Men's basketball hosts Princeton, Penn

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – As the race for the Ivy League Tournament continues to heat up, the Brown men's basketball team will host two of the league's top teams at the Pizzitola Sports Center this weekend. The Bears take on Princeton on Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. and Penn on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 6 p.m.

The Bears took care of business in dramatic fashion in their 81-80 win over Cornell last weekend to stay alive in their quest for the postseason. Princeton cruised to a 45-point win at home over Dartmouth, while Penn took down Harvard by eight.

Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Fans are strongly encouraged to purchase tickets online at BrownBears.com/tickets prior to their arrival at the Pizzitola Sports Center. Brown Athletics has moved to completely contactless ticketing, so fans should either download their digital tickets to display on a mobile device or print them at home prior to arrival.

Scouting the Bears (12-13, 4-6 IVY)

Brown currently sits in fifth place in the Ivy League with the top four teams qualifying for the Ivy League Tournament. At 4-6, the Bears are one game behind 5-5 Cornell for the final spot in the field.
With four blocks as a team against Cornell, Brown now has 100 on the season. It leads the Ivy League and is well ahead of second-place Dartmouth's 69. 51 of the Bears' blocks belong to Jaylan Gainey who is four away from setting a single-season career-high. Gainey's 113 career blocks are fourth in program history. Alai Nuualiitia '03 is third with 119.
Kino Lilly Jr.'s 338 points are the fifth most by a freshman in program history. Jeff Samsen '81 is fourth with 355 and Mike Waitkus '83 is third at 365.

Scouting the Tigers (17-5, 7-2 IVY)

Princeton's 81.1 points per game is second in the Ivy League and the Tigers' +11.1 scoring margin is the best in the conference.
Tosan Evbuomwan leads the Ivy League with 4.9 assists per game. He averages 1.8 assists more than second place, Harvard's Noah Kirkwood.
The Tigers are 2-2 over their last four games. They dropped their only two Ivy games of the season in early February, 80-74 to Yale and 88-83 to Cornell, before rebounding in their most recent two, picking up wins at Columbia and at home against Dartmouth.

Scouting the Quakers (11-12, 8-2 IVY)

Penn is in the midst of a five-game winning streak, with wins against Yale, Columbia, Cornell, and two against Harvard. While the Quakers have been winning, the games have been relatively close with only one coming by double digits. Without the double-digit win at Columbia, the other four wins have come by an average of 6.25 points.
Jordan Dingle is averaging a league-high 20.1 points per game. Against Brown the first time around, he scored an even 20 and added five rebounds.
Penn is the only team with a winning Ivy League record to have a negative scoring margin at -2.0.
The Quakers will take on Yale this Friday before traveling to Providence on Saturday.

Last Time

Brown dropped a pair of close games earlier this season to Princeton and Penn. In their Ivy League opener, the Bears came up short against the Quakers 77-73. Three games later, Brown fell by two at Princeton, 76-74.
Tamenang Choh had 26 points and 13 rebounds against Penn. Kino Lilly Jr. and Nana Owusu-Anane were also in double figures, with 14 and 10 respectively.
Against the Tigers, Lilly put up a career-high 25, while Choh had 18 and seven assists.

Gainey's Heroics at Cornell

Jaylan Gainey recorded double-digit points for the third game in a row for the first time in his career.
The final two of his game-high 16 came with three seconds remaining as his put-back dunk lifted the Bears to an 81-80 victory over the Big Red.

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Players Mentioned

Tamenang Choh

Jaylan Gainey

Kino Lilly Jr.

Nana Owusu-Anane

Brown University Athletics