HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth men’s basketball team miraculously escaped an upset from in-state rival New Hampshire Wednesday night by scoring the game’s final nine points, with Kareem Thomas’ runner with 5.5 seconds left holding up for a 69-68 win.
The Big Green (3-3) looked disjointed for most of the evening, particularly on the offensive end, and there will likely need to be several areas of improvement if Dartmouth is to follow up on last season’s inaugural Ivy League Tournament bid.
But that’s not a surprise to them. With Ryan Cornish now graduated, others like senior Brandon Mitchell-Day and sophomore Connor Amundsen (who was also injured to start the campaign) have seen the brunt of opposing defenses’ attention, especially Amundsen, who at 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds is a clear target for teams like New Hampshire that have good size at the guard position.
The Wildcats – now losers of 21 straight nonconference games against Division I competition – were physical with Amundsen from the opening tip, with Dartmouth coach David McLaughlin pleading for foul calls, with some success as the Big Green went to the free throw line 12 times in the first half.
Amundsen finished with just eight points (and just one assist) in 33 minutes on 2-for-8 shooting, but did hit a massive three-pointer in the final minute to spark the Dartmouth winning finish.
“It all depends on what your schemes are going into each game,” McLaughlin said. “They change, but are you trying to switch him [Amundsen] onto a bigger player? Then he’s as tough as they come, but there has to be some help at certain levels. People are going to attack everyone in different ways, everyone has deficiencies. The base package is the base package but after that, we might tweak it a little from what you’re seeing. But we’ll be ready.”
Mitchell-Day had 15 points and eight rebounds, but also turned the ball over four times (he did have three blocks and two steals).
Dartmouth was without three rotation players (Niko Abusara, Ben Brown, and Patrick Tivnan Jr.) due to injury, and perhaps the most positive development from Wednesday was Thomas (18 points) and senior Jayden Williams (14 points) having solid outings.
“I feel like it’s a good kind of pressure on me and us because it helps you mature as a player,” Williams said. “Obviously, losing the captains and seniors we had last year makes me need to pick up my voice and not be as selfish in my own head when things are not going well.”
Freshman Cam Hiatt, who didn’t play at all in the first three games, got 24 minutes and went 2-for-3 from behind the arc, another player that might be able to take some pressure off Mitchell-Day and Amundsen.
“I thought the ending was special, but even better than that was the belief our guys had down the stretch,” McLaughlin said. “We got some quality stops, and that led to some great shots at the other end. We made plays, and I think that’s what good teams do at the end of games. That’s what we were able to do last season. It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but I think we’re going to learn a lot from this game.”
Thomas barely played at all last season as a freshman but leads Dartmouth in scoring at 18.8 points per game and is shooting 56% from behind the arc. But it’s his physicality at both ends that has raised eyebrows, Thomas has drawn 7.6 fouls per game and is 15th nationally in free throw rate. When the Big Green needed big plays down the stretch, it was Thomas they turned to, and he delivered.
Thomas also had a full redemption arc in the last minute, he was stripped of the ball in his backcourt with 35 seconds left and Dartmouth still down 68-67, but he helped get the final stop and immediately drove the ball to the hoop for the winner.
“As soon as Jayden (Williams) got the ball, I saw him looking for me and after that, game reps and instinct just took over and I was able to finish at the rim,” Thomas said.
It was the third straight victory for Dartmouth, which crushed Saint Peter’s 87-61 on the road last Saturday after a long break. (Dartmouth is on trimesters, so its finals are very early compared to almost everyone else). The Big Green will have their work cut out for them in their next two games against Wyoming and Colorado State, but this is the point of the season when Dartmouth began to mold into a top-tier Ivy team last year, and there are signs it could happen again.
The Big Green’s identity has been remarkably consistent on the defensive end under McLaughlin: They do not force turnovers, but don’t foul, force opponents to make shots and do not give up offensive rebounds (Mitchell-Day is currently 14th nationally in defensive rebounding). That allowed the Big Green to lead the Ivy League in defensive efficiency last season, but it was dead last in 2023-24 as teams shot 39.4% against them from three-point range.
Will this season be closer to the former or the latter? Your guess is as good as anyone’s. Repeating last season’s Ivy dramatics may seem difficult given a quarter-century without a winning record leading up to it.
However, as the late improbable comeback Wednesday night at Leede Arena showed, writing Dartmouth off may not be as easy to do these days.
“We want to have a mentality of getting better every time we step on the court. We as coaches have to get better every game,” McLaughlin said. “What I said to them after was you’re always going to learn from a game, what you did well, what you have to improve on. But it’s much more fun after a win, especially a win like this. At the same time, there’s a lot of things we didn’t do well and we have to improve those for the next opponent.”
Dave M has grown as a head coach over time. No doubt that his coaching is a big reason why the Big Green is an improving program. What a challenge it must be to recruit in Hanover.