We’re in the midst of a lull in the schedule, with Ivy teams playing just three games in a 12-day period. Today’s travel partner games in Providence and Ithaca are the only league contests in the span. If they’re truly upper division teams, both Yale (a 3.5-point favorite) and Cornell (a 5.5-point favorite) need to take care of business this afternoon.
Yale looking for a sweep
The Bulldogs’ 75-61 win in the teams’ first meeting in New Haven predictably generated “monkey off their back” talk, but Yale needs to take today’s game to truly end Brown’s recent dominance of the series. Bruno’s defense had been very good all season, but Yale had no problems with it the first time around, dropping 75 points on a Brown team that hadn’t given up more than 73 all season. The key for the Bulldogs was limiting their turnovers. After entering the first meeting with one of the worst turnover rates in the nation, Yale committed just 12 turnovers last weekend. When the Bears’ offense continued to struggle, the result was a cathartic blowout for the Bulldogs. Meanwhile, Brown is winless in five home games, including losses in the past month to weak UMES, Navy, and Canisius teams. How bad has Glen Miller’s offense been? Brown ranks 331st nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency. If Yale can take care of the ball again, the Bulldogs should finish off a sweep of an inferior opponent. If Brown is able to gain a split, that doesn’t say much for Yale’s status as an Ivy League contender.
Cornell must defend home court
These are two teams that have been wildly up and down this year, though in very different ways. Cornell has looked very good at times while also dropping some disappointing games at Hartford, at Lafayette, and at home to Quinnipiac. Columbia started the season 5-0 before going into a tailspin and losing eight of ten. With Harvard, Penn, and Yale looking like first-division locks, that leaves one slot open, and the Cs are the likely candidates for that fourth spot. With the Lions mired in a six-game losing streak against Division I competition and winless in the league, the Big Red looks to have the inside track. But Steve Donahue’s team needs to win today to maintain that edge. Columbia has been slightly better offensively, but Cornell’s defense has been vastly superior. If the Lions are to take this one on the road, they’re probably going to have to exploit their rebounding advantage and hit their outside shots against an opponent that defends the three-point arc much better than anyone in the league. The key for the Big Red might be its ability to take advantage of the Lions’ foul-happy nature to get to the line more than it has to this point in the season.
