Ivy Hoops Online correspondent George “Toothless Tiger” Clark reflects on Princeton men’s basketball’s 10-4 start to the 2024-25 season with Ivy League play slated to start on Jan. 11 at Harvard:
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A look at Yale men’s basketball entering Ivy League play
The out-of-conference portion of the Yale men’s schedule ended today with an emphatic 93-65 win over visiting Howard.
Yale (7-6) was picked to finish second behind Princeton in the Ivy media preseason poll.
So what have we learned about Yale?
Harvard men’s basketball nips New Hampshire amid growing pains
DURHAM, N.H. – As Tommy Amaker watched one of Harvard’s 13 first-half turnovers fly past his head Sunday afternoon, he resisted the urge to admonish the guilty party. Instead, he kept his gaze on the next play, not even acknowledging the mistake.
That’s not to say Amaker wasn’t angry about it. It was as tough for him to watch as anyone. But Amaker knows this might not be a team like the Harvard squads that went to four straight NCAA Tournaments (winning two games) or even one of his 10 teams in an 11-year span earlier in the century that posted double-digit wins in the Ivy League.
Amaker has a young team, a freshman point guard (and three freshman starters Sunday), and patience is key. He wasn’t able to work out all the flaws at halftime, as the Crimson finished with 19 turnovers, but they did enough down the stretch to gut out a 72-62 win over New Hampshire at Lundholm Gym. That’s a step forward for the Crimson after they lost seven of their last eight contests.
Harvard women’s basketball win streak at seven after defeating Stony Brook and St. John’s
With two back-to-back road games in a six-day span, Harvard women’s basketball’s schedule didn’t do the team any favors.
It turned out not to matter, as the Crimson fought off a tenacious Stony Brook team on Wednesday afternoon and followed it up with a buzzer-beating victory at previously undefeated St. John’s less than 24 hours later.
As they headed back to Massachusetts, Carrie Moore’s squad, which entered the games at No. 11 in CollegeInsider.com’s Mid-Major Top 25, is 9-1 on the season and has a seven-game winning streak.
Harvard women’s basketball holds on for 72-62 win over Illinois State
At her weekly press conferences, Harvard women’s basketball coach Carrie Moore often discusses her Detroit roots, the grittiness that comes with being a part of the Motor City and her desire for her players to play with that level of toughness.
On Sunday afternoon, her Crimson didn’t always have their best stuff, but they pushed back against a physical Illinois State (2-2) team to come away with a hard-fought 72-62 victory.
The win gave Harvard (7-1) a sweep of its first of two consecutive back-to-back games and a five-game winning streak.
Harvard women’s basketball cruises to 75-50 victory over Northwestern
If there’s any more conference realignment on the horizon, the Harvard women may want to consider heading over to the Big Ten. For the second time this year, the Crimson traveled to the Midwest and came away with a victory.
While Harvard (6-1) needed overtime to defeat then-No. 25 Indiana, 72-68, on Nov. 7, it easily handled Northwestern (1-3), 70-65, on Saturday afternoon.
How are the Ivy non-grad transfers doing?
With the season two weeks old, here’s a first check on the 2023-24 Ivy stars who transferred prior to their graduation. This year, the student-athletes are all from the men’s side, but growing amounts of NIL money, more relaxed transfer rules and the lack of scholarships in the Ancient Eight should eventually (sadly) expand this list to the women’s division in the near future.
Over the opening few weeks, Kalu Anya, Malik Mack and Danny Wolf have continued their strong play from last year, while Chisom Okpara and Tyler Perkins are seeing reduced roles with their new teams.
We’ll take another look in a few weeks to see how everyone’s doing:
Harmoni Turner sets Harvard women’s basketball single-game scoring record in win over Boston College
The most points in a game for a Harvard women’s basketball player .#GoCrimson x #BelieveIt pic.twitter.com/WUjawiCO4b
— Harvard Women’s Basketball (@HarvardWBB) November 15, 2024
Harmoni Turner had a game for the ages on Wednesday night as the Harvard women’s basketball team defeated Boston College, 78-70, at Lavietes Pavilion.
Turner scored 41 points, an all-time program record for points in a game. The senior guard also grabbed 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.
The Mansfield, Texas native was scorching hot from the field all night long, shooting 14-for-23, including 7-for-11 from beyond the arc. But it wasn’t until the final second of the game that she broke the program’s single-game scoring record of 39 points, a mark previously set by two players – Allison Feaster in 1997 and Hana Peljto in 2004.
Harvard women’s basketball wipes out at Quinnipiac, 76-53
Harvard followed-up an inspirational win over No. 25 Indiana Thursday by laying an egg Sunday in Hamden, Conn. against Quinnipiac. The Bobcats mauled Harvard, 76-53.
“This is a tough after a win on Thursday over a good team. The maturity didn’t carry over. Disappointing lack of intensity,” Harvard coach Carrie Moore said.
How Harvard women’s basketball took down No. 25 Indiana
For the first time in the Carrie Moore era, the Harvard women defeated a Top 25 team, beating No. 25 Indiana, 72-68, in overtime on Thursday night.
“I’m just so happy for them,” the head coach told the BIG+ Network immediately after the buzzer ended and she was mobbed by her jubilant team. “When I got here, there was a lot of work that needed to be done, and these guys bought in and invested.”