Princeton beats Yale to win inaugural Ivy League tournament

In the first college basketball game I ever covered, those Tigers beat DE and future WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne.

Now Princeton will need it to work out well two more times in order to secure its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2011. He rarely lets anyone see him sweat. The Tigers rallied past Penn, 72-64, in overtime, advancing to Sunday’s final against Yale for an NCAA Tournament berth. There was no way to prepare for this.

“I understand why people want to do it, and I think this year’s will be exciting”, Bilsky told the New York Times. “We looked at each other and said we’re not losing”.

Oni, a second-team All-Ivy pick, splashed a three-pointer to open the game for Yale, which also turned in one of its most consistent offensive and defensive efforts of the season and as a result led for all but the 2 minutes, 6 seconds in which the game was tied.

“There was no way to prepare for this”, Henderson said. “It’s far more physical”.

“That’s a really good Harvard team and we know they’ll be down at the Palestra. Fortunately, this is a very tough group”.

When the Crimson found themselves down, 71-69, with 25 seconds left, there was no question where the ball was going.

Post stuff? You bet. There is nothing genteel about it. Every rebound was fought for.

The league is committed to playing a tournament for at least three years but is only locked in to the Palestra for this season.

Yale comes into this game with an 18-10 record overall on the year.

Princeton would ultimately fall down 23-16 before its offense ignited a 10-1 run, punctuated by a pair of Stephens buckets and a 3-pointer from Cook, bringing the score to 26-24 in favor of Princeton with under four minutes to play in the half. The three freshmen combined for 32 points in 117 minutes, including double-doubles from Betley (18 points) and Brodeur (10 points). However, Stephens was there to clean up the rebound and tie the game, forcing overtime after a subsequent Penn miss. Cannady finished with 13 points, and senior forward Steven Cook added 15 points for the Tigers. “It’s the first time and there’s the newness of it, but to sustain it and be the right thing for the long haul, I still question it”.

“I thought (Aiken) was tremendous”, said Tommy Amaker, who hopes the sting of this one lingers as it did with his previous Harvard teams that went on to win back-to-back Ivy titles. Nwokedi earned Player of the Week four times in 2016-17 and was unanimously selected first-team All-Ivy. “Big players making big-time plays, that’s really exciting”. “All our guys saw that”, Henderson said.

The Penn Quakers had a tough end to regulation as they went nearly four minutes without a field goal. “It’s lived up to the billing for both games, and I’m sure this game will do the same”.

“Jeez, they didn’t lead in regulation?” He said he watched video of that loss leading up to Saturday’s game for motivation. While it was technically a home game for the Tigers on a neutral court, the Quakers used their real homecourt advantage and had the Palestra on its feet. “Took us one”, Robin Harris, the league’s executive director, said with a Cheshire-cat grin.

The Quakers have won six of eight since that 0-6 start in Ivy play. The Bulldogs have won four straight games, beating Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia and Harvard (on Saturday) in that span.

He added: “It was as good a college basketball environment as can be”. “We’re a young team”. It’s Yale-Harvard. When you coach, you don’t think in those terms.

In fact, going into the season’s final weekend, all eight teams had a mathematical chance to play here. “They’re great with the ball and they make you play at their pace”. Princeton scored the first nine points of OT and finished off Penn at the free throw line. The men’s basketball championship will be on ESPN2 and the women’s basketball championship will be on ESPNU on Sunday.