USC

Columbia graduate transfer Patrick Tapé chooses Duke

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Columbia graduate transfer Patrick Tapé is headed for Duke.

Tapé will be immediately eligible after sitting out this season, as his loss proved a significant blow for the Lions. Tapé averaged 6.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game in three seasons for Columbia, establishing himself as a strong inside presence and efficient scorer. He was an All-Ivy honorable mention as a junior in 2018-19, averaging 11.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per contest.

The 6-foot-10, 220-pound Charlotte, N.C. native was in the top 10 of ESPN’s graduate transfer rankings and told ESPN that choosing Duke over Syracuse, USC and Ohio State came down to proximity.

“[It was] really just being close to home and having my family come see me, the excellent tradition they have there and the opportunity to play for the best coach of all time,” Tapé said.

Tapé’s decision was the inverse of Harvard graduate transfer Seth Towns’s decision to commit to Ohio State over Duke.

Fresh off USC win, Princeton to square off in Diamond Head Classic

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The Tigers take Hawaii … and are slated to face Middle Tennessee State at 5:30 p.m. EST on Friday in the Diamond Head Classic.
(Princeton Men’s Basketball Facebook page)

On Friday, the Tigers open play in the Diamond Head Classic on the beautiful island of Oahu in the 50th state. Their first foe in a “three games in four days” format is the very strong Conference USA representative, Middle Tennessee State, a frequent Big Dance contestant.

Coming in with a record of 7-2, including wins over SEC teams Mississippi and Vanderbilt, the Raiders have their own version of the big three, Nick King, Giddy Potts and big man Brandon Walters. These three play a lot of minutes and score a ton of points. Middle Tennessee State is currently ranked 67th by the esteemed Ken Pomeroy, high enough to warrant a 65 percent chance to beat the Tigers (128th) on a neutral court.

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Princeton upsets USC, 103-93, in overtime for biggest Ivy nonconference win of the season so far

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The Tigers’ opponent was the preseason top 10 Trojans of Southern California, playing what the Los Angeles Times suggested was a tuneup game. The Tigers may have been offended by this evident lack of respect.

In any event, they responded with their best showing to date, dealing the Trojans a 103-93 beating in overtime. While the #2bidivy movement may not be relevant this season, the Tigers’ performance Tuesday night (and Wednesday morning Eastern Time) at Southern Cal shows why a second NCAA Tournament bid is inevitable.

The Tigers were in control for much of the second half after trailing by three at the end of the first period, 36-33. With under a minute to go in regulation, Princeton still held an 81-74 lead. Trading free throws for threes, the Trojans pulled within two with five seconds to go. A costly Tigers turnover on the inbounds pass resulted in a Trojans lay-in to tie the game at 86-86 at the end of regulation. Frankly, at that point, it looked like the visitors had run out of ammo.

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Leaving Las Vegas as the Running Red

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After completing finals, Cornell headed west to take part in the Las Vegas Invitational. After a week traveling from Wyoming to Los Angeles to Sin City, the Red left with a 1-3 record and a small amount of optimism heading into the last stretch of nonconference games.

With the continued absence of starting center David Onuorah and no reported return date, coach Brian Earl decided to replace forward Donovan Wright with guard Troy Whiteside. With the four-guard set, the team decided to focus on winning games by improving its offensive output.

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