The Elis played their toughest road weekend of the season at Penn and Princeton. They finished with a 1-1 split.
And Anthony Dallier’s absence spelled the difference.
The senior played, as usual, a solid floor game against Penn and Yale won, 68-60, on the strength of 18 second-half points from freshman forward Miye Oni.
Dallier – who has scored in double figures six times this season and ranks second in the Ivy League in assists – was out at Princeton with a stomach problem and Yale fell, 66-58.
The Elis led 54-53 on an Alex Copeland jumper with 3:04 to go, but the Tigers, led by Myles Stephens, scores the next 11 points to put the game out of control.
Copeland was heroic with 21 points and Trey Phills played a solid floor game with eight points, but the combo a the point could not make up for Dallier’s efficiency.
Yale scores at the rate of 1.15 points on each possession with Dallier in the game and far less without him. That was very evident at Jadwin.
Former Princeton athletic director and point guard Gary Walters noted that both teams played “very good perimeter defense,” Yale especially on Devin Cannady and Princeton on Oni.
The teams will meet again on February 17. With Dallier on the floor, it should be a far different game and might be a different result for the two best teams in the Ivies. Another meeting at the Palestra in March on a Sunday afternoon is not out of the question.
There’s no doubt that Dallier is a good player, and certainly Yale would have preferred having him available. But it’s a stretch to say that his absence was the difference in the game. Copeland had an amazing game. Would adding Dallier be worth 9 points more considering that Copeland would have fewer minutes and touches? The next meeting is likely to be different more because of the venue.