The Ivy title may have been decided last night, but tonight’s games hardly are bereft of meaning. It’s the end of the road for six teams, as there won’t be any NIT bids for Cornell or Yale this season. We know who will end up and top and we know who is guaranteed at least a share of second and last place, but everything else is up for grabs.
Brown (11-17, 6-7 Ivy) at Penn (20-8, 11-1 Ivy) – 7:00 pm ET (YES Network)
Live stats | Brown audio | Penn audio
The way Brown is playing under Craig Robinson, this probably is Penn’s biggest obstacle to winning out and taking an all-important 10-game winning streak into Selection Sunday. The Bears are playing much better than they were at the time of the first meeting, which Penn won easily at the Pitz. As Greg Herenda was so eager to remind us in last night’s postgame at The Palestra, the YES Network will be televising this one. Viewers may see quite a few empty seats in the student section, since Penn students are on break. However, it’s Senior Night for Steve Danley, Ibby Jaaber, and Mark Zoller, so between that and the NCAA Tournament seeding implications, there’s no excuse for a letdown after last night’s clinching celebration.
It’s not a great matchup on paper for the Bears, who struggle to defend the three-point arc and were predictably scorched by the Quaker outside shooting in the first game. Brown has been relying on forcing turnovers with its trapping zone, but that might not work very well against Penn, who comes in with a very low turnover rate of 19.0 percent in league play. Robinson’s team is one of the weaker rebounding teams in the nation, so it’s going to be tough for the Bears to exploit the Quakers’ one real weakness on the boards.
Pomeroy says: Brown 59, Penn 75
Harvard (12-15, 5-8 Ivy) at Columbia (15-12, 6-7 Ivy) – 7:00 pm ET
Live stats | Harvard audio | Columbia video | Columbia audio | WKCR audio
With Brown a heavy underdog in Philadelphia, fourth place is on the line tonight at Levien Gym, when Harvard and Columbia get together. The Crimson looked to be in dire straights as recently as a week ago, but a Senior Night win over Princeton and the program’s first league road win of the season at Cornell have given Harvard a shot at finishing fourth. To do so, it will need to beat a Lion team that embarrassed the Crimson at Lavietes Pavilion a month ago. The game really is a must-win for Columbia, who really needs to finish at .500 this year, given the talent in the program. Joe Jones likely will be without impressive freshman point guard Patrick Foley, who has missed the past three games with an unspecified illness.
When these two teams got together in Boston, the story was Columbia’s three-point shooting, as the Lions shot 10 of 13 from long range in the first half and never looked back, blowing out the Crimson in its first game without Brian Cusworth. Harvard will need to do a much better job on Columbia’s outside threats this time around to have a shot at the upset. The Lions main concern has to be stopping the Crimson inside, as Frank Sullivan’s team doesn’t get much offense from outside the arc. Both teams have rebounded very well in Ivy play, though Harvard comes in as the top boarding program in the league.
Pomeroy says: Harvard 70, Columbia 77
Dartmouth (9-17, 4-9 Ivy) at Cornell (15-12, 8-5 Ivy) – 7:00 pm ET
Gametracker | Dartmouth audio | Cornell video | Cornell audio
Saturday’s game at Newman Arena features two young teams that come in having dropped three of four, so you can bet both sides really want to end the season on a positive note. Cornell can’t be happy with its defense last night in the upset at the hands of Harvard — the fourth straight subpar defensive effort for the Big Red. And while Dartmouth has found its legs offensively after the awful game at Brown two weekends ago, the Big Green’s defense has let it down the last two games — both losses. Cornell has been very perimeter-oriented offensively, but Steve Donahue may have to attack Dartmouth inside due to the pressure defense Terry Dunn has employed this season.
Andrew Naeve figures to play a big role in this one, as Dartmouth has no one to match up with him inside offensively, and Naeve is capable of blocking or altering the inside — and even the mid-range — shots the Big Green loves. There could be a large free throw disparity, as Cornell is tops at free throw prevention, while Dartmouth is the worst in the league at both fouling and getting to the line. Additionally, the Big Red has proven to be an excellent free throw shooting team, which could become a factor if it finds itself toeing the stripe a lot. The Big Green’s rebounding has been much better of late, but it will have to keep that up against a Big Red squad that does a nice job of cleaning the glass.
Pomeroy says: Dartmouth 57, Cornell 67
Yale (13-13, 9-4 Ivy) at Princeton (11-15, 2-10 Ivy) – 7:30 pm ET
Live stats | Yale audio | Princeton video | Princeton audio
This is another game between reeling teams. Yale has suffered back-to-back blowouts, while Princeton enters the game saddled with a three-game losing streak. This is one the Bulldogs should take, but Jadwin Gym has not been kind to them over the years, as the Tigers own a 13-game winning streak at home in the series. Princeton gave Yale a battle in New Haven back on February 2, before eventually succumbing 43-35. A hobbled Kyle Koncz had the hot hand for the Tigers early in that game, however he went scoreless last night in the loss to Brown, and that doesn’t bode well for tonight.
The Tigers have had problems on the interior with their matchup zone, and the Bulldogs have a number of guys who can score effectively in close. Yale is itself vulnerable inside on defense, but Princeton hasn’t shown it can score well inside the arc this season. Between the Bulldogs’ stellar defensive rebounding and Joe Scott’s ambivalence toward offensive rebounding, don’t expect to see many second chances for the Tigers tonight. If Princeton is to pick up its third Ivy win tonight, it’s going to have to limit Yale’s free throws, as James Jones’s team has enjoyed a very healthy free throw differential in Ivy play, while the hosts are near the bottom of the league in that department.
Pomeroy says: Yale 51, Princeton 49
