Surprise! I've inched out of college basketball reporting retirement to join Coach Sydney Johnson & Lawrence Schuler as a correspondent for THE Ivy League Hoops Hour, a weekly podcast which is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and everywhere else you get your shows! If you liked this site you'll enjoy their show greatly and I highly recommend subscribing.
Postgame audio from Coach John Thompson III, Nate Lubick, Markel Starks and Otto Porter can be found after the jump. I have something different than my usual recap planned, but that will have to wait until the morning.
I was able to duck down to the Wells Fargo Center this afternoon for a pair of Georgetown news conferences before the Hoyas held a sparsely attended open practice in advance of tomorrow's NCAA Tournament game versus Florida Gulf Coast.
Audio from John Thompson III and select players can be found after the jump.
Wednesday, March 20
Fairfield vs. Kent State
CIT - 7:00 pm ET
Richmond vs. Bryant
CBI - 7:00 pm ET
Thursday, March 21
(3) Denver vs. (2) Maryland
NIT - 7:00 pm ET - ESPNU
(14) Harvard vs. (3) New Mexico
NCAA - 9:50 pm ET - TNT
Friday, March 22
(15) Florida Gulf Coast vs. (2) Georgetown
NCAA - 6:50 pm ET - TBS
The first-ever postseason victory for Denver (22-9) sure was exciting. Ohio's Reggie Kelly missed a potentially-tying jump hook in the lane with seven seconds left and with the Bobcats looking to foul senior Chase Hallem chucked a long outlet to Jalen Love who immediately offered a touch pass back to Royce O'Neale for the game-clinching dunk with one tick remaining. The Pioneers advance to play at Maryland tomorrow night in the NIT's second round.
Richmond plays at Bryant in the CBI and Fairfield visits Kent State for a first round CIT contest tonight.
John Thompson III says Georgetown plans on "being around for a while" in the NCAA Tournament.
Craig Robinson is banking on a turnaround at Oregon State.
A new "Sit Down With Sydney" is embedded below.
Syracuse/Georgetown III wasn't pretty. In fact at times it approached the antithesis of beautiful, but it certainly was memorable.
The Hoyas came from down 12 in the second half to reach overtime on a pair of Otto Porter free throws but never once regained a lead they lost midway through the opening frame.
Trailing by three with :14.4 left, Georgetown (25-6) was unable to get a tying shot off. John Thompson III drew up a play that would run Porter off a screen but Porter became trapped on the far wing as Syracuse (25-8) chewed up on the arc defensively and threw an off-kilter pass away to the Orange's C.J. Fair.
"[The Orange] played it well," Thompson III acknowledged.
Fair missed a pair of potentially game-sealing free throws with three ticks on the clock but Jabril Trawick's running 35' shot at the buzzer was off target.
Syracuse had survived to attain their final Big East title game despite 1-6 shooting from the line in overtime. The Hoyas' offense stagnated with 3:36 to go in overtime as their point guard Markel Starks fouled out via a bump on a drive.
Postgame audio from Coach John Thompson III, Otto Porter and Markel Starks plus the rest of this recap can be found after the jump.
Georgetown was steady for both the opening 15 minutes and the closing 15 minutes of the Big East Tournament quarterfinals' opening game. It was more than enough to sandwich a shakier middle section.
"In the first half we were letting them get open shots that they're going to make," said Hoya head coach John Thompson III. "In the second half we were much more attentive and then our guys did a very decent job of guarding their penetration."
Thompson's squad outscored Cincinnati 24-8 to start the contest and closed on a 31-10 run after the Bearcats had taken their first lead since the extremely early-going.
Postgame audio from Coach John Thompson III, Otto Porter, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera and Markel Starks plus the rest of this recap can be found after the jump.
If this was in fact the end - and it felt more finite afterwards than expected - then at least Princeton' senior class went out on the high note of their seventh win over Penn in eight tries.
