Can’t remember a worse collapse, loss.
Trying to see the bright side, their 37m domination showed that the opening weekend wasn’t a fluke.
They CAN make Ivy Madness. And they can even pull an upset there.
But they need to sustain their defensive energy for 40 MINUTES. Not 37. Not 38. Not 39.
From heaven to hell in 3 minutes.
That final shot in regular was the final insult.
What the heck was Mitch thinking? Get it to Dalen or Hicke!! Let them get a 2 or FTs.
Dalen is not right. Was a liability to be honest.
That’s possible. Then it should have been Hicke to ice it.
Such a disastrous game.
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looked to me like it was designed for someone else (assume Hicke but didn’t see closely) and they panicked when they couldn’t get it to him right away
I am surprised the ball did not find Stanton more often in the last 5 minutes of regulation.
Malik would also be a great option with 7s left. He was invincible 1-on1 in the paint.
Malik looked uber confused those last 3 minutes
Inexcusable. Sat on the ball. Not playing to win. Hoping the clock runs out and you escape with a win. Got a well deserved collapse loss.
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I’m more troubled by the collapse of the offense than I am the defense. Harvard has good players and they started to cook at the end. Our guys were piling up fouls so they challenged less on D.
On the offensive side, it looked like we just stopped playing hard, thinking we could just wind down the clock then start something late in the clock. Dalen was obviously not right and yet he attempted a few drives and shots that would have been really tough if he was healthy. Those get scored as missed shots but they were effectively turnovers. Harvard turned up the heat and instead of cutting harder and creating openings, we stood around. We threw some passes that were common at the beginning of the season but that Id thought were behind us.
This is a very young team and these things happen to very young teams. Let’s hope they shake this off and come out strong against the Green on Monday.
PS The worst collapse in recent memory was the home loss to Yale in 2023 after going up 18 points That season turned out pretty well
Go Tigers!
Good point. Stanton and Clark looked rattled once it got close. Even Malik missed a couple of big FTs.
I mentioned this in the Ivy forum, but three games in, every team already has an ugly loss of some kind. They bounced back from agonizing losses before and they can do it again.
It’s nice to know this squad can play at such a high level. For 37 minutes, that was the most complete Princeton basketball I’ve seen in a long time.
Shouldn’t the coaches tell them to stay aggressive. Ten guys sitting there in orange shirts and zero adjustments
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Ghastly loss.
if you want a silver lining or three:
- Tigers are still tied for the lead at 2-1. (Ofc at least 1 of the 5 teams will not make it to Ithaca)
- Landon Clark has arrived.
- Joe Scott is a welcome distraction
- The Women put a beating on Dartmouth without St Rose, and with Hutcherson, Tall and Nweke sitting out most of the 2nd half (hopefully Carla choosing to rest them for Harvard and not injury) and Lessig unavailable as well.
On to Monday Fingers crossed.
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I went back and reviewed the last three minutes, when we were up by 14.
-terrible time inbounding the ball:
3:06 after made shot, Clark inbounded of Stantons hands. Stanton had some words with Clark; did he want a bounce pass?
2:56 after Pigge 3 (turning point; soft brush screen on weak side) Mitch draws up long inbound (I actually could see the play on TV) which was almost not caught by Abdullahi. Fortunately escaped with two made foul shots by Malik.
2:02 Sideout inbound pass by Hicke stolen, leading to another 3 by Pigge off screen.
Also, with 12 seconds remaining after Hinton jam, ball was brought up in a very lackadaisical fashion. Hence only 6.7 sec. left for the last play, which was weak
I think this is all on coaches
Davis bricked a 3, Stanton bricked a 3, and Malik missed front of 1&1. Fatigue? Lack of energy?
I have always thought Amaker’s teams were less than the sum of the parts, but yesterday for the last three minutes the talent showed, and coaching was good.
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On the coaches, agreed. What are the instructions, adjustments after calling multiple time outs?
I rewatched the final play in regulation and that was baffling too. Clark catches the inbounds from Hicke and Hicke is right there with his hands out to get it back. But Clark keeps it and takes an awkward off-balance runner. I gotta believe Landon wouldn’t take it himself unless that was the play called. Last shot should have been Hicke or Davis, who can draw fouls even if they miss the shot.
This team is one of the youngest in D1 and they looked it yesterday. I’m still insanely impressed that they went on the road and absolutely dominated on both ends for 37 minutes. They just got rattled when Harvard went on a run and the crowd suddenly got into it.
Now they know that they need to play like they’re down 15, even when they’re leading by 15.
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It’s on the coaches. Plenty of them wearing orange shirts.
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Truly hideous loss down the stretch. This team has been susceptible to ball pressure all year, half court andf full, even when DD is playing. Coaches really need to work on inbounding and press breaks and generally not panicking when the other team is overplaying and crowding the ball.
My general advice when this team starts looking scared in the headlights and giving up a run would be to turn the tables immediately by pressuring the other team and trying to play into the chaos with deflections, loose balls, etc., to get physicality back and break the cycle. Even if a couple of layups are given up, that’s better than just unwinding.
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Also, go for the homerun pass more. We have athletes and size that can catch long passes down the court.
Malik caught a tough one and got fouled for 2 FTs.
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