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Yale men’s basketball picked the right time of the year to peak.
The Bulldogs thrashed Harvard, 80-60, at John J. Lee Amphitheater Saturday night to move to persist in sharing the Ivy League’s top slot with Princeton.
“We had as good a start to finish as we have had in a long time,” coach James Jones said.
“It was Yale basketball,” Yale coach James Jones said. ”We did what we want to: defense, rebounding and sharing the ball. We managed the game.”
For the Bulldogs, game management meant a convincing 80-56 win over outmanned Dartmouth Friday at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark makes sense of surprising storylines that emerged during a 73-62 win at Jadwin Gym for Princeton (19-3, 7-2 Ivy) over Yale (17-7, 8-1) Saturday night:
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 …
Matt Knowling’s last-second heroics has @YaleMBasketball 7-0 in @IvyLeague play.#ThisIsYale pic.twitter.com/6oPPQS4fqv
— Yale Athletics (@YaleAthletics) February 10, 2024
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.
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.
Ivy Hoops Online contributor George “Toothless Tiger” Clark shares his thoughts on Princeton men’s basketball’s 70-64 loss at Yale Friday night:
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.
Yale men’s basketball has been a first-half team all season.
But don’t tell that to Columbia coach Jim Engles, as the Bulldogs went on a 29-6 second-half run Monday night to turn a narrow 41-39 first-half lead into an 89-70 victory at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Yale men’s basketball owns Brown.
The Bulldogs have now won 10 out of their last 11 games against the Bears under coach James Jones, whose team won another road contest in the series Tuesday night, 80-70. Brown never led.
“Great way to start league play,” Jones said. “Always tough to win on the road, especially with our travel partner. The team is starting to come together. We’re close to playing Bulldog basketball.”