In perhaps his final collegiate contest, Ian Hummer scored 10 of his 18 points down the last 9:20 as the Tigers were able to eventually break open a bittersweet regular season finale at The Palestra. A game that saw neither team in front by more than five across the opening 35 minutes fell apart for the Quakers at the close.
T.J. Bray curled behind a Hummer screen for a wing three to make it 56-51 Princeton with 5:04 left and following Tony Hicks' miss of a left baseline jumper guarded well by Chris Clement, Hummer took a Bray feed and glided to his left for a basket as Patrick Lucas-Perry fouled him, the Tiger senior punching the padding surrounding the basket support as he let loose with a scream.
While Lucas-Perry responded with a right side three over Clement, Bray found Hummer again cutting inside. Subsequent to a Miles Cartwright turnover Clement fought off Lucas-Perry on a drive for a nine point margin.
Once Penn fell down by three possessions they made repeated bad decisions with the ball and took ill-advised jumpers.
In addition to Hummer's 18, Bray added 13 plus three assists without a turnover while Will Barrett and Mack Darrow each contributed 11. Darrow (who hit double figures for just the second time this year) and fellow senior Brendan Connolly made the start for Princeton in what could have been the final contest of their respective careers.
It was the first time Darrow, Connolly and Hummer began a game on the floor together.
“We’re happy to send those guys out the right way,” head coach Mitch Henderson said of the senior-fueled victory.
Hicks led Penn with 22 but petered out after a stellar 17 point first half. Shooting 7-9 in the opening 20 minutes, Hicks was 2-10 in the back frame and did not score the final 14:56.
Postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson, Ian Hummer & T.J. Bray plus the rest of this recap can be found after the jump.
Watching Brown disintegrate Princeton's hope at capturing even a share of the 2012-13 Ivy League title, my thoughts turned to another group of New Jersey stalwarts who have been making music since the three point line was first introduced to college basketball - Yo La Tengo.
Their 13th and most recent album "Fade" opens as follows:
Sometimes the bad guys come out on top
Sometimes the good guys lose
We try not to lose our hearts
Not to lose our minds
Seven days ago there was an audible roar emanating from the home locker room at Jadwin Gym. I heard it, as did everyone else walking out of the media room. The Tigers had moved past Harvard by half a game in the conference standings. All that separated Princeton from the NCAA Tournament was a path of three straight difficult yet manageable road games.
A week later there was little more than silence as morose Princeton assistant coaches filed out of a locker room in Providence filled equally with tears and disbelief.
From the joy of first place to eliminated with one contest left to play.
A loss at Yale. A loss at Brown.
Just like that.
All weekend the Tigers played from behind, searching for a single play or moment of significance that could turn their fortunes around. Princeton only led briefly throughout these 80 minutes in New Haven and Providence, scoring the first four points tonight (a Denton Koon hook and a Hans Brase face up jumper) before the Bears answered with 10 straight. From that point the home team had some degree of control over the ballgame that Princeton could never recapture.
Postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson plus the rest of this recap can be found after the jump.
Yale couldn’t miss and now to make the NCAA Tournament, Princeton can’t lose again.
When the Tigers and Bulldogs met down at Jadwin Gym a month ago, Yale had an incredible effective field goal percentage of 77.5% in the first half as they took an eight point lead at the break and eventually ended Princeton’s 22 game home winning streak.
It didn't seem like James Jones' team could do much better than that but on Friday night the sweep-minded Bulldogs remarkably topped that original number handily, going 14-20 from the floor and 6-8 from three in the opening 20 minutes (85.0 EFG%), building as large as a 14 point lead on an Austin Morgan three with 4:03 left before intermission.
“Not much changed from the first game to the second game. Yale was the better team,” Tigers head coach Mitch Henderson admitted. “They had a step on us the whole night.”
Down 12 at the break, Princeton turned in a fairly spectacular second half of their own shooting the ball - 63.6% from the floor and 8-16 from outside the arc - but never slowed Yale down enough and never reached the point where they had possession and a chance to take their first lead.
