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The bad news is that Yale had 18 turnovers.
The good news is that Yale outrebounded the Akron Zips, 47-25, in the first round of the Sun Bowl Invitational en route to a convincing 74-58 win at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas Friday. Yale (6-5) will face the winner of the UTEP-Jackson State game Saturday night for the tournament championship.
“Great team rebounding effort tonight,” Yale coach James Jones said.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale broke a two-game losing streak with an impressive second half Saturday afternoon at Lee Amphitheater, allowing exactly half as many points as the last time we saw the Bulldogs at Mohegan Sun two weeks ago in a 65-50 win over Vermont, albeit a struggling and undermanned Catamounts team.
The big personnel news of the day was that Yale’s leading scorer (and 16th nationally) John Poulakidas was not in uniform. The Bulldogs’ offense struggled mightily without him in the first half, scoring just 22 points and turning the ball over 13 times. Sophomore Trevor Mullin got his first career start, but it was Bez Mbeng who had six of those turnovers.
No one ever accused Yale men’s basketball coach James Jones of playing an easy out-of-conference schedule.
Yale traveled to Kingston, R.I. to take on the 7-0 Rhode Island Rams Monday night.
Rhody won 84-78 to start the season 8-0 for the first time since the 1946-47 season.
Jones called it “a tough loss on the road.”
Revenge is sweet.
Yale exacted some against Fairfield Saturday, 91-66, in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off at the Mohegan Sun.
Last season, Fairfield stunned Yale, 75-71, at John J. Lee Amphitheater. The Bulldogs wouldn’t let that happen again en route to what became the 400th win of his coaching career.
“That was a really good Yale basketball win,” Jones said, adding that the 400-win achievement “[j]ust means I have been around a long time.”
Yale came close to playing the perfect first stanza en route to a convincing 86-64 road win over Stony Brook Wednesday evening.
Yale (3-3) held a 48-28 lead at the half. The Bulldogs were 8-for-13 from three and held a 22-16 rebounding edge. They outscored Stony Brook (2-3) in the paint, 16-8.
Senior guard John Poulakidas, the game’s leading scorer, had 15 points at halftime and hit his first six shots.
A second-half Minnesota surge led the Golden Gophers to a 59-56 win over Yale at Williams Arena before 8,205 fans Saturday.
The Bulldogs had led by as many as 14 (25-11) in the first half and held a 29-19 halftime lead.
Minnesota came out far more aggressively in the second half and spread the floor effectively. The hosts also made a concerted effort to get the ball to preseason All-Big Ten senior forward Dawson Garcia. Garcia registered 19 second-half points after managing only five in the first half.
“We are bending but not breaking,” Minnesota coach Ben Johnson said.
Yale men’s basketball owned the paint, but Purdue owned the perimeter, as the No. 13 Boilermakers defeated Yale 92-84 at a sold-out Mackey Arena Monday night.
Yale (1-2) outscored Purdue (3-0) 50-24 in the paint and 11-5 on offensive rebounds.
Bulldogs coach James Jones called his team’s showing a “tough gritty performance, a few costly possessions from a great road win.”
Yale held a 41-34 halftime lead on the road over Illinois Chicago and appeared in control of the game Friday night.
Then the second half happened.
No Danny Wolf, no problem.
In its first game since the former Yale standout’s transfer to what should be a grateful Michigan program, Yale men’s basketball cruised to an 88-62 win over Quinnipiac Monday night in a battle of Whitney Avenue at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
And it wasn’t even that close.
With the non-conference schedule set to begin in less than three weeks, the Ivy League held its annual Media Day on Tuesday afternoon. The three-hour event, hosted by Lance Medow, featured coaches and players from each of the eight programs.
Fans can check out the recording on the conference’s YouTube channel.
Below are some highlights: