UNCASVILLE, Conn. – The day after a lopsided 400th career victory over Fairfield, James Jones saw his Yale team give one of the worst defensive performances in his storied career, leading to a disappointing 100-94 loss to Delaware in front of a sparse crowd at the Hall Of Fame Tip-Off at Mohegan Sun Arena.
The last time the Bulldogs (4-4) gave up 100 points in regulation was exactly 23 years prior, a 116-102 loss at George Washington, when long-time assistant coach Justin Simon was just a sophomore. Three years later, then top-ranked Wake Forest and Chris Paul hung 99 on Yale in a 99-72 defeat.
“I tip my hat to Delaware, they shot the ball incredibly well and were better than us from start to finish,” Jones said. “We had an absolutely horrible defensive effort today in terms of assignments and grittiness. There were some bright moments here and there, but for the most part, we weren’t tough enough defensively.”
Jones is no longer a young coach trying to make a name for himself. The only person with more career wins in the Ivy League is in the Hall of Fame (and Jones could catch Pete Carril in five or six seasons at his current pace). The Bulldogs have been to four NCAA Tournaments (and might have been robbed of at least one more by COVID) and have won two NCAA games, things that would have been considered ridiculous in New Haven in 2001 or 2004.
Most of that success has started at the defensive end, in Yale’s first NCAA Tournament bid back in 2015-16, the Bulldogs finished 34th nationally in defensive efficiency, led by Justin Sears and current assistant Brandon Sherrod in the middle, shutting down high-flying Baylor for an epic NCAA upset before narrowly falling to Duke.
While not quite as obdurate on the defensive end, Yale was tops in defensive efficiency in conference play in each of the last three seasons en route to two more NCAA Tournament berths and a 32-10 record.
Which made it all the more shocking to watch the Bulldogs get absolutely shredded by Delaware, a team picked to finish in the middle of the CAA pack. The Blue Hens were 16-for-34 from three (two off a school record) which had much to do with it, but in the second half, Yale had no answer for freshman point guard Izaiah Pasha, who was able to get downhill and to the rim at will. Even more disturbing for Yale fans, Pasha’s game and size bear a strong resemblance to Princeton’s Xaivian Lee, whom they are sure to match up with at least two (likely three?) times after the new year.
The numbers say, however, that the Delaware game may not be a fluke. Yale is currently 215th nationally in defensive efficiency, 204th in effective field goal % (51.3%), a stat in which James Jones’ teams have always thrived, finishing in the top 100 in nine of the last 10 seasons, 15th in 2019 and 23rd in 2020, both Ivy regular season championships.
How to fix it? Jones was most upset at his pick-and-roll defense and switches, making bad reads on shooters like John Camden (who scored 30 on seven threes) and allowing Pasha favorable matchups to get to the paint.
Statistically, sophomore Samson Aletan is the rim protector and his 8.0% block rate is 88th nationally, but his 8.3% defensive rebounding is very poor. Yale has made up for that through Yassine Gharram, who actually leads Yale in defensive rebounding at 6-foot-3, and Nick Townsend. Gharram sat most of the second half Sunday and played just 22 minutes.
Bez Mbeng is perhaps the best defender in the Ivy League and Casey Simmons has the athleticism to join him, so the numbers seem a little baffling to everyone at the moment, including Jones.
Yale is 309th in defensive free throw rate and 292nd in three-point defense, two areas that should improve on their own due to regression to the mean going forward.
Obviously, it is not exactly panic time for Yale, who took Purdue to the wire and should have beaten Minnesota (both on the road, of course).
Losing Danny Wolf and Matt Knowling would seem to be a hit to the offense, but Yale is 41st in efficiency currently, which would be the highest even in the KenPom era (which is coincidentally the same as the James Jones era at Yale). John Poulakidas can be a cheat code, as he was against Fairfield Saturday when he hit his first five threes, all seemingly with his body contorted in a different way. Gharram is 8-of-14 from three, as Yale is 39.3% from behind the arc (Yale has never been above 36.9% for a season).
The attention given to Poulakidas allows people like Townsend – a tremendous passer – to run the offense. Aletan has been able to finish around the rim, as has freshman Isaac Celiscar. And as long as they can hit open shots, Yale should be fine at that end.
Jones has been around long enough to remove any pretense. He thinks he has the best team in the Ivy League and has showed it at times, like Saturday in annihilating Fairfield and at Purdue. The Bulldogs just need consistency, something Jones and his staff have excelled in improving over the course of previous seasons.
After all, it was just a year ago in Canada where plenty of questions were being asked of Yale after a couple of mediocre performances.
Four months later, Yale 78, Auburn 76 will live forever.
It couldn’t happen again, could it? A long shot, obviously, but Yale celebrating on a March Sunday afternoon in Providence should not be.
“I have a lot of confidence in my team,” Jones said. “I think we have the talent to be successful. We’ll get back to playing good basketball and we’ll just keep getting better every game. This wasn’t a good night, but we’ll get back to work this week.”