Brown men’s basketball had everything to gain at the Pizzitola Sports Center today. Yale had pride on the line.
Pride won out, as Yale defeated Brown, 70-61 on Senior Day.
Yale
Q&A with Yale men’s basketball senior forward Jack Molloy
Ivy Hoops Online recently caught up with Yale senior forward and Greenwich, Conn. native Jack Molloy:
Ivy Hoops Online: Growing-up in Greenwich, were you interested in Yale sports?
Jack Molloy: I didn’t start following Ivy sports until my freshman year in high school. I was really thinking about Wesleyan or Amherst. New Heights AAU took me and I went to Elite Camp at Yale and the coaches thought I could play here.
IHO: What was the camp like?
JM: So fun. Legitimate 12 hours of basketball. Constantly playing pickup. (Yale associate head) coach (Justin) Simon showed me around campus.
Harvard men’s basketball hands Yale its first Ivy League loss
It was Yale-Harvard, so ignore the records. The Crimson ended Yale’s 13-game winning streak, 74-69, before a crowd of 1,636 at Lavietes Pavilion Saturday, handing the visitors their first loss in Ivy League play.
“I thought they had a really good game plan,” coach James Jones said. “Hopefully we can take this as a learning tool going into our last game (at Brown) and the Ivy tournament.”
Dartmouth men’s basketball gets a winning atmosphere, but Yale gets a 72-67 win
HANOVER, N.H. – Troubles with the Wi-Fi are not new at Leede Arena. It is a notoriously dreadful place to get a signal, even when the crowd can be counted in dozens.
But the line to the restroom that wrapped far outside the door at halftime? That was definitely something that hasn’t been seen in a long, long time.
Q&A with Yale senior guard John Poulakidas
Ivy Hoops Online recently caught up with Yale senior guard John Poulakidas, a Naperville, Ill. native and the Ivy League’s scoring leader at 19.5 points per game:
Ivy Hoops Online: What was your recruiting process like during COVID?
John Poulakidas: It was definitely difficult. Butler offered me. Princeton was in the mix. Not having an AAU year hindered my recruitment.
Yale men’s basketball dumps Columbia to clinch Ivy League regular season title
Letdown? One could have happened.
After all, Yale clinched an Ivy title last night in a scintillating tilt.
But letdowns aren’t a thing with James Jones-coached teams. The Bulldogs destroyed Columbia, 90-64, at John J. Lee Amphitheater on Senior Night Saturday.
“I keep being surprised, but in awe of this group,” said Jones. “We scored 90 points and gave up 64. I just think we could be perfect.”
Yale men’s basketball beats Cornell, 92-88, to clinch share of Ivy League title
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Embarrassing and humiliating were words thrown around by Cornell last week after a brutal thrashing at the hands of Dartmouth, a loss so bad it dropped the Big Red 35 slots in KenPom. More importantly, the defeat put the Big Red in Ivy League Tournament peril because it was their third straight loss and a trip to unbeaten Yale happened to be next.
Another word was prevalent at practice in Ithaca: pride. The Big Red showed plenty of it Friday night at Lee Amphitheater, pushing the Bulldogs around and leading by double digits for most of the first half.
But Yale has plenty of pride as well, of course, and in the end gutted out a 92-88 victory that clinched it a share of its sixth Ivy League title in 10 years in a tremendous showcase of Ivy League basketball.
Q&A with Yale men’s basketball senior guard Bez Mbeng
Bez Mbeng is a 6-foot-4 senior guard from Potomac, Md. and the two-time reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. IHO recently caught up with him before a Yale practice:
Ivy Hoops Online: You have been known as a great defensive player and your offense has caught-up with your defensive play. How did that happen?
Bez Mbeng: Testament to the work my whole life. You want to keep getting better. Credit to my coaches. We live in the gym. Lots of dedication to our craft.
Yale men’s basketball bulldozes Princeton, 84-57
It took 71 years to accomplish it, but Yale men’s basketball is 9-0 in Ivy League play for the first time in program history.
The Bulldogs made that history emphatically Saturday night with an 84-57 win over Princeton in snowy New Haven at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
“I mean it is another part of history,” Yale coach James Jones said. “There’s so many things these guys have done over a career.”
Yale (16-6, 9-0 Ivy) led by as many as 34 points, 73-39, on a wide-open Bez Mbeng corner trey.
Princeton (16-8, 5-4) started with more energy than its loss to Yale at Jadwin Gym two weeks ago or its defeat Friday evening at Brown. The Tigers went up 8-3 on a trey from senior guard Blake Peters, 90% of whose shots this season have been from long distance.
Yale went on an 8-0 run to take a 17-12 lead.
The Bulldogs led 32-20 at the half against a Tiger team averaging 75 points per game.
Princeton scored only eight points in the last 11 minutes of the half and shot 23% from the field.
“That was as good a defensive effort as we have all year,” Jones said.
Yale went on a 10-0 run in the second half to effectively end the game at 56-31.
The Bulldogs proved once again that they could be dominant even on an off night from the Ivy League’s leading scorer, senior John Poulakidas, who was held to 11 points on 4-for-15 shooting.
The home team was led in scoring by junior forward Nick Townsend, who tallied 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Senior guard Bez Mbeng added 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting.
Junior guard Xaivian Lee was the only bright light for the Tigers with 19 points.
Junior forward Caden Pierce, reigning Ivy Player of the Year, stayed in his funk with no field goals and two free throws.
Yale clinched a slot in Ivy Madness with the win.
The Bulldogs are playing at a higher level and more cohesively than a year ago, despite the losses of Danny Wolf (Michigan), Matt Knowling (USC) and August Mahoney (graduation).
Yale has won 13 out of the last 16 meetings against Princeton. The 27-point margin is the largest in Yale history over the Tigers.
Yale hosts Cornell while Princeton hosts Harvard at 7 p.m. Friday.
Princeton women’s basketball rolls past Yale, 71-42, on Senior Night
Princeton women’s basketball coach Carla Berube has accumulated so many talented players on her roster over the years that pundits have often wondered how Princeton’s bench would fare against another team’s starting lineup. They got their answer on Saturday at Jadwin Gymnasium as Berube started all five members of her senior class in a 71-42 Senior Night romp over Yale.