Yale men fall at Vanderbilt in first round of NIT

It was déjà vu all over again for Yale in the first round of the NIT as host Vanderbilt defeated the Bulldogs at Memorial Gymnasium, 71-62.

Vanderbilt jumped out to an 11-0 lead two days after Yale fell behind in a 12-0 role against Princeton in the Ivy League Tournament final. The deficit proved too much for Yale to overcome.

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Yale men best Brown on the road to claim Ivy title, deny Bears Ivy Madness berth

Yale sophomore guard Bez Mbeng scored 27 points in 27 minutes in Yale’s Ivy League championship-clinching win at Brown Saturday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Yale won its fifth Ivy League championship in the last eight seasons Saturday with an 84-75 win at Brown before a sold-out, rowdy crowd of 2,003 at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

“It’s a wonderful feeling,” 24-year Yale coach James Jones said. “To be able to win on the road in a hostile environment shows the character of the guys in our locker room.”

Brown, meanwhile, missed out on an opportunity to punch the program’s first ever Ivy League Tournament ticket with the loss, allowing Cornell to sneak into the tourney.

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Yale men lose Knowling and tight defensive battle at Penn, 66-64

Yale lost Matt Knowling to injury in its 66-64 defeat versus Penn at the Palestra Friday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

A key injury spelled doom for Yale at the Palestra in a 66-64 loss to Penn Friday.

With 18 minutes left in the game and the score knotted at 33-33, Yale leading scorer Matt Knowling rolled his ankle. He would not return to the game and his status for tonight against Princeton is questionable.

Penn hung on in a defensive struggle featuring 14 lead changes in which Yale converted just three field goals in the final 5:26. The visitors’ fate was sealed when a fallaway shot landed off base after Yale got the ball back down two with 5.1 seconds left following a 1-for-2 trip to the foul line by Ivy League free-throw percentage leader Clark Slajchert.

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Yale men nab “gutsy win” to clinch Outrigger Rainbow Classic title

Junior forward Matt Knowling contributed 18 points in 40 minutes, both game highs, in Yale’s Outrigger Rainbow Classic-clinching win in Honolulu. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Add an Outrigger Rainbow Classic win to James Jones’ coaching resume.

Yale men’s basketball outlasted Hawaii in a defensive struggle, 62-59, in overtime to claim the title early Monday night local time in Honolulu.

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Yale men well-positioned for another Ivy title run in 2021-22

Reload, not rebuild. Next man up, as James Jones says. Call it what you want, but Yale remains the best men’s Ivy hoops program looking far ahead to the 2021-22 season.
Sure, Yale loses presumptive Ivy Player of the Year and future NBA possibility Paul Atkinson. And also his backup center Wyatt Yess. And the Elis were the odds on favorite to three-peat as Ivy champions had the 2020-21 season not been canceled.
Next season, the Elis still return ample offense and defense at the wing and guard positions. Much more on paper than any other Ivy.

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Report: Harvard men’s basketball poised not to play in ’20-’21, at least one other team considering the same

A quiet Saturday on the college basketball front was upended just after three o’clock with Adam Zagoria’s tweet:

 

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NCAA allows return of basketball in November, Ivy League will wait to decide

With most regular seasons and championships for fall sports postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, college athletes and fans have been anxiously awaiting word on the winter sports schedule. They received good news on September 16, when the NCAA Division I Council, chaired by Penn athletic director Grace Calhoun, announced that the men’s and women’s basketball seasons could begin on November 25.

“The new season start date near the Thanksgiving holiday provides the optimal opportunity to successfully launch the basketball season,” NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said to ESPN. “It is a grand compromise of sorts and a unified approach that focuses on the health and safety of student-athletes competing towards the 2021 Division I basketball championships.”

While basketball enthusiasts around the nation rejoiced with the news that meaningful games would soon be returning to the hardwood, fans of the Ancient Eight were left wondering if the league would move from its July 8 decision that teams could not participate in intercollegiate athletics competition prior to the end of the fall semester.

The short answer is no.

“There are no changes at this time,” responded Ivy League associate executive director, strategic communications & external relations Matt Panto to a request from Ivy Hoops Online. “The decision we have made is it (hold on competition) goes through the (end of the) fall term.”

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