Yale vs Princeton Odds, Pick: How to Bet This Ivy League Duel

The race for first place in the Ivy League is tightening up as things reach the second half of conference play.

An important game between two of the top three teams in the conference takes place in New Jersey on Saturday evening as the Princeton Tigers host the Yale Bulldogs.

Yale held off Princeton at home in the first matchup, and the Bulldogs are undefeated atop the Ivy League. However, Tigers still have hopes for another NCAA tournament run.

Yale owns one of the nation’s longest winning streaks, as the Bulldogs have won 10 straight games following Friday’s victory at Penn. The Bulldogs are the most efficient offensive team in Ivy League play, but they don’t lead the conference in 2-point or 3-point shooting.

Cornell is first in 2-point shooting, while Columbia is tops in 3-point shooting in Ivy action. Yale ranks second in both of those categories, as the Bulldogs are knocking down 35.7% of their 3-point attempts and 57.2% of their 2-point tries.

However, Yale didn’t reach those averages in their showdown against Cornell last Saturday. The Bulldogs held off the Big Red, 80-78, in spite of hitting 3-of-14 3-point attempts and converting 54.3% of their 2-point tries.

Each of the Bulldogs' four road wins in Ivy action are against teams with losing records in conference play. Their next two away contests are against Princeton and Cornell, who are a combined 13-3 in the league.

The Bulldogs have covered in three of four opportunities as an underdog this season, but won only one of those games outright, which came at Santa Clara in late December.

Sophomore Danny Wolf was unstoppable to start February, with three straight games scoring 21 points or more. Wolf was limited to 14 points in Friday’s win over Penn.

In the first matchup with Princeton, Wolf torched the Tigers for 21 points and 12 rebounds in a 70-64 triumph as 3.5-point favorites on February 2. The Tigers led by nine points late in the first half, but the Bulldogs roared back by outscoring Princeton, 40-29, in the second half.

Princeton shot only three free throws in the loss (made all of them), while Yale missed 12 free throws. In Yale’s first four road Ivy games, the Bulldogs have shot 50-of-57 from the charity stripe, including 16-of-18 on Friday.

Mitch Henderson’s team caught the nation by surprise with its shocking run to the Sweet 16 last season. The Tigers stunned Arizona and Missouri before falling to Creighton in one of the great stories of the Big Dance.

Princeton proved last season’s run wasn’t a fluke by starting 15-1, prior to back-to-back losses to Cornell and Yale.

The Tigers are one of the nation’s best free-throw shooting teams at 79.6% overall and 81.6% in Ivy League play.

Princeton was one of the top ATS teams in the country out of the chute at 6-0, but the Tigers have slumped to a 4-9 mark against the number in the last 13 games.

The Tigers rallied past Brown on Friday, 72-63, but failed to cover as 13-point home favorites. Princeton is 1-5 ATS the last six games, as three of the ATS losses came as a double-digit favorite.

Caden Pierce knocked down all of three of his 3-point attempts against Brown, but the rest of the Princeton squad shot 3-of-22 from downtown. However, Princeton’s free-throw shooting continued to shine by going 26-of-31, including a 7-of-8 effort from leading scorer Xaivian Lee.

Princeton has fallen behind early in the last two games, so backing the Tigers in-game could be an option. The Tigers trailed Brown by 10 points, while falling behind Penn by seven points.

Princeton wasn't sharp early on Friday, but it roared back for a solid home win.

In spite of the Tigers' struggles to cover numbers recently, this is a good spot as a short favorite to avenge that loss to Yale earlier this month.

Also, Yale has been a tough team to trust in the underdog role this season.

Pick: Princeton -3.5 (Play to -4)

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