Matt Knowling

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

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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

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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

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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

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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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“Some of our best basketball of the year”: How Yale men’s basketball pulled away from Columbia

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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.

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Yale men’s basketball bests Brown in Ivy League opener, 80-70

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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.”

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Yale men’s basketball ekes out 86-78 overtime win at Howard

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Junior guard John Poulakidas delivered a season-high 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting to lead Yale to a hard fought 86-78 overtime win at Howard Wednesday.

Yale (9-6) played the game with team scoring and rebounding leader sophomore center Danny Wolf out with an illness.

The Bulldogs squandered a 16-point lead (67-51). A trey by former Harvard nemesis and grad forward Seth Towns, the 2017-18 Ivy Player of the Year, plus a dunk by junior guard Bryce Harris dunk in the last minute of regulation sent the game into overtime.

But the visitors dominated the extra session.

It was a game of runs by both teams.

Yale went on a first-half 11-point run to lead by 17-7, and the Bison answered with their own 7-0 run to knot the score at 20.

Howard (5-10) switched to a 2-3 zone, which flummoxed Yale for portions of the first half.

Yale led 36-31 at the half. Poulakidas posted 16 first-half points.

The Bulldogs were in control for most of the second half until Howard (5-10) went on an 18-4 run to send the game into overtime.

“Great team effort, really rebounded well, which made all the difference in the game,” Yale coach James Jones said.

Yale won the rebounding war, 47-28, hauling in 21 offensive boards that led to 31 second-chance points.

Senior forward Matt Knowling notched 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while junior guard Bez Mbeng registered 14 points. Sophomore forward Casey Simmons pitched in with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds off the bench.

Nine Yale players logged 10 minutes or more, as Jones is still searching for a rotation for the Ivy slate.

Junior guard Marcus Dockery led Howard with 21 points. Towns contributed 17 points and six rebounds.

Yale opens Ivy play at Brown on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Yale men’s basketball’s rotation unsettled after OT-game-splitting Canada trip

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MONCTON, New Brunswick – This ain’t James Jones’ first rodeo.

It’s also not the first time around for the majority of the players in his regular 2023-24 rotation, which is why Yale was picked nearly unanimously to win the Ivy League this season, despite Princeton going to the Sweet 16 last March.

The Bulldogs reached as high as No. 55 in KenPom after destroying Colgate Friday night at Avenir Arena north of the border. But Yale followed it up with a couple of lackluster performances, having a late comeback come up short in an overtime loss to Weber State Saturday, and then blowing an 18-point lead against Gardner-Webb Sunday, although they pulled out the game out 71-70 in overtime.

Although still 4-2 (with one of those losses at Gonzaga), Yale has dropped to No. 76 in KenPom, five lower than where they started the campaign, and nine spots behind Princeton, which has started impressively.

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