Jalen Gabbidon

Yale men best Brown as Swain shines on Senior Night

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Senior guard Azar Swain shook off pre-game Senior Night anxiety to lead Yale to a 74-65 win over Brown Saturday night, registering 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting. (Photo by Erica Denhoff) 

On an emotionally charged Senior Night, Yale took care of business and defeated Brown in a Saturday night showdown, 74-65, at John J. Lee Amphitheater.

Four Yale seniors, Azar Swain, captain Jalen Gabbidon, Eze Dike and Jameel Alausa, played their last home games for the Bulldogs. Dike started after not playing this calendar year due to injury.

“I thought we played a better brand of Yale basketball,” coach James Jones said in comparing the performance to the efforts against Dartmouth and Cornell on the road last week. Jones captured his 350th career win. It was also his 191st Ivy League win, moving him ahead of former Penn coach Fran Dunphy into second place all-time in league history behind only Pete Carril.

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Princeton snaps seven-game losing streak versus Yale to tie Bulldogs atop Ivy standings

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Yale coach James Jones had won seven contests in a row against Princeton prior to Saturday’s matchup at John J. Lee Amphitheater. But the Tigers snapped that streak with an 81-75 victory to pull into a tie with the Bulldogs atop the Ivy League standings. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Mitch Henderson is now into his second decade as skipper of the Princeton Tigers. Going into Saturday’s crucial meeting with the Yale Bulldogs, the only Ivy team to defeat the Tigers in Jadwin Gym, this season, Henderson had amassed 180 wins against 106 losses.

But the Tigers have struggled against James Jones’ Bulldogs, losing seven straight to them heading into their latest clash.

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Yale men notch second three-point victory over Harvard in five days

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Sharpshooting Yale senior guard Azar Swain (5) hit just one three-pointer in two games against Harvard the past five days. But the Bulldogs’ defense propelled them past their archrivals for three-point victories in both contests.  (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Entering this month, Yale had gone nearly six years without beating Harvard in the regular season.

Now they’ve pulled it off twice in five days.

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Yale men hang on to end regular-season losing streak versus Harvard

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Matt Knowling posted 10 points and nine rebounds in 34 minutes in Yale’s win over Harvard Saturday. It was the Bulldogs’ first regular-season win over Harvard since 2016. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Feb. 26, 2016 was a long time ago – so long ago that no member of the Yale men’s basketball team was even enrolled at Yale.

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Princeton men need to tighten up defense after falling short versus Yale

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Preseason Ivy favorite Yale returned to one of its comfortable road venues, Jadwin Gym, to upset the Tigers, 80-74. The Tigers have shown a propensity to dig themselves into early holes. This time the hole was too deep, the Eli sharpshooters too deadly. Yale’s 17-point lead at the half, boosted by the Tigers’ surrendering an inexcusable 1-on-2 layup after holding for the last shot, proved to be insurmountable.

In the second half, the Tigers played much closer to their preferred game, making nine of 12 from deep to get back into contention, at one point closing within two. Even when Azar Swain and Jalen Gabbidon were rested in the middle of the second half, the Tigers failed to take advantage. Yale actually added to its lead.

Jaelin Llewellyn dismissed injury concerns to fuel the Tigers’ comeback effort, canning six of 12 shots from deep and scoring 23 points. Ethan Wright and Drew Friberg went a combined 3-for-14 from beyond the arc, with most of those misses coming in the first half.

The second half shows that Princeton can certainly play with Yale but must defend better. This game demonstrates why Yale was favored to win the Ivy crown this season. Since the Tigers will spend much of February on the road, they need to find three wins to ensure their berth in Ivy Madness.

 

Yale men bounce back by besting Columbia as Swain explodes

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After a disappointing performance at Penn, Azar Swain exploded for a career-high 37 points in Yale’s win over Columbia Tuesday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

After a disappointing loss at Penn on Saturday set up by a subpar performance by Azar Swain, Yale got just what the doctor ordered Tuesday night: a visit to Payne Whitney Gym from Ivy bottom-dweller Columbia.

But Yale did not play down to the opposition.

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Yale men eke out win at Brown

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Azar Swain (5) smiles during Yale’s 66-63 win at Brown Monday. Swain also had reason to smile after the game, in which he notched a team-high 22 points. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Brown coach Mike Martin was 6-2 against Yale and coach James Jones during his storied playing career for the Bears, but the tables have been turned in head-to-head coaching.

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Yale men’s defense falters in home loss to Stony Brook

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A 22-point first-half deficit was too much for Yale to overcome Sunday as the Bulldogs fell at home to Stony Brook, 85-81.

It snapped a 10-game home winning streak for Yale (4-4) which goes back to December 2019 and a home loss to Monmouth.

The Seawolves (2-3) shot 53.7% from the field against a usually tough and reliable Yale defense.

“We were really poor defensively,” Yale coach James Jones said.

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