Ugly, and needed win, last night. Brown always plays physical defense, and we took advantage of that to get to the line—which is where we won the game. We were 27 of 29; they were 9 of 17.
We really miss Hunt, got almost nothing from Eisendrath, and saw Batties struggle inside against Lewis’s strength and from outside too. Barbour’s threes and Hinton’s drives were what won us the game.
Yale usually plays off bigs in pick and rolls, so we’re going to need Batties and Pigge to make their threes tonight. If they do, and if Yale has an off shooting night, we’d have an outside chance tonight even short-handed. It would help if Amaker would take Nesbitt’s minutes and give them to Mannino, who just continues to make plays every time he’s given a chance. We did that in the second half last night, and it worked pretty well. Nesbitt is just too small; he’s a liability on both ends of the court. I’d rather play no point guard and count on Pigge or Barbour to bring the ball up. Likely going to need Sullivan or Ace-Nestefski to give us 10 or so good minutes to match Yale’s size.
We’re playing for first place, which is the first time we’ve had a chance this late in the Ivy season since 2020. All kinds of motivation.
I scared my 4 year old daughter by screaming so loudly when Barbour banked in that three. Second game in a row that we’ve beaten Yale by having someone bank in a three over Townsend in the final minute.
Parrish was the X-factor, giving us unexpected points. Hinton did his thing, and everyone else chipped in just enough. We’re now in first on the tiebreaker. What a win.
Awesome win! Hinton is Harden-esque the way he draws fouls. Such a crafty, clutch player.
Even though it would be easier for Princeton if he left, I hope he stays at Harvard. It’d be good for the league. No doubt power conference teams will offer him 7-figue NIL deals.
You never know what’s going to happen with NIL. I never would have guessed that Lee would leave after staying for his junior year, or that Pierce would sit out his senior year. The money is crazy now, and anything is possible.
That said, Hinton comes from a wealthy family, and really wants to be at Harvard. He easily could have left after last year and never considered it. So if any big Ivy star is going to stay, it’s him.
Lee could have left after his sophomore year but stayed one more year out of loyalty. Which is one reason I’m still rooting for him.
Hinton’s rookie year was impressive but what he’s doing this year will get him a much bigger NIL payday. I don’t think he’s a serious NBA prospect, but he’s plenty good enough to start for a Top 25 program.
I really liked Harvard’s scrappy team effort in this game. Hostile environment and they seemed to draw together, especially on D. Really forming great walls against penetration and swarming well to the post. (And that 2-1-2 zone they showed toward the end was really effective too–seemed to play to their strengths of having eyes on the ball and anticipating passes and drives.) Hinton is so key to what they do on both ends, but their offense was nicely distributed and they looked very confident attacking Yale defenders one-on-one when necessary.