Ivy Teams Stuggling On Saturday Road Games

If last weekend’s games showed anything, it was how tough the Ivy League’s unique Friday-Saturday schedule can be to road teams on the second night.

Of the four games played last Saturday, three of the road teams suffered somewhat surprising losses, while the fourth had to grind out a tough win.

First, title favorite Penn suffered its first loss of the conference campaign at Yale, 77-68. Then streaking Cornell had its four-game winning streak snapped at Lavietes Pavillion to a Harvard team that had been blown off its home court by Columbia the night before. The same Lions team that won handily on the Crimson’s home court struggled all night at Dartmouth the next day, before pulling out a 63-55. Finally, struggling Brown picked up its second win of the season by beating sluggish perrenial power Princeton in Providence.

On to this weekend’s games.

BROWN (11-7, 2-0)at CORNELL (11-9, 4-2)

Fresh off their second league win, the Bears visit the Big Red on the opening night of their road trip. Unfortunately for Brown, Cornell has too much talent and this game is too important for the hosts to do anything but win. The Big Red by 12.

DARTMOUTH (7-12, 2-4)at PENN (12-8, 3-1)

Like Brown, the Big Green face the higher-ranked on its first game of the weekend. Just like the Bears, however, Dartmouth faces a very talented team that will likely be fired up after suffering a surprise loss on the road last Saturday. The Quakers take it by 10 in their home opener.

HARVARD (9-9, 3-3 at PRINCETON (9-8, 0-4)

This looks may be the Crimson’s best chances for a win at Jadwin Gym since 1989, but the Tigers should be fired up in their first conference home game. It won’t be enough as Harvard wins by 3.

YALE (9-10, 5-1)at COLUMBIA (12-8, 3-3)

The Bulldogs might be the hottest team in the league following their home sweep of Princeton and Penn. Columbia still has hope for a league title this season, but expect that hope to end tonight with Yale coach James Jones getting the better of his brother Joe, the Lions’ coach. Yale by six.

HARVARD at PENN

Last year, on the second night of its Penn-Princeton trip, Harvard lost 75-48 at Jadwin gym. That doesn’t bode well for its trip to the Palestrea. Quakers by 9.

BROWN at COLUMBIA

If it makes the Bears feel any better, they probably wouldn’t have won this game on a Friday night either. Columbia wins by 10.

YALE at CORNELL

The winner of this game will be in good shape to contend for the league title with Penn. With the Bulldogs on the road for the second time in as many days, look for Cornell to take it by 4.

DARTMOUTH at PRINCETON

How much will Dartmouth have left after going against high-octane Penn the night before? The guess is not much. Tigers by six to claim their first Ivy win, but not their last.

-Staff writer Ted Kirby can be reached at tjkirby@fas.harvard.edu