Ivy Hoops Online writer George “Toothless Tiger” Clark on how Princeton men’s basketball pulled off a great escape to nick Northeastern and win the London Basketball Classic:
Tosan Evbuomwan
Princeton men outflank Army, 74-66, in London Basketball Classic
Ivy Hoops Online writer George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps how Princeton topped Army to advance to the title game of the London Basketball Classic in a Thanksgiving performance that Tiger fans can be grateful for:
Princeton men hold off Marist, 62-55
Ivy Hoops Online writer George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps how Princeton came out on top in a tale of two halves at Marist Saturday night:
The dam breaks for Princeton men in 94-64 romp at UMBC
Princeton men’s coach Mitch Henderson watched his shooters misfire repeatedly in the Tigers’ first two games, both close losses. Henderson wasn’t worried.
“I know these kids can shoot, and I know the shots will start to fall,” Henderson said.
Princeton men lost tale of two halves at Navy but gained key continuity inside from Kellman
Princeton took on the challenge of playing Navy on Veterans’ Day in the nightcap of the 2022 Veterans Classic doubleheader Friday night.
The resulting 74-73 loss for Princeton was a tale of two halves – and hopefully an instructive one for the Tigers.
Houston overwhelmed St. Joseph’s in the opener and appearing poised for another deep postseason run after its Elite Eight run a season ago.
The Tigers then faced off against the Midshipmen, which last year fielded a 21-win team that fell to Penn alum-led Colgate in the Patriot League Tournament final.
The Tigers (0-2) got off to a promising 9-2 start before the wheels came off in what was one of the worst 20-minute stretches of the Mitch Henderson era. Navy (2-0) was the superior team at both ends of the floor in the first stanza, shooting 72% from the field and canning five threes. The Tigers shot 12-for-26 but could hit only one three-pointer, which has been the staple of their offense in recent seasons. The 46 points surrendered by Princeton in the first half created a 20-point halftime deficit that appeared insurmountable as the teams left the floor.
Henderson tried numerous combinations, deploying 11 different players. Nothing worked. Senior forward Keeshawn Kellman was again a bright spot for the Tigers after his strong opening-night performance against Hofstra. Kellman establishing a strong presence in close that will be difficult to contain, especially when he and reigning Ivy Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan gain experience playing with each other. But when the Tigers struggle to score from beyond the arc and elsewhere, the pressure on Henderson’s bigs inside will keep build.
To say that the Tigers changed the game’s narrative in the second half would be a gross understatement.
Junior guard Matt Allocco got things going with a three-point play to open the half, igniting a marvelous 24-4 run, largely fueled by Kellman and Evbuomwan, cutting a 20-point deficit to just four, 50-46, after seven minutes of action.
Navy restored order at that point, mounting its own 14-4 run over a seven-minute stretch. Kellman continued his incredible play underneath, spurring another 8-0 Tigers run. It was clear the Tigers were not going away quietly.
Henderson threw a defensive curve at the Middies, deploying his troops in a 1-3-1 zone for much of the second half. The move confused and cooled off the hot shooting of the home team.
Kellman once again sparked a Tigers run at the 4:35 mark, registering seven points in two minutes, capped by a long three from rookie forward Caden Pierce. The Navy lead had shrunk to two with 2:23 to go.
Navy held on, however, restoring the lead to six. An Allocco three with 51 seconds left pulled Princeton within three, 73-70.
A Navy free throw followed by another Allocco bomb made it a one-point game with three ticks on the clock.
The Tigers were forced to foul, but the rattled Midshipmen missed both. Allocco managed to get off another long range shot as time expired. Many observers, including the CBS Sports Network broadcast team, believed Allocco was fouled. But the no-call ended the game with Navy on the winning end of a 74-73 score.
Tiger fans are hoping the team that showed up for the second half will be the one on the floor going forward. Defensively, the Tigers were superb, holding Navy to just 28 second-half tallies. On offense, the Tigers hit five of 10 shots from three-point range. Allocco posted career highs of 19 points and four treys. Kellman led the team with 20 points. Evbuomwan was “held” to 15 points, adding nine rebounds.
Henderson’s team will stay in the Old Line State for a Monday evening contest against UMBC, hoping to notch its first victory.
2022-23 IHO Men’s Preseason Poll
Only five points separated the top three teams in the Ivy League Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll, and our final tabulation was even tighter. Just three points separated the team atop IHO contributors’ preseason poll.
Yale gets the slight nod here, with our contributors trusting James Jones to lead the Bulldogs to their fifth Ivy League title in an eight-season span in a bid to represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament for a third straight time. Penn, the Ivy League preseason poll’s top team above Princeton by a single point, also finished a single point above Princeton in our standings. Our contributors saw potential for success in a roster that returns most of the key players from last year’s squad that placed third in the Ivy standings. We’ve got Princeton pegged to finish third, aided in their quest to repeat as Ivy League champions by returning 2021-22 Ivy Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan but losing significant backcourt production from last year’s conference title team.
Harvard was the clear No. 4 finisher in our poll, a showing that would improve upon the disappointing sixth-place result that locked the Crimson out of the Ivy League Tournament on its home floor last season. We have Cornell ranked slightly ahead of Brown as the Big Red look to build on last season’s overachieving Ivy League Tournament berth and the Bears look to bounce back from an underachieving sixth-place finish (tied with Harvard) a season ago. Columbia and Dartmouth tied in our voting tally at the bottom of the standings as both programs look to secure their first Ivy League Tournament appearances.
Reason for hope: A look ahead to 2022-23 for Penn men’s basketball
I spent the first few minutes after Penn’s 67-61 loss to Yale in the Ivy Madness semifinals at Lavietes Pavilion mourning.
Ivy Madness reporter’s notebook: Day 3
“This is the business we’ve chosen.” – Brian Earl and Hyman Roth
“We played for, I would say, a good 15 minutes tonight, but that’s not good enough against a good program.” – Columbia head coach Megan Griffith, following the Lions defeat to top-seeded Princeton
No matter what the coaches who did not earn victories on Saturday thought, I felt there were three really good games of college basketball on display at Lavietes Pavilion, including a fantastic opener that saw Princeton escape an upset big from Cornell, 77-73. Hopefully, West Coast fans woke up at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning to catch it.
Here are some random thoughts and observations from the Ancient Eight’s Super Saturday:
No. 2 Yale men outlast No. 1 Princeton to win Ivy League Tournament, clinch NCAA Tournament berth
The Bulldogs are headed back to the Big Dance.
Yale men’s basketball earned its third NCAA Tournament berth in five opportunities since 2016 with a 66-64 win over Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament final Sunday afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion.
Four takeaways from the super Saturday semifinals at the Ivy League Tournament
After watching two scintillating semifinal games in the men’s basketball tournament at Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday, here are four takeaways from the perspective of a diehard Princeton fan: