Heavyweight battle headlines Saturday fight card

The title chase nearly came to a shockingly premature end last night, with both second-place teams having to pull out narrow victories to stay in the hunt. One of them will get its shot at the leaders tonight in the first showdown between title contenders in the second round of Ivy play.

Cornell (14-9, 7-2 Ivy) at Penn (16-8, 7-1 Ivy) – 7:00 pm ET (YES Network)
Live stats | Cornell audio | Penn audio
Critics of the Ivy League’s television schedule on the YES Network have to be pleased to see this game included as part of a smaller broadcast package this season. Outside of Penn’s rematch with Yale on the final weekend of the regular season, this is the most highly anticipated game of the season. Cornell has been walking a tightrope lately, outscoring its opponents by a total of just nine points over the past four games — and winning the last three by margins of two, one, and seven. The Quakers had been going through a rough patch offensively — by their lofty standards, at least — until playing a solid game at both ends of the floor last night. The previous meeting in Ithaca was the Ivy opener for both teams, and the Big Red hung tough for most of the game until Penn pulled away late. Steve Donahue still is searching for his first career win against the program where he coached as an assistant for 10 years, bringing an 0-13 career mark against Penn into the game.

Cornell faces a very tall order in taking down Penn on its home court. The Big Red has struggled with turnovers this year, which is not a good sign when you’re going up against a team that looks to force turnovers and score in transition like the Quakers do. Donahue’s top scorers are perimeter players, and Glen Miller’s guards are playing much better defense lately. At the other end of the court, Penn is on an inside scoring kick, and despite some decent block numbers by Andrew Naeve, Cornell’s interior defense has not been good this season. The one area where the Big Red might be able to hurt the Quakers is on the boards. Penn has been a very mediocre rebounding team this season, while Cornell has done a nice job on the boards in Ivy play.
Stat to watch: Three-point shooting
Pomeroy says: Cornell 61, Penn 74

Harvard (10-13, 3-6 Ivy) at Yale (11-11, 7-2 Ivy) – 7:00 pm ET
Gametracker | Harvard audio | Yale video | Yale audio
The Bulldogs narrowly avoided disaster by rallying to edge Dartmouth last night. They probably won’t face as stiff a challenge tonight against a Crimson team that is just 1-4 since Brian Cusworth’s graduation. Casey Hughes was the difference-maker in the first game between these two hated rivals, but his status is in question after sitting out the second half of Friday’s game. Frank Sullivan is just 3-12 in his career against James Jones, and hasn’t beaten Jones at Lee Amphitheater, where Harvard last won in 1999. As was the case last night, a prominent hockey game taking place simultaneously elsewhere on campus could hurt student turnout.

The game figures to see very few assists, as it features the teams with the lowest assist percentages in Ivy play. Both sides look to do a lot of their scoring inside offensively, but interior defense is a serious problem for both coaches, so there could be a lot of points in the paint tonight. Additionally, something will have to give as far as fouls and free throws are concerned. Harvard is one of the top teams in Division I at getting to the line, and Yale has been very adept at drawing fouls in league play. However, both teams have shown good restraint lately by limiting opponent free throw attempts. The rebounding battle should be interesting, as the Crimson comes in with the best offensive rebounding percentage in Ivy games, while the Bulldogs are the country’s premier defensive rebounding team.
Stat to watch: Free throw attempts
Pomeroy says: Harvard 70, Yale 83

Dartmouth (8-14, 3-6 Ivy) at Brown (8-16, 3-6) – 7:00 pm ET
Live stats | Dartmouth audio | Brown audio
There’s a logjam at fifth place in the standings, with Brown, Dartmouth, and Harvard all tied at 3-6. The winner of tonight’s game in Providence not only moves a step closer to .500, but it could move into a tie for the fourth and final first-division spot, depending on the result in Princeton. Dartmouth’s offense looked much better at Yale with Leon Pattman back on the court, recording its best offensive effort of the Ivy season at 1.06 points per possesion. However, the defense had its worst showing since the Kansas debacle, allowing 69 points on 59 possessions. As for Brown, its defense has shown marked improvement lately, holding three of its last four opponents under 0.97 points per possession. When the two teams met earlier this year in Hanover, the Big Green asserted itself on the boards and took advantage of second chances to pull out a close win.

Combine Dartmouth’s foul-happy ways with Brown’s nation-leading free throw rate, and we’re probably looking at a lot of stoppages of play tonight at the Pizzitola Center. Brown’s trapping 1-3-1 has been generating a fair number of turnovers recently, though Dartmouth is one of the better teams in the league at taking care of the ball. Conversely, the Big Green is near the top in opponent turnover rate, and the Bears are near the bottom of the league offensively in turnover percentage. The good news for Brown is that its problematic defense of the three-point arc shouldn’t be a huge issue against a team that gets the lowest percentage of its scoring on three-pointers among Ivy teams.
Stat to watch: Free throw attempts
Pomeroy says: Dartmouth 56, Brown 63

Columbia (13-10, 4-5 Ivy) at Princeton (10-12, 1-7 Ivy) – 7:30 pm ET
Live stats | Columbia audio | WKCR audio | Princeton video | Princeton audio
If Columbia wants to hold on to sole possession of fourth place in the league, the Lions need to do what they have failed to do since the 1991-92 season: win at Princeton. Prior to last night, that would have seemed like an easier task, but Columbia stumbled in an uncompetitive loss at Penn, while Princeton showed some spark in a close loss to Cornell. Joe Scott got a great outing from Kyle Koncz against the Big Red, but that means he’s very doubtful for tonight’s game. Having already been mathematically eliminated, Princeton still has much to play for, as the Tigers’ next loss will clinch only the second losing Ivy campaign in school history — though the second under Scott. Up in Morningside Heights last month, the Lions torched the Princeton matchup zone with torrid 66.7-percent shooting. However, up until last night, the Tiger defense had looked much better, holding three straight opponents under 0.95 points per possession.

The game features the two weakest interior games in the league at both ends of the court, which is incredible, considering the talent in Columbia’s frontcourt. The Lions’ 41.5-percent three-point shooting has kept them from totally falling off the face of the earth, but Princeton is holding league opponents to a frigid 31.8 percent from outside the arc. The Tigers aren’t shooting the three well — just 30.2 percent in Ivy games — but they take over half of their shots from the outside, and Columbia has given up a lot of shots from the perimeter, where opponents are shooting a slightly elevated 36.4 percent. The Lions have been doing a decent job taking care of the ball, which will be critical against a Princeton team that will be looking to force turnovers.
Stat to watch: Three-point shooting
Pomeroy says: Columbia 47, Princeton 48

Jake Wilson

Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Basketball U.

Jake Wilson wrote 754 posts

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