The Hard Way

There's doing things the easy way, and then there's doing things the hard way.

This was a "doing things the hard way" weekend for Princeton basketball. The end results were exactly what both teams needed, no matter how they got there.

TigerBlog checked on the women's basketball score at halftime Friday and saw it was 30-20 Harvard.

Knowing that Columbia was going to be a heavy favorite in its final two games (and Columbia defeated Brown 83-55 Saturday), TB's first thought was this: Welp, now it's time to see what Carla Berube's team is made of.

The answer came 20 minutes later: A lot.

Not that there was much doubt. This team has shown time and again what it can do when times get tough.

This time, though, it was a bit different. This time was a more immediate challenge with big stakes. This wasn't preparing all week for a big game. This was adjusting and rallying to stay in the championship hunt.

Final score: Princeton 51, Harvard 47.

How did that happen? It was the way Berube's teams always play. Defense, and toughness.

After allowing 30 first half points, Princeton held Harvard to 17 in the second half, with nine in the third quarter and then eight in the fourth. Harvard shot 46 percent in the first half (12 for 26) and then was hounded into 35 percent in the second (7 for 20). 

Princeton, for its part, shot 25 percent in the first three quarters and then 6 for 10 in the fourth quarter. It was a 47-47 game with less than a minute to go when Princeton got the three winning plays, all on toughness. 

First, there was an offensive rebound by Ellie Mitchell (her fifth of the night and 12th overall; when you see Mitchell's intensity in chasing down loose balls, you can't help but think of Mason Rocca). Then there was the Kaitlyn Chen basket that proved to be the winner. Lastly, there was one more defensive stop.

Princeton 49, Harvard 47 | 0:19 4th@Kaitilyn2 DOES IT AGAIN!

💻 - https://t.co/3Pex9ynIVM
📊- https://t.co/0WMBYltvlu#GetStops 🐯🏀 pic.twitter.com/LL87CpW87l

— Princeton WBB (@PrincetonWBB) February 25, 2023

Watch the Chen basket again. How many times would she make that shot? It's hardly high percentage. Game on the line? No problem. 

As for the men, Princeton held off Harvard 58-56 after leading by 18 points in the second half. Again, this wasn't easy, especially since Harvard needed a win to stay in the hunt for an Ivy tournament spot. Princeton made every big play it needed to at the end, including 5 for 6 foul shooting in the final 20 seconds and 2 for 2 by both Ryan Langborg and Caden Pierce in the final nine seconds.

Just like for the women, there was a lot on the line for the men as well. Princeton entered the weekend in a three-way tie for first with Penn and Yale, and with a home game against the Quakers left this coming Saturday (noon tipoff) to end the regular season.

Yale and Penn both won their games as well, so those three are all 9-4 heading into the final game. Harvard, Dartmouth and Columbia have all been eliminated, and either Brown (7-6) and Cornell (6-7) will be the fourth men's team at Jadwin next weekend for the tournament. 

In addition to the Penn-Princeton game, it'll be Columbia at Cornell, Yale at Brown and Harvard at Dartmouth. Those matchups are reversed for the women.

The Princeton-Penn men's winner is assured of at least a share of the Ivy title. Yale would get one too by beating Brown; should Brown beat Yale, then 1) Brown would be the fourth team in the tournament and 2) the Princeton-Penn winner becomes the outright champion.

Cornell can still get in by beating Columbia and having Yale beat Brown, depending on what happens with the top three.

On the women's side, it's like this: 

Princeton and Columbia would tie for the championship if they both win or both lose. One would be the outright champion should it win and the other lose.

Penn and Harvard are already in. There are all kinds of different scenarios related to seedings, which likely could come down to NET rankings.

Figuring out all the tiebreakers won't be easy. Neither will the tournament once the games start.

Tomorrow is March. Nothing is easy in basketball this time of year.