On Friday night, it was Radford, and on Saturday night, it was Yale who picked up their second win over a Power 5 school on the season. In so doing, they gave another reminder that the Ivy League will not simply be Harvard, Penn and everybody else.
In the final game of the Hoophall Miami Invitational – and the only one not available on a TV station (you needed ESPN3 or the ESPN app to get the game), Yale gradually rallied in the second half and took over in the final minutes to knock off Miami 77-73 in what was essentially a home game for the Hurricanes. Miami had a 68-59 lead at one point, but finished the game making just two of their final 17 shots.
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It would have been easy to pick Harvard and Penn as the clear top two teams; both were in the league title game last season after tying for the regular season title, and both return most of their team. But Yale has been a steady team all this time, and all James Jones’ teams do in that league is finish in the top half of the league and at least push the top contenders. Through his tenure in New Haven, which is now in its 20th season, it’s been a lock that the Bulldogs would do that. Only once – Jones’ first season at the helm – have they not finished in the top half of the league.
Even as the league saw a changing of the guard of sorts – from being dominated by Penn and Princeton to Cornell winning three straight to Harvard becoming a powerhouse and then Princeton re-establishing itself, Yale has been a consistent top half team and a strong contender. Over the last four seasons, the Bulldogs are 42-14 in Ivy League play, including two league titles, one of which came right before their win over Baylor in the NCAA Tournament in 2016.
What’s more, since that win over Baylor, where Makai Mason shined and got into the national spotlight, Yale has not missed a beat without him. He missed last season with an injury and then transferred, ironically, to Baylor because he had no eligibility left in the Ivy League due to their rules. Miye Oni quickly became a star, and the Bulldogs have a balanced attack behind him with guys like Jordan Bruner, Alex Copeland and Azar Swain, who provides instant offense off the bench.
The Bulldogs opened this season by beating Cal in China. That win may not be worth much in the end, as it may be a long season in Berkeley, but they are still a Power 5 team (and the Golden Bears also lost convincingly last night, 84-71 at Saint Mary’s). The win over Miami will be more valuable, though the Bulldogs won’t be competing for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when it’s all said and done. If anything, these wins will help them prepare for the Ivy League and, should they win the league tournament, perhaps get a little better seed than they would otherwise.
Yale will have plenty of challenges before Ivy League play gets going. A visit from Patriot League contender Lehigh and a trip to Duke are next up, and visits from Albany and Iona won’t be easy wins. But with two Power 5 wins in their pocket, this team has already shown that they can beat good teams and can go in with the confidence to keep winning.
Side Dishes
The individual effort of the day goes to Marquette star guard Markus Howard. The junior has been known to have big games, and on Saturday he had 45 points to push the Golden Eagles past visiting Kansas State 83-71 in their biggest win thus far this season. He’s been overshadowed a bit in the Big East, although opposing teams certainly know about him, and it’s high time his star rose a bit.
The Hoophall Miami Invitational had three other games earlier in the day. St. John’s held off Georgia Tech 76-73 to start the day, getting 37 points from Shamorie Ponds to overcome a double-double by James Banks III (14 points, 12 rebounds) for Georgia Tech. Then Texas Tech came from behind to beat Memphis going away 78-67, finishing the game on a 34-11 run. At one point, Memphis led by 13 in the second half. NC State pulled away from Vanderbilt 80-65 in the last game before Yale knocked off Miami.
Stanford had a chance at a big win, but they let Lagerald Vick get wide open for a game-tying three-pointer in the final seconds that sent their game at Kansas into overtime. It was all Jayhawks in the extra session as they knocked off the Cardinal 90-84 in Lawrence.
As Nevada used a big second half to beat USC 73-61, Jordan Caroline reminded us that the Martin twins aren’t the only stars in town. He had a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds, and he’s one more big cog in their experienced engine that makes them so good.
Creighton certainly gave Gonzaga challenge, as could be expected, especially since the game was in Omaha. But the Bulldogs had too much in the second half, scoring 62 points after intermission to overcome a seven-point halftime deficit to pull out a 103-92 win over the Bluejays behind another big game from Brandon Clarke (27 points, 10 rebounds).
The beginning of Big Ten play continued on Saturday, and unlike Friday night, it was a good day to be a home team as they won all three games. Michigan stayed hot with a convincing 76-57 win over Purdue, Maryland got past Penn State 66-59 behind a double-double from Bruno Fernando (12 points, 13 rebounds) and Indiana got a double-double from Juwan Morgan (17 points, 12 rebounds) to edge Northwestern 68-66.
Houston looked like they would run away from Oregon in the opener for their new Fertitta Center, as they ran out to a 33-13 lead and watched the Ducks call three timeouts. Oregon would slowly cut into the lead, then used a late run to get within 63-61, which seemed unthinkable earlier. The Cougars would go on to seal a 65-61 win to stay undefeated at 6-0.
In a battle of arch rivals who both lost significant pieces from last season, host Providence took care of Rhode Island 59-50. Of note, the scoring pace slowed significantly in the second half, as the teams combined to score just 43 points after intermission.
With two road wins on Saturday, the Mountain West managed to even up the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge for the third year in a row. San Diego State beat Illinois State and New Mexico beat Bradley 85-75.
Tonight’s Menu
The slate is considerably lighter in the number of games, but the quality is not lacking, including more early Big Ten games.
- Arizona pays a visit to Hartford to take on UConn (1 p.m.)
- UCF hits the road to take on Missouri (3 p.m.)
- In more early Big Ten play, Illinois travels to Nebraska (5 p.m.) and Ohio State hosts Minnesota (7 p.m.)
- Washington will get a good test as UC Santa Barbara visits them (8 p.m.)
- Loyola Marymount puts their undefeated mark on the line as they make the short trip to UCLA (10 p.m.)
