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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – After Friday night’s tough loss at Yale, Cornell first-year head coach Jon Jaques lamented that if a break or two had gone his team’s way down the stretch, the final result might have been different.
Sure enough, less than 24 hours later, in an even bigger spot for the Big Red at a Brown team they were tied with in the Ivy League standings, there they were in the closing minutes with the game in the balance.
Brown basketball fans got to see two thrillers at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Saturday. Unfortunately for them, the Bears went down to crushing defeats in both contests.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Embarrassing and humiliating were words thrown around by Cornell last week after a brutal thrashing at the hands of Dartmouth, a loss so bad it dropped the Big Red 35 slots in KenPom. More importantly, the defeat put the Big Red in Ivy League Tournament peril because it was their third straight loss and a trip to unbeaten Yale happened to be next.
Another word was prevalent at practice in Ithaca: pride. The Big Red showed plenty of it Friday night at Lee Amphitheater, pushing the Bulldogs around and leading by double digits for most of the first half.
But Yale has plenty of pride as well, of course, and in the end gutted out a 92-88 victory that clinched it a share of its sixth Ivy League title in 10 years in a tremendous showcase of Ivy League basketball.
HANOVER, N.H. – The hottest men’s basketball team in the Ivy League is Dartmouth.
Any controversy in the above statement lies only because of the school in question. The results speak for themselves, the latest an absolute obliteration of Cornell, 88-49, Saturday night at Leede Arena.
Dartmouth’s fourth straight win (by an average of 22.8 points) vaults them into solo second place in the Ivy League, heights the Big Green haven’t seen in the 21st century (and not too much before that, either). And at the moment Dartmouth looks like the main threat to Yale repeating its conference title in March, a strong statement from a team that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1959 and was picked dead last nearly unanimously in the preseason Ivy poll.
But, again, the facts and results speak for themselves. All that’s left is for David McLaughlin to channel Lou Brown and declare, “We’re contenders now.”
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.
Despite having one of the worst offensive performances of his storied Brown career, star senior guard Kino Lilly Jr.’s go-ahead free throw with 10 seconds left withstood two Cornell chances, and his Bears came away with an 83-82 victory in Ithaca on Monday afternoon.
Bruno’s victory, its first league win of the 2024-25 season, was much needed after Brown was upset at home by Harvard on Saturday.
“Really pleased,” head coach Mike Martin told the ESPN+ broadcast crew. “Really excited and happy for my team, after a tough one on Saturday.”
With the first two weeks of conference play in the books, the Bears (9-7, 1-2 Ivy) sit in a log jam for fourth place with Dartmouth, Harvard and Penn, while Cornell (10-6, 2-1) is alone in third place.
In a conference opening battle between the two most prolific offenses in the Ivy League, the Cornell men’s consistent production over 40 minutes proved to be the key in a 94-83 victory over Columbia at Levien Gymnasium.
By time the whistle sounded late Saturday afternoon, Cornell (9-5, 1-0 Ivy) had its first Ancient Eight victory of the year and long-time Big Red player and assistant coach Jon Jaques earned his first-ever conference win as a head coach. On the other side of the court, Jim Engles’ Lions (11-3, 0-1 Ivy) suffered its first loss in league play and home defeat after winning its previous eight non-conference contests.
Editor’s note: Cornell men’s basketball got its first win against ACC competition since 1951 Tuesday evening at Haas Pavilion, topping California, 88-80, to improve to 7-3 and drop the Golden Bears to 6-4. Clovis, Calif. native and junior forward AK Okereke led the Big Red with 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting, adding six rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Below are photos from the Big Red’s big win:
Behind a career-high of 20 points from junior guard Cooper Noard, Cornell men’s basketball improved to 4-2 with an 84-68 win over Iona at the Hynes Center Monday.
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: