Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark takes stock of where Princeton men’s basketball stands after a 6-3 start replete with white-knuckle finishes and newly emerging linchpins:
Myrtle Beach Invitational
Princeton men’s basketball awakens, pounds Portland at the Myrtle Beach Invitational
CONWAY, S.C. – The Princeton men’s basketball team came alive on a bright Sunday morning in South Carolina to rout the University of Portland, 94-67, for seventh place at the Myrtle Beach Invitational.
The win was a welcome relief for Princeton coach Mitch Henderson and his squad after the Tigers had dropped the two previous contests of the tournament to Wright State on Thursday night and Texas State on Friday night at the HBC Arena in Conway, S.C.
The Tigers had to set their alarm clocks for a consolation game that started at 10:30 a.m ET, but the early tip must have suited the three-time defending Ivy League champions (5-3), who exploded for 52 points in the first half and largely put the game away in the first 20 minutes.
Asked after the game what Princeton’s motivation was to win this game, Henderson dryly replied, “Seventh place is better than eighth place. That’s what I told them.”
Princeton men’s basketball falls in Myrtle Beach Invitational to Wright State, 80-62
CONWAY, S.C. — The Princeton men’s basketball team got a dose of its own medicine in the opening round of the Myrtle Beach Invitational in South Carolina on Thursday night.
Facing the Wright State Raiders for the first time in program history, the Tigers lost by 18 points, 80-62, to a hot-shooting, energized team that moved the ball well, protected the defensive glass and converted open threes, all things the Tigers usually take pride in doing themselves.
Princeton coach Mitch Henderson didn’t mince words after the game.
Penn men leave Myrtle Beach Invitational with a positive 1-2 result
The Penn men went wire to wire for a 71-63 win over Old Dominion to close out the Myrtle Beach Invitational on Sunday afternoon. While the Quakers’ record over the four-day tournament in Conway, S.C. was 1-2 and they finished the eight-team tournament in seventh place, the Red & Blue jumped from a KenPom ranking of 210 to a season-best 196.
Ivy hoops roundup – Olympic exploits, incoming classes and coaching moves
Former Ivy standouts’ Olympic exploits
Olympic action in Tokyo featured an Ivy-on-Ivy matchup Wednesday when Maodo Lo helped lead Germany to a 99-92 victory over Miye Oni’s Nigerian squad in Group B play at Saitama Super Arena. The 2016 Columbia graduate and the Lions men’s third-all-time leading scorer led the Germans with nine assists and added 13 points in 28 minutes.