On five occasions however the Tigers had a shot to pull even, the last coming when T.J. Bray drove the length of the floor and stopped to fire from three, only to have his attempt blocked soundly by Armani Cotton.
Cotton added two free throws with under a second left for the final margin.
Bray scored all 17 of his points in the second half. Will Barrett was 4-6 from three point range on his way to 16 and Denton Koon had 13. Ian Hummer added nine points and seven assists without a turnover.
While the Tigers had 12 miscues versus Bulldog pressure, only five came in the second frame.
Michael Grace and Greg Kelly each totaled 13 for Yale. The Elis shot 60.5% for the ballgame, 60% from three point range and 16-20 from the free throw line.
As Yale was holding off Princeton, Harvard was rallying past Columbia as the Tigers and Crimson flip-flopped a half game lead in the Ivy League for the second time in as many contests.
Postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson, T.J. Bray & Will Barrett plus the rest of this recap can all found after the jump.
Penn State vs. Northwestern - 7:00 pm ET - ESPNU
Texas-Arlington vs. Denver - 9:00 pm ET
Oregon State vs. Utah - 9:00 pm ET - ESPNU
The majority of Princeton's 2013 recruiting class was in action last night.
Peter Miller and Northfield Mount Hermon took home the National Prep Championship with a win over Brewster Academy.
Khyan Rayner led Jesuit to the Class 6A boys’ basketball tournament semifinals.
Atlantic City ended East Brunswick's season by two in the NJSIAA Group 4 semis. Amir Bell had seven points and six rebounds in the loss.
The high school career of Spencer Weisz concluded as Seton Hall Prep fell to St. Peter's Prep 63-57 in the NJSIAA North Jersey, Non-Public A final. Weisz scored 19 before fouling out.
The Town Topics has pieces on the Tigers' victories over Harvard and Dartmouth.
Jeff Green's game winner for the Celtics came off a play suggested by Armond Hill.
An 11 game Georgetown (23-5) winning streak ended 67-57 at Villanova.
Tied with 3:19 to go, #19 VCU went on a 9-0 run to top Richmond (17-13).
A new "Sit Down With Sydney" is embedded below.
Tonight Northwestern hosts Penn State, Denver welcomes UT-A and Oregon State heads to Utah.
If it wasn't for a foot injury endured during Princeton's non-conference slate last season, tonight would have been Will Barrett's Senior Night.
The re-junior with an extra year of eligibility remaining lifted his former 2013 classmates in their final contest at Jadwin Gym, scoring a career high 23 on 5-11 three point shooting to rally an initially clumsy and careless band of Tigers past Dartmouth.
Barrett made three consecutive shots from behind the arc with Princeton up five, helping extend a late advantage to 57-47 with 3:26 remaining.
The Tigers converted their final 10 free throws to hold off the Big Green before five points against the far bench reserves in the last seven seconds made the final closer than it seemed.
“I’m really happy for the senior class to get a home sweep,” said Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson. “It wasn’t a pretty game for us but I think this kind of happens in the [Ivy] League.”
In addition to Barrett's outside shooting, T.J. Bray hit four of five times from deep on his way to 21 points and Ian Hummer totaled 13 in his ultimate game at home.
A night after going 1-10 from three, the Tigers returned to form connecting on 10-19 outside attempts including an 8-13 second half.
Randy Melville's son Tyler was superb for Dartmouth, scoring a personal best 23 on 9-11 attempts. He was joined by Gabas Maldunas (17) in double figures.
Princeton trailed 19-11 with 6:35 left in the first half and 21-20 at the intermission before returning on an 11-3 run.
Postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson, Will Barrett & Brendan Connolly plus the rest of this recap can all found after the jump.
Today's Game: Dartmouth (7-18 / 3-8) vs. Princeton (15-9 / 8-2)
Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ
Time: 6:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: N/A
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Princeton leads 143-61.
