Thankfully for one of these teams, someone has to win. Penn is coming off a surprising win against Brown, but that game might have said more about Brown, which couldn’t close out a five-point lead with 20 seconds left, than it did about the Quakers. Dartmouth is the only Ivy still winless in conference play, but this match-up at home is its best chance for a win all season. I’m taking the Big Green in a nail-biter.
Pick: Dartmouth 62, Penn 59
BROWN (7-14, 1-3 Ivy) at COLUMBIA (7-11, 1-3)
The Bears stumbled last week against Penn, and their road gets harder this week with a trip to New York. Knowing that Cornell looms on Saturday, Brown needs to play with extra urgency against the Lions or risk falling to 1-5 in league play.
Columbia would normally have a good shot at the Bears, but senior guard Patrick Foley went down with a shoulder injury last week, and his status is questionable. This game is a toss-up, but I like the Lions behind guard Noruwa Agho, who seemed to find his three-point stroke against Dartmouth.
Pick: Columbia 65, Brown 60
PRINCETON at DARTMOUTH
The Big Green had better win Friday night, or its season will continue to snowball with a loss here to Princeton and next week on the road to Brown and Yale. The Tigers are simply in a different class than Dartmouth and have no business losing on the back end of their trip.
Pick: Princeton 66, Dartmouth 47
YALE at COLUMBIA
This game is another virtual toss-up for Columbia. I imagine Yale will be hungry after getting shellacked by Cornell, but the Bulldogs simply aren’t good enough to have their way with the Lions. The game will likely be a showdown between Zampier and Agho. Given the injury to Foley, I don’t know if Agho can carry the scoring burden on back-to-back nights. I’m giving the slight edge to Yale.
Pick: Yale 61, Columbia 56
BROWN at No. 25 CORNELL
In terms of margin of victory, I wouldn’t rule out any possibilities for this game. Cornell beat Harvard, the supposed second best team in the conference, by 36. My guess is that the Big Red will stop around 25 tonight.
Pick: Cornell 80, Brown 55
PENN at HARVARD
After facing two tough teams in a row, the Crimson will find some respite on Saturday. Penn’s Zack Rosen is an excellent point guard and is even being heralded as a dark horse for conference Player of the Year, but the Quakers simply aren’t on Harvard’s level. Hopefully the Crimson uses this game to work out some of the problems it’s had over the last few games—ball control, shooting, and foul trouble.
Pick: Harvard 79, Penn 54
RECORD LAST WEEK: 7-1 (To date: 7-1)
—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at twalsh@fas.harvard.edu.