Danny Wolf

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 76-62 loss to Yale

by

PHILADELPHIA — For about 12 minutes in the first half, it looked like Penn and Yale were gearing up for another classic battle Friday at the Palestra.

Then the Bulldogs flipped the switch. Yale used an extended 25-4 run at the end of the first half to take control of the game and never let the hosts back in it in the second half. Final score: Yale 76, Penn 62.


The catalyst for the decisive run came right at the under-eight media timeout for Yale.


Penn junior Nick Spinoso was called for a foul while trying to defend a transition layup attempt from Ivy Player of the Year candidate Danny Wolf, then got a technical foul for arguing with the referees. Wolf and Yale junior guard John Poulakidas sank four free throws on the other side of the break to give the Bulldogs their first multi-possession lead of the game.

Yale (17-6, 8-0 Ivy) and Penn (9-14, 1-7) are two teams heading in opposite directions. Yale has now won 10 games in a row and looks like a team that is justifying every bit of its lofty preseason expectations. The Red and Blue have now lost seven straight, the worst losing streak of Steve Donahue’s coaching tenure at Penn.

There’s not much to say about another generally miserable affair, other than …

Read more

Q&A with Yale director of men’s basketball operations Matt Elkin

by
Elkin (Yale Athletics)

Matt Elkin joined the Yale men’s basketball staff in Oct. 2020 as director of basketball operations after serving as an assistant coach at the Windward School in Los Angeles. Ivy Hoops Online caught up with Elkin Tuesday:

Read more

LISTEN: Tiger Takeaways on Princeton men’s basketball’s 77-70 win over Penn

by

Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark shares his takeaways from Saturday’s 77-70 win for Princeton men’s basketball (17-3, 5-2 Ivy) over Penn (9-3, 1-6), including why the Tigers are sophomore guard Xaivian Lee’s team now:

Audio Player

Yale men’s basketball notches comeback win over Cornell in battle of Ivy unbeatens

by

Yale men’s basketball coach James Jones described his team’s 80-78 home win over Cornell in a high-stakes clash of Ivy unbeatens Saturday as “helter skelter.”

The last 40 seconds of the game epitomized that.

Read more

Quakeaways from Penn men’s basketball’s 74-58 loss at Yale

by

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Penn’s losing streak hit five games after one kill shot too many from Yale Saturday night.

The Red and Blue fell, 74-58, after a 10-0 Bulldogs run over 90 seconds at the start of the second half turned a manageable six-point halftime deficit into a 16-point hole. Penn (9-12, 1-5 Ivy) had already fought-back from a 7-0 game-opening Yale (15-6, 6-0) run to take a lead, then promptly surrendered a 10-0 run to flip the scoreboard back in the Bulldogs’ favor.

A rattled-in three from Niklas Polonowski cut the Penn deficit down to nine points with just over eight minutes to play, but Ivy League Player of the Year candidate Danny Wolf responded with a personal 10-0 scoring barrage to put the game on ice.

If you had told the average fan after the Quakers’ stunning upset over Villanova that Penn would be buried in the Ivy standings before the Super Bowl, they would have told you that you were crazy. But that is the sad reality.

Read more

Yale men’s basketball takes care of business in 74-58 win over Penn

by

Letdown? No way.

Yale men’s basketball navigated the treacherous trap game waters with excellence by downing Penn, 74-58, at John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday night for its eighth consecutive win.

Yale coach James Jones did not see any letdown.

Read more

LISTEN: Thoughts on Princeton men’s basketball’s 70-64 loss at Yale

by

Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark shares his thoughts on Princeton men’s basketball’s 70-64 loss at Yale Friday night:

Audio Player

Yale men’s basketball tops Princeton, 70-64, to move to 5-0 in Ivy League play

by

The Princeton-Yale men’s basketball showdown lived up to its lofty expectations as the Ivy League game of the year to date and then some.

The Bulldogs defeated the Tigers, 70-64, before a standing-room-only and boisterous whiteout crowd of 2,532 at John J. Lee Amphitheater.

“[The] atmosphere was tremendous,” Yale coach James Jones said. “There were times when you felt the crowd.”

Read more

Yale men’s basketball tops Harvard, 78-65

by

Remember those Yale trips to hostile environments at Gonzaga and then-No. 2 Kansas in November and December?

Well, they certainly prepared the Bulldogs for a sold-out and raucous crowd at Lavietes Pavilion Saturday as they prevailed against Harvard, 78-65, for their sixth consecutive win and fifth straight over the Crimson.

Yale (13-6, 4-0 Ivy) got the win despite its highest scorer, sophomore frontcourt stalwart Danny Wolf (14.6) being held to a season low and second-leading scorer (13.5) junior guard Bez Mbeng managing only two points.

Read more

Yale men’s basketball shuts down Dartmouth, 76-51

by

Yale men’s basketball put together its best defensive effort and perhaps most complete game of the season to defeat Dartmouth, 76-51, Saturday at Leede Arena.

Dartmouth (4-12, 0-3 Ivy) put up some early resistance and led 12-11 on two free throws by sophomore forward Brandon Mitchell-Day. But Yale (12-6, 3-0) went on a 10-0 run and led 38-28 at the half.

With the score 45-32, Yale went on a 16-0 run, culminating in a jumper by sophomore forward Casey Simmons.

The Bulldogs’ largest lead was 68-36.

Dartmouth mustered just 28.8% shooting from the field and 27.3% from three-point land.

“Extremely happy with our defensive performance,” Yale coach James Jones said. “Hope we can build on this effort.”

Read more