The Quakers snapped their eight-game losing streak in style on Friday with an easy win over Dartmouth, 82-69.
Penn (10-15, 2-8 Ivy) led by as many as 24 points in the second half and never trailed after the 12:20 mark in the first half.
The Quakers won on the road for just the second time all season and picked up their first win on the road against the Big Green (5-18, 1-9) in five years.
Penn’s postseason chances may be exceedingly slim — more on that later — but there were plenty of positive signs for the future and a bevy of happy Quakeaways for the first time in nearly two months:
The Princeton men’s basketball team secured its 10th straight win over their oldest rival, the Penn Quakers, 77-70, at a sold out Jadwin Gymnasium on Saturday night in a game that officially completed the first half of the Ivy League regular season.
With seven Ivy contests in the books and seven games yet to be played, the two-time defending Ivy League champions hold a 5-2 record in conference play and occupy third place in the Ivy standings, two games behind first-place Yale (7-0) and one game behind second-place Cornell (6-1).
Princeton’s third-place position in the standings is surprising considering the way the Tigers performed during the non-conference part of the season. Picking up where it left off after a remarkable run to the Sweet 16 in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Princeton opened the 2023-24 campaign with a program record-tying string of 10 straight victories and a gaudy overall record of 12-1, including a neutral court win over Rutgers and six true road wins over a tough slate of mid-major programs.
Penn’s season looks all but over after a late offensive outage spelled doom in Providence, R.I.
The Quakers had a chance to draw with one point of Brown with 5:30 to play after junior forward Nick Spinoso hit an and-one layup over the Bears’ Malachi Ndur. Spinoso line-drive bricked the free-throw and the score remained 56-54 in favor of the Bears.
Penn didn’t make another shot from the field until just 45 seconds remained. At that point, the lead for the Bears had swelled to 11 points in what wound up being a 70-61 win for Brown (6-14, 2-3 Ivy).
It’s hard to see the Quakers responding on the second day of a road back-to-back at Yale, the current league co-leader. Penn (9-11, 1-4) may remain mathematically alive to reach Ivy Madness for a few weeks longer, but the hole this team has dug for itself may be too deep to overcome.
There aren’t too many happy Quakeaways for fans to hold onto as they pick through the wreckage of a season that started with such promise.
Two weeks ago, Joe Lunardi of ESPN wrote that the Princeton men’s basketball team was on track to become the first team in history to earn a second Ivy League bid to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
“Conceivably, the Tigers could be 27-1 or thereabouts heading into the Ivy League championship game on Selection Sunday,” Lunardi wrote. “What would the committee do if Princeton drops that last game? Could the Ivy League really be a two-bid league? The answer from this seat is clearly ‘yes.’ And the uniqueness of it all is worth watching and even rooting for.”
Columbia women’s basketball has posted a 99-77 record (41-43 Ivy League) in six seasons under coach Megan Griffith, claiming its first Ivy League championship in program history in 2022-23. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)
After a historic season for Columbia women’s basketball in which the Lions earned their first ever Ivy League regular season championship and WNIT Final appearance, coach Megan Griffith has signed a five-year extension that will keep her in Morningside Heights through the 2027-28 season.
Griffith, a King of Prussia, Pa. native, played point guard for Columbia from 2003 to 2007 and captained the team for her last three years. Over that time, she twice earned All-Ivy and Academic All-Ivy accolades. Following three years of professional basketball in Europe, she joined Courtney Banghart’s staff at Princeton, where she was director of basketball operations, assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.
When Columbia athletic director Peter Pilling tabbed the then-30-year-old to be the team’s head coach in March 2016, the Lions had just finished a five-year period in which they went 34-107 (.241) overall and 10-60 (.142) in the Ivy League.
“This is my home and I can’t thank Peter Pilling enough for taking a chance on me seven years ago. The buy-in and investment from our administration are unmatched in the history of our program and the Ivy League in general,” the coach told Columbia Athletics. “We’ve created something special for our community, our campus, our alumni and our fans, and I know we will continue to build on that.”
Ivy Hoops Online editor Mike Tony and IHO writer Rob Browne discuss memorable postseason runs for Princeton men’s and women’s basketball and Columbia and Harvard in the WNIT, the new “Big 5” (really City 6) Classic, the prospect and potential impact of athletic scholarships for Ivy hoopsters and much more:
Pictured here during the Ivy League Tournament Saturday, the Princeton women have made a habit of lining up single file behind each other with their arms draped over each other’s shoulders during the national anthem. (Steve Silverman)
The Princeton men’s and women’s basketball teams did more than punch tickets for the NCAA Tournament by winning championships at the Ivy League Tournament over the weekend. They also made history for the university and the Ivy League.
By winning both the men’s and women’s regular season and tournament titles, Princeton became the first school in Ivy League history to win four conference basketball championships in the same season. It’s a record that may be tied someday, but it can never be broken.
As the Princeton basketball community basks in the glory of this unparalleled success, here are three reflections from the perspective of a long-time follower and admirer of Princeton basketball:
Princeton men’s basketball celebrates winning the Ivy League Tournament on its own floor at Jadwin Gym to clinch the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2017 Sunday. (Steve Silverman)
Our George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps Princeton’s 74-65 win over Yale at Jadwin Gym to punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament:
