Yale men’s basketball secures bounce-back win at Columbia, 84-76

 Yale men’s basketball shook off the rust of a narrow loss in Ithaca Friday night and closed strong to defeat Columbia at Levien Gym, 84-76.

“Really gutsy performance with some guys injured,” Yale coach James Jones said.

Seven-foot sophomore frontcourt stalwart Danny Wolf played the game with a mask after suffering a broken nose against Cornell. Wolf, Yale’s leading scorer, was coming off two subpar performances at Princeton and Cornell. Wolf finished with 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting and added a team-leading nine rebounds.

Jones said that Wolf “played the way he is capable (of).”

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Cornell men’s basketball survives Yale, 65-62, to climb atop Ivy League standings

Cornell men’s basketball didn’t win Friday night’s marquee matchup with Yale because of its offense.

It won because of its defense and grit. And maybe a little luck.

Surviving the Bulldogs, 65-62, the Big Red took sole possession of first place in the Ivy League standings.

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Takeaways from Yale men’s basketball from its loss at Princeton

Yale men’s basketball was down to Princeton 49-47 with 10:37 remaining in the game Saturday night. Nothing surprising there.

What is surprising is that the game was that close with zero points from Matt Knowling and Danny Wolf.

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LISTEN: Thoughts on Princeton men’s basketball’s 73-62 win over Yale

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:

LISTEN: Princeton men’s basketball press conference following 73-62 win over Yale

Listen to the postgame press conference held by Tigers coach Mitch Henderson, senior forward Zach Martini and a newly stitched up sophomore forward Caden Pierce following a 73-62 win for Princeton (19-3, 7-2 Ivy) over Yale (17-7, 8-1):

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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Yale men’s basketball tops Harvard, 78-65

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.

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

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.”

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