Last meeting: Princeton 73 Dartmouth 55 - 2/15/13.
| Dartmouth | Princeton | |
| 4-7 | Home Record | 8-4 |
| 3-11 | Away Record | 7-4 |
| 0-0 | Neutral Record | 0-1 |
| 308 | RPI | 110 |
| 306 | Sagarin | 88 |
| 292 | Pomeroy | 77 |
| 60.6 | Points / Game | 63.8 |
| 66.2 | Points Allowed / Game | 56.8 |
| .397 | FG% | .466 |
| .712 | FT% | .724 |
| .333 | 3PT FG% | .390 |
| 32.0 | Rebounds / Game | 31.7 |
| 10.3 | Off. Rebounds / Game | 9.2 |
| -2.2 | Rebounding Margin | +3.2 |
| 10.5 | Assists / Game | 14.4 |
| 13.8 | Turnovers / Game | 12.5 |
| 2.4 | Blocks / Game | 3.2 |
| Mitola: 11.0 | Points | Hummer: 16.4 |
| Maldunas: 6.6 | Rebounds | Hummer: 6.6 |
| Mitola: 2.0 | Assists | Hummer: 4.2 |
| Gil: 1.7 | Steals | Bray: 1.8 |
| Maldunas: 1.3 | Blocks | Hummer: 0.8 |
| Boehm: .460 | FG% (Min: 10 FGM) | Koon: .555 |
| Mitola: .870 | FT% (Min: 10 FTM) | Koon: .800 |
| Melville: .400 | 3PT FG% (Min: 10 3PTM) | Barrett: .514 |
Richmond vs. Dayton - 4:00 pm ET
Mercer vs. Essex - 5:00 pm ET - Region XIX final
New Mexico State vs. Denver - 6:00 pm ET - ESPN3
Rutgers vs. Georgetown - 9:00 pm ET - ESPNU
Harvard vs. Penn - 6:00 pm ET - NBCSN
Yale vs. Cornell - 7:00 pm ET
Brown vs. Columbia - 7:00 pm ET
Join fellow site members in the forum before/during/after tonight's game, whether you're in the stands for Senior Night or listening at home. You must be subscribed and logged in to participate.
In addition to our recap, read about Princeton's win over Harvard on goprincetontigers.com, in the Star Ledger, in the Trentonian, in the Trenton Times, in the Boston Globe, in the Crimson, on CBS Sports, on Ivy Hoops Online and on gocrimson.com.
The Trentonian also has a piece on Ian Hummer passing Doug Davis for second all-time in scoring at Princeton.
There's a story about future Tiger Steven Cook in Wilmette Life. Cook's New Trier squad were victorious in Illinois' Class 4A regional final.
Cook also received All-Area honorable mention honors.
Princeton recruit Amir Bell and East Brunswick advanced to the Central Jersey, Group 4 tournament finals, where they will host Trenton.
Khyan Rayner and Jesuit made it out of the OSAA Class 6A state playoff's second round unscathed.
Another double-double for Kareem Maddox at Newcastle.
In the lowest-scoring game in MAAC history, Manhattan topped Fairfield (17-13) by a 34-31 final.
Richmond plays at Dayton, Mercer's in the Region XIX finals (which you can stream live video of here for free), Denver hosts New Mexico State and Georgetown welcomes Rutgers late.
Below, Rich Chvotkin has the call for the conclusion of the Hoyas' double OT win at UConn.
Around the Ivy League: Brown (11-14 / 5-6) made 13 three pointers in a 84-65 win at Shonn Miller-less Cornell (13-15 / 5-6). Maodo Lo had a career high 20 as Columbia (12-13 / 4-7) stopped Yale (11-17 / 5-6) by 13. Dartmouth (7-18 / 3-8) heads to Jadwin Gym on the heels of just their sixth win at The Palestra, 69-64 over Penn (7-20 / 4-6).
