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Princeton’s stirring comeback win over Columbia Friday night, when the Tigers unleashed a 51-point second half avalanche, thrilled the announced crowd of 35 fans. Word quickly spread that something special was unfolding in Jadwin Gym. Another seven of the Tiger faithful showed up for Saturday night’s welcome home party for favorite son and Cornell coach Brian Earl.
The Princeton Tigers traveled to Ithaca to make their second league start against the Cornell Big Red this afternoon. The Tigers were grateful not to have to make the five-hour bus ride between games of the back-to-back New York State swing since last night’s Columbia contest was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.
Following a comfortable trip yesterday, the Tigers were nevertheless sluggish out of the gate en route to an eventual 65-40 win. The Big Red, after an impressive road win a week ago at Dartmouth, were even worse.
Princeton and Columbia squared off to open their 2022 Ivy League seasons before a Jadwin
Gymnasium crowd of about two dozen faculty, staff and several members of the Tiger women’s
team. They were treated to one of the best performances over an entire half that the Tigers
have managed thus far.
Columbia’s and Penn’s women’s games slated for this weekend have been postponed due to COVID-19 concerns and safety protocols within the programs, the Ivy League and schools announced Thursday.
Columbia was slated to play Princeton Friday evening and Penn Saturday evening at Levien Gym, while Penn was scheduled to play at Cornell before making the vaunted Empire State trip south to take on the Lions.
Could there really be a season-defining game as early as Jan. 7?
It’s not only possible, it’s probable.
It’s Princeton-Columbia at Levien Gym Friday at 7 p.m.
The Princeton Tigers opened the defense of their 2020 Ivy League title Sunday afternoon at Jadwin Gym against the Harvard Crimson. This was the final appearance at Princeton of legendary Harvard coach Kathy Delaney-Smith, who is closing her 40-year coaching career at Harvard at the end of the season. The Ivy League is a much better place because of her presence in it.
Sunday will mark the first Ivy League conference basketball since March 7, 2020, even if two of the eight games in the opening slate (the Princeton at Harvard and Columbia at Yale men’s matchups) have been postponed due to COVID-19 concerns. Here’s what to watch for:
New year, same scheduling challenges.
Before the ball dropped in Times Square to end the challenging year of 2021, the 2022 Ivy League schedule took its first hit from COVID-19 with the announced postponement of Sunday’s Princeton-Harvard men’s basketball game.
Late Friday afternoon, Harvard Athletics put out a statement that the league opener at Lavietes Pavilion could not take place due to “COVID-19 concerns and safety protocols within the Harvard men’s basketball program.” This same reason caused the Crimson to cancel Wednesday’s game at No. 6 Kansas.
As the omicron variant has resulted in a large increase in the number of COVID-19 cases across the United States, many businesses and institutions, including several Ivy League athletic departments, have been revisiting their safety policies.
With the start of league play a few days away, Ivy Hoops Online is listing information regarding each team. To get the most detailed and up-to-date information, including what is an acceptable mask, it is recommended to check the links for each institution’s main COVID-19 page. If there are any questions, fans are encouraged to contact the individual universities or athletic departments.