As we near the halfway mark of the 2022 Ivy League season, here are five thoughts about the state of the race for the men’s league title:
Five thoughts about the Ivy League men’s race
Yale
Princeton men need to tighten up defense after falling short versus Yale
Preseason Ivy favorite Yale returned to one of its comfortable road venues, Jadwin Gym, to upset the Tigers, 80-74. The Tigers have shown a propensity to dig themselves into early holes. This time the hole was too deep, the Eli sharpshooters too deadly. Yale’s 17-point lead at the half, boosted by the Tigers’ surrendering an inexcusable 1-on-2 layup after holding for the last shot, proved to be insurmountable.
In the second half, the Tigers played much closer to their preferred game, making nine of 12 from deep to get back into contention, at one point closing within two. Even when Azar Swain and Jalen Gabbidon were rested in the middle of the second half, the Tigers failed to take advantage. Yale actually added to its lead.
Jaelin Llewellyn dismissed injury concerns to fuel the Tigers’ comeback effort, canning six of 12 shots from deep and scoring 23 points. Ethan Wright and Drew Friberg went a combined 3-for-14 from beyond the arc, with most of those misses coming in the first half.
The second half shows that Princeton can certainly play with Yale but must defend better. This game demonstrates why Yale was favored to win the Ivy crown this season. Since the Tigers will spend much of February on the road, they need to find three wins to ensure their berth in Ivy Madness.
Yale men “locked in” to hand Princeton its first Ivy defeat
Remember the name Matt Knowling.
Yale women can’t overcome Princeton standouts as Tigers pull away, 61-49
It was the Abby Meyers and Julia Cunningham show in New Haven Friday night.
Yale men bounce back by besting Columbia as Swain explodes
After a disappointing loss at Penn on Saturday set up by a subpar performance by Azar Swain, Yale got just what the doctor ordered Tuesday night: a visit to Payne Whitney Gym from Ivy bottom-dweller Columbia.
But Yale did not play down to the opposition.
Three takeaways from the Penn men’s win over Yale
Ninety-five years after Penn opened up the Palestra with a win over Yale, this edition of the Red & Blue sought another reset Saturday against the team pegged to win the Ivy title in the conference preseason media poll.
Bolstered by their bench, Yale women beat Penn wire to wire
Yale staked its claim to second place in Ivy women’s basketball Saturday afternoon at home by beating Penn, 63-53.
Yale men eke out win at Brown
Brown coach Mike Martin was 6-2 against Yale and coach James Jones during his storied playing career for the Bears, but the tables have been turned in head-to-head coaching.
Yale women best Brown off buzzer-beater from Christen McCann
Now that was a finish to remember.
Yale overcame a slow start and the absence of all-everything Camilla Emsbo to injury to beat Brown at John J. Lee Amphitheater Monday, 69-67, on a layup by Christen McCann with 1.8 seconds remaining.
🤩 Here is Christen McCann’s game-winner from today’s 69-67 @ivyleague win vs. Brown!#ThisIsYale pic.twitter.com/iB7UCuNN2L
— Yale Women’s Basketball (@YaleWBasketball) January 17, 2022
Jenna Clark, the Ivy assist leader, dished on the winning bucket.
The winner was set up by a Klara Astrom steal with five seconds remaining. Coach Allison Guth then called a timeout to set up the winning shot.
McCann played a full 39 minutes and led her team with 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting. The Port St. Lucie, Fla. native also added eight rebounds.
Versatile senior forward Alex Cade took over for Emsbo at center and led Yale (10-6, 3-1 Ivy) with 11 rebounds while standing out with a career-high 18 points.
First-year guard Isabella Mauricio led Brown (5-11, 0-4) with her own career high of 23 points.
Brown carried a 41-37 lead into the locker room off of a torrid 53% shooting from the field. The Bears had taken a 22-21 lead at the end of the first quarter on a Mauricio trey at the buzzer and then went on a 12-0 run to start the second quarter.
Both Mauricio and freshman forward Amanda Latkany had eight in the half and Yale was paced by Jenna Clark with seven. Latkany had missed both the Harvard and Princeton losses.
Yale outscored Brown over the third stanza, fueled by an 8-0 run. Brown carried a narrow 56-55 lead into the last period.
Brown entered the game averaging only 55 points per game but shot 47% from the floor.
Yale outrebounded the visitors 43-31 and held a 16-1 advantage on the offensive glass to claim its third straight win.
Brown hosts Columbia and Yale hosts Penn next Saturday, both at 2 p.m.
Yale men show no rust, leave Cornell in dust in Bulldogs’ Ivy opener
It would be logical to expect that Yale would be down at the half to the high-flying Cornell offense if Azar Swain did not score.