Harvard fought in fits and starts, but in the end, the result was a formality, an 84-55 Yale win that brought the Bulldogs to the top of the Ivy League after Princeton’s loss and setting up a showdown with the Tigers Friday night in New Jersey.

“We jumped on them quick,” Yale coach James Jones said. “We were really efficient, we didn’t have a turnover (in the first 19 minutes), we were poised and focused. We lost it a little at the end of the first half and fought to get it back, and we did in the middle of the second half. When we’re playing at a high level like we were, we’re pretty good and it’s fun to watch.”

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