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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale students were back at Lee Amphitheater, Harvard was starting three freshmen, John Poulakidas hit his first couple of shots, and all that meant the Crimson had no chance Saturday afternoon.
Harvard fought in fits and starts, but in the end, the result was a formality, an 84-55 Yale win that brought the Bulldogs to the top of the Ivy League after Princeton’s loss and setting up a showdown with the Tigers Friday night in New Jersey.
“We jumped on them quick,” Yale coach James Jones said. “We were really efficient, we didn’t have a turnover (in the first 19 minutes), we were poised and focused. We lost it a little at the end of the first half and fought to get it back, and we did in the middle of the second half. When we’re playing at a high level like we were, we’re pretty good and it’s fun to watch.”
“We were all amped up and ready to go” Yale junior forward Nick Townsend said about his team’s quick start.
We’ve mentioned previously that if Yale’s defense – and it seemed capable of it – could catch up to its offense, the Bulldogs (11-6, 4-0 Ivy) would be extremely dangerous and they certainly looked the part Saturday, holding the Crimson (6-11, 1-3) to just 0.82 points per possession and allowing them to get to the free throw line just five times (bumping Yale up to 231st in that category nationally).
In Ivy play, Yale is now tops in defensive efficiency by a wide margin, checking in at 0.939 ppp, with Penn second at 1.08 ppp.
“KenPom has this stat on unluckiest teams in the country,” Jones said. “We were second-unluckiest team in the country (Yale is currently 360th, fifth-unluckiest. with Princeton 16th-luckiest at the moment). Sometimes, teams are just going to shoot it in. We had some matchup issues. Delaware (who beat Yale 100-94 in November) was picking and popping and made every one of them. What we’ve tried to do is get back to basics and have guys rotating and helping properly because that’s what most of what defense is. We’re long and athletic and strong and that should help us.”
At the other end, the Bulldogs made a name for themselves on the offensive glass in their first NCAA Tournament run in 2015-16, the irony of the now infamous Taurean Prince quote from Baylor after they lost to Yale was the Bulldogs finished fifth nationally in offensive rebounding (39.3%). It was part of a five-year span where Yale finished in the top 100 in that category every season.
But recently, Yale has found other methods on offense, even with all its success, it was 215th last season and 199th, 259th, 245th, 241st and 279th in the five seasons prior. However, crashing the offensive glass is back at Yale, led by Townsend (whose brother Matt and first-year assistant coach Brandon Sherrod were huge parts of the rebounding success a decade ago) and Samson Aletan, who combined for 13 offensive rebounds Saturday. In all, Yale had 18 for 48.6% and is now 25th nationally at 36% for the season.
Senior Jack Molloy had seen his minutes cut significantly since his sophomore year, but when he went to check in midway through the first half, he got a rousing ovation from the Lee Amphitheater crowd, particularly the students. He responded with six points in 10 minutes.
“I have fun, bring energy, go get a rebound, be physical, whatever the team needs,” Molloy said. “It’s a blast going out there seeing some of my former teammates getting rowdy and being super supportive. There’s nothing like it. They do it every year. Football, baseball, lacrosse, all your buddies from school are out there. It’s a tight community we have at Yale. I don’t think there’s any atmosphere in the Ivy League that can compare to the JLA.”
Molloy also suited up with the football team last fall, and although he’s not necessarily a regular member of the rotation these days, the type of player that winning teams need.
“Jack’s one of the best teammates we have, and that’s extremely important,” Jones said. “Jack is the biggest rooter for Samson even though he’s competing with him for playing time and that’s so important and speaks to who Jack is. He got a putback and our coaching staff was just so happy because it shows his hard work getting rewarded.”
Townsend finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds, while Poulakidas (who cooled off after the hot start) added 15, and Bez Mbeng went over the 1,000-point mark for his career with 12. Yale was able to post 1.25 ppp despite shooting just 43% from the field thanks to the offensive rebounding and going 22-for-29 from the free throw line.
Meanwhile, there weren’t too many positives for Harvard to take from Saturday. Tommy Amaker juggled his starting lineup, taking out Louis Lesmond, Robert Hinton, and Thomas Batties II while inserting Xavier Nesbitt, Ben Eisendrath, and Austin Hunt. But Bez Mbeng made life miserable for Eisendrath, Hinton, and whomever else he was against, while Yale’s complete dominance in the paint was demoralizing for the Crimson, which isn’t great outside the arc, either, shooting 8-of-29 Saturday and 31.2% for the season (286th nationally).
“They’re very good, great size,” Amaker said. “Really the Achilles’ heel right now is our size and defending the interior. They just did a great job of that on the offensive glass. Townsend and Aletan, particularly, were too much for us to handle, and we’re not making shots we need to make. Just a tough afternoon for us, hopefully we can learn and get better.”
Harvard has three more road games before coming home that will likely dictate whether they have hope to return to Ivy Madness or not: at Cornell and Columbia next weekend, then at Dartmouth on February 8.
For now, Yale will enter next weekend 53 KenPom spots better than anyone else in the Ivy League (Cornell moved ahead of Princeton for second) and a clear favorite to repeat. March is still a few weeks away, however.
Ivy Hoops Online correspondent Richard Kent contributed reporting.