Dave McLaughlin

Dartmouth men’s basketball’s squeaker win over New Hampshire underscores room for improvement

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New Hampshire and Dartmouth tip off Dec. 3, 2025 at Leede Arena for what became a 69-68 Big Green win. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

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.

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Dartmouth men’s basketball downed by Marist in season opener

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The scoreboard at Leede Arena captures Dartmouth men’s basketball’s 75-56 loss to Marist on Nov. 9, 2025. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth men’s basketball team was the surprise of the Ivy League last season, defying preseason prognostications to finish third and qualify for its first Ivy League Tournament. That was some vindication for coach David McLaughlin in his ninth season in charge, as the Big Green’s winning conference record was the program’s first this century.

All praise is fleeting, of course, and a new campaign is upon us, one that got off to a bit of a rocky start with a 75-56 loss to Marist Sunday afternoon at Leede Arena.

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2025-26 IHO Men’s Preseason Poll

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The 2025-26 Ivy men’s basketball season tips off Friday, so it’s time for Ivy Hoops Online’s preseason poll – not to be confused with the Ivy League-released media preseason poll. Here’s how our contributors collectively predict the league will shake out, with select observations from some of them:

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Ivy men’s semifinal: No. 2 Cornell decks No. 3 Dartmouth, 87-71

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The Cornell men’s basketball team walks off the Pizzitola Sports Center floor victorious after an 87-71 win over Dartmouth in Saturday’s Ivy League Tournament semifinal in Providence, R.I. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Cornell men’s basketball team can’t really explain what happened in a 39-point loss at Dartmouth exactly one month ago today.

It did know that, presented with a second opportunity, it would not happen again.

Second-seeded Cornell not only gained revenge but booked its place in the Ivy League Tournament final for the first time with an 87-71 win Saturday afternoon at the Pizzitola Sports Center.

“It really started the night before when we lost to Harvard and didn’t play well,” Cornell senior Nazir Williams said. “There were some things that happened that weekend that weren’t good and it showed on the court. We needed to reset and get back to the basketball we knew we could play. We obviously knew we were much better than that, and our coaches helped us understand that, we had a good week of practice, and we were back.”

That loss at Dartmouth, in which the Big Red trailed 21-2 and then 44-18 at the half, was a catalyst for Cornell (18-10), which has played some of its best basketball since, especially on the offensive end. Saturday’s win was its fifth straight and the first one in three that it hasn’t scored 100 points.

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2024-25 IHO Men’s All-Ivy Awards

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The Ivy League announced its major men’s awards Wednesday. But we know this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Ivy Hoops Online’s 2024-25 All-Ivy Awards, as determined by IHO’s contributors:

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A strong defensive effort propels Harvard men’s basketball to 66-58 victory over Dartmouth

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Despite missing out on the Ivy League tournament, the Harvard men finished the season on a high note, adding a 66-58 defeat of third-place Dartmouth to last week’s upset of regular-season champion Yale.

The Saturday matinee victory at Lavietes Pavilion, coupled with Brown’s defeat to the Elis, leaves the Crimson (12-15, 7-7 Ivy) in fifth place, one game ahead of the Bears and only one game away from a three-way tie for third with the Big Green and Princeton.

Despite the disappointing result, Dartmouth (14-13, 8-6) can hang its hat on an incredibly successful regular season, one in which the team bettered its eighth-place position in the league’s preseason media poll and earned its first appearance in Ivy Madness.

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“We’re not done”: Dartmouth men’s basketball clinches first Ivy tourney berth with 78-58 win over Brown

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Brown and Dartmouth men’s basketball tip off Saturday at Leede Arena for what became a 78-58 win for the Big Green over the Bears. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth inadvertently flashed a graphic momentarily before Saturday’s pivotal game against Brown that read, “Ivy Madness Clinched.”.

Fortunately for the Big Green, there has been little to jinx them in the 2024-25 Ivy League season, as they shook off a dreadful start and halftime deficit to win by another lopsided margin, 78-58, and clinch its first Ivy League Tournament berth in school history at Leede Arena.

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Dartmouth men’s basketball gets a winning atmosphere, but Yale gets a 72-67 win

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Yale and Dartmouth men’s basketball tip off at Leede Arena for what became a 72-67 win for the Bulldogs over the Big Green Friday. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

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.

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Dartmouth men’s basketball momentum mounting after thrashing Cornell, 88-49

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Cornell and Dartmouth tip off at Leede Arena Saturday for what became an 88-49 win for the Big Green over the Big Red. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

HANOVER, N.H. – The hottest men’s basketball team in the Ivy League is Dartmouth.

Any controversy in the above statement lies only because of the school in question. The results speak for themselves, the latest an absolute obliteration of Cornell, 88-49, Saturday night at Leede Arena.

Dartmouth’s fourth straight win (by an average of 22.8 points) vaults them into solo second place in the Ivy League, heights the Big Green haven’t seen in the 21st century (and not too much before that, either). And at the moment Dartmouth looks like the main threat to Yale repeating its conference title in March, a strong statement from a team that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1959 and was picked dead last nearly unanimously in the preseason Ivy poll.

But, again, the facts and results speak for themselves. All that’s left is for David McLaughlin to channel Lou Brown and declare, “We’re contenders now.”

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Everything coming up Big Green after Dartmouth men’s basketball’s 78-56 win over Columbia

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 Columbia and Dartmouth tip off at Leede Arena Friday for what became a 78-56 win for the Big Green. (Ray Curren | Ivy Hoops Online)

HANOVER, N.H. – It’s not often that Dartmouth has played the role of the hunted in the Ivy League in the last few decades. But they certainly looked the part Friday night at Leede Arena, beating Columbia in dominant fashion, 78-56.

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