Super Bowl Sunday News:

February 3, 2013 at 9:38 am
Filed under Basketball, Denver, Georgetown, Northwestern, Oregon State, Princeton, Recruiting, Richmond, Today's News

Oregon State vs. Stanford - 3:00 pm ET - Pac-12 Network

In addition to our recap, read about Princeton's win over Cornell on goprincetontigers.com, on Big Apple Buckets, in the Trenton Times, in the Trentonian, in the Columbia Spectator and on gocolumbialions.com.

Future Tiger Steven Cook had 15 for New Trier yesterday versus St. Viator.

Elsewhere, a double-double for Henry Caruso propelled Serra.

Northwestern (13-10) scored the initial 12 points and led Purdue wire to wire in a 75-60 decision. Reggie Hearn made his first nine field goals for the Wildcats.

The back half of a Lone Star State sweep for Denver (13-8) was a 79-64 win at Texas State.

Nate Lubick had 16 points and 10 rebounds in a 68-56 Georgetown victory over St. John's. The triumph was #200 for John Thompson III as the Hoyas' head man.

Richmond (14-9) fended off Xavier at home, 73-71.

Before you settle in to watch the Big Game there's always Oregon State at Stanford.

Around the Ivy League: Is Harvard (12-6 / 4-0) a "team of destiny" or reaching Johnny Storm levels of fire-play? Brown (8-10 / 2-2) came from 22 down with 11:27 minutes to go, got to overtime courtesy a Sean McGonagill shot at the horn but could not take the lead in either of the two overtimes that followed as the Crimson survived 89-82. Errick Peck was 8-8 from the floor and Galal Cancer scored with 10 seconds to go as Cornell (10-11 / 2-2) won 71-69 over Penn (4-16 / 1-2) at The Palestra. Dartmouth (5-13 / 1-3) reached the win column in conference, 71-62 versus Yale (7-14 / 1-3). The Big Green connected on 22-24 free throws.

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George Clark said,

February 3, 2013 @ 10:36 am

If someone predicted that two finesse moves by Brendan Connolly, ON OFFENSE, would propel the Tigers to a win I might have reacted with some skepticism. But that's what happened. I tip my hat to the big and often maligned senior. Both teams suffered from the effects of the back-to-back games, the Lions somewhat more. Barbour, a legitimate POY candidate at the outset of the campaign, was anything but after a 38 minute night in Philadelphia. (Same thing happened to Rosen last season on Saturday night in Jadwin.) Sure, the Tigers have allowed quick, penetrating guards to get to the glass too often, but it's hard to finish in the "trees." What I liked about the beginning of the Ivy campaign was the ability to find different ways to win, truly the mark of maturing team. Penn held Hummer down; TJ responds with career night. Hummer has a huge first half on Friday; Koon steps up in the second. On Saturday Hummer keeps the Lions at bay from the FREE THROW LINE! One constant: TJ is Mr. Steady at both ends. Rarely makes a bad decision and seems to make big shots at the end of the clock, the way Doug Davis did. Sure, there is work to do but a 7-1 streak is pretty impressive.

Steven Postrel said,

February 4, 2013 @ 2:48 am

After my earlier grousing about the D against Columbia, let me second the glass-mostly-full part of the story:

Princeton looked very poised, like they expected to win and knew what to do on each possession. It helps that they always beat Columbia at home, but you can't take that mindset for granted.

Connolly has always been a defensive stalwart. Great to see him swooping in for pretty scores on the offensive end too. To my eye, he has always seemed fairly coordinated and skillful but a bit hesitant--more of a deep thinker than a quick decision-maker. If he can get to that zen state of just being in the flow, there's nothing to stop him from being productive.

I loved the way Bray, Barrett, and Koon used their size and court vision to find alleys to attack the rim by pass and drive. They showed some bounce off the floor, too.

Clement came in and slowed the bleeding from Columbia's driving guards.

Hummer played a terrific game without many field goals and showed great leadership. Strong at the FT line, too.

When Bray is going well you start to take him for granted a little bit because his play is so economical and sensible. But that three with the shot clock winding down in the second half was definitely noteworthy.

The Tigers protected their home court and have a clean loss column after three games. They have to be feeling good about the campaign so far.

George Clark said,

February 4, 2013 @ 9:56 am

Connolly remains an enigma as his Tiger career winds down. He has been a contributor to teams that reestablished the Tiger brand of excellence in the Ivy League, teams that won more than 60 games (and counting). But I have always expected, perhaps unfairly, that a guy with his physical attributes would be a dominant player. Last year, early in the season, I suggested that "Connolly needs something good to happen." On Saturday night something very good happened. Let's hope he can continue to make things happen when he gets his opportunities.