Matt Knowling

Dartmouth men drop Yale to 0-2 in Ivy play in road upset

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Dartmouth junior forward Dusan Neskovic scored an efficient 24 points in 32 minutes, making all four of his three-point attempts and shooting 7-for-10 from the field in the Big Green’s. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Yale men’s basketball was the clear favorite to claim a fifth Ivy League regular-season crown in the last seven seasons under James Jones.

Suddenly, though, the Bulldogs are 0-2 in Ivy play.

“For the last two hours, I did not see anything which resembled Yale basketball, and tip your cap to Dartmouth,” Jones said after his Bulldogs lost to Dartmouth, 81-77, at John J. Lee Amphitheater Friday night.

Yale had not given up more than 72 points in a game all season.

In fact, Yale (10-5, 0-2) hadn’t lost consecutive Ivy games since March 2019 and had not lost to Dartmouth since March 7, 2015, a game that opened the door for Harvard to tie Yale atop the Ivy standings and win an Ivy playoff game to nab its most recent NCAA Tournament berth.

Dartmouth (5-11, 1-1) held a narrow 34-33 lead at the half. Yale’s shooting woes from three-point land carried over from the Columbia loss last Friday, as the home team shot 0-for-8 from deep in the half. The Bulldogs finished 2-for-14 (14.3%).

Yale fell behind by as many as seven in the second half (54-47) but knotted the score at 58 on a Matt Knowling shot from close range.

Dartmouth then pulled ahead, 77-71. Yale cut it to 79-76 with junior guard August Mahoney on the free throw line with under five seconds remaining. Mahoney made the first and intentionally missed the second, but he committed a lane violation. Then the visitors added two free throws to seal the win.

“Winning games on the road is extremely hard,” Dartmouth coach David McLaughlin said. “We executed well.”

Dartmouth junior forward Dusan Neskovic posted 24 points on 7-for-10 field-goal shooting, including 4-for-4 from three-point range, in a standout performance. Sophomore guard Ryan Cornish contributed 18 points in just 23 minutes.

There were nine ties and nine lead changes.

“We tried to mix up our defenses,” Jones said. “Our team defense was not there.”

Yale was led in scoring by Knowling with 17 points. Sophomore guard Bez Mbeng had 15 and Mahoney 13. Both Mbeng and fellow sophomore guard John Poulakidas fouled out.

Yale is next in action Saturday night at home against Harvard. Dartmouth visits Providence to take on Brown after its overtime loss to Harvard there Friday night.

Ivy men’s hoops observations as league play approaches

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With conference play in the 2022-23 Ivy League men’s basketball season fast approaching, let’s take a look back at the nonconference results for each team and examine each program – listed by season winning percentage:

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Yale men smother Monmouth, 76-44

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Wire-to-wire wins are always satisfying.

Yale men’s basketball got one Thursday night at Monmouth, throttling the Hawks, 76-44, at the OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch, N.J.

The game wasn’t even that close, as Monmouth mustered a 9-0 run toward the end of the game with the result well in hand and Yale reserves on the floor.

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Yale men outlasted by No. 16 Kentucky, 69-59

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Yale senior forward EJ Jarvis (15) notched 12 points on 6-for-12 shooting and seven rebounds in just 23 minutes against a physical No. 16 Kentucky squad at Rupp Arena Saturday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

John Calipari had a halftime message for his Kentucky Wildcats against Yale Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena.

With his ‘Cats clinging to only a six-point lead, Calipari told them in no uncertain terms to get the ball inside to reigning Associated Press National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe.

They did.

Tshiebwe answered with 22 second-half points to lead No. 16 Kentucky to a 69-59 home win before a crowd of 20,264 over pesky Yale. The Bulldogs actually held a 35-33 lead with 17:26 left before Tshiebwe took over underneath. He finished with a season-high 28 points and added 12 rebounds.

Yale (8-3) played without its leading scorer Matt Knowling, who was out with a bicep injury.

The score was knotted at 6-6 early. Kentucky went on a 9-0 run consisting of three treys to grab a 25-13 lead. Yale then went on a tear highlighted by a Jack Molloy triple to cut the Wildcat advantage to 28-25. Kentucky (7-2) led by 33-27 at the half. Yale shot 40% in the first half and only trailed the physical hosts 20-18 in rebounds. Senior forward EJ Jarvis posted eight first-half points.

Yale rung up the first eight points of the second half, culminating in a John Poulakidas two from close range.

Calipari then shifted to a full-court press, and Kentucky finally succeeded in getting the ball inside to Tshiebwe. The Democratic Republic of the Congo native scored 12 straight points to give Kentucky a 53-47 lead which it never relinquished.

Yale received a far more even whistle than it did at Colorado or Butler, getting whistled for 13 fouls to 14 for Kentucky.

Yale coach James Jones called the outing ”a great effort by the team.”

Calipari called Yale a NCAA Tournament team.

”Harvard and Yale are going to be battling,” Calipari said. “They’re both really good teams.”

Molloy finished the game with a career-high 14 points, and Jarvis registered 12 points and seven rebounds.

Kentucky finished the game with a narrow 31-30 rebounding edge. Yale shot 43% for the game.

This was the second all-time meeting between Yale and Kentucky. The Wildcats beat Yale 79-58 in 1961, a year in which Yale won the Ivy League at 13-1 and received an NCAA bid.

Yale was supposed to play Gonzaga instead of Kentucky, but Zags coach Mark Few ran into a scheduling conflict because of a Gonzaga game against Kentucky and assisted in getting Yale a game at the latter.

It was the third of six straight road games for Yale. The Elis do not have a home game in December. They play at Fairfield in the brand new Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Monday night.

Yale men suffer first loss of season at Colorado, 65-62

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Colorado beat KenPom No. 3 Tennessee and Associated Press No. 24 Texas A&M earlier this month by a combined 40 points.

But it took the Buffaloes – including Yale graduate transfer and defensive stalwart Jalen Gabbidon – all they could muster to hold off Yale Sunday in Boulder.

The Bulldogs fell, 65-62, to Colorado, their first loss of the season.

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Yale men deliver second-half performance to remember in 73-44 rout of Vermont

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It had been 77 years since Yale men’s basketball last started a season 6-0.

Until Tuesday night.

Yale defeated Vermont 73-44, performing a 46-14 demolition of the Catamounts in the second half at John J. Lee Amphitheater to improve to 6-0 and move forward as the Ivy League’s only undefeated team.

The Bulldogs were down 30-27 at the half. They came out in the second stanza with a renewed intensity on both ends.

”I have a really good staff. Everyone made good suggestions (at halftime),” coach James Jones said. “We cut off the post.”

Yale sank seven of 11 field goals to start the second half on a 20-5 run, building a 47-35 lead with 11:58 remaining. Vermont answered with a three, but Yale topped that with seven straight subsequent points to lead 54-38 with 10:32 left.

Yale shot 61.3% in the second half while holding Vermont to a paltry 21.7%.

Junior forward Matt Knowling once again led Yale with 22 points on 10-for-13 shooting. Sophomore guard John Poulakidas and senior forward EJ Jarvis each pitched in 10 points.

Vermont fell to an uncharacteristic 1-5.

Quincy Jones, son of James Jones, hit a half-court shot to win a TV during a game timeout.

Yale’s KenPom ranking is No. 105 after the win. Princeton is the closest Ivy to Yale at No. 136.

The Bulldogs’ next action comes at Colorado on Sunday. It will be a homecoming of sorts for Jalen Gabbidon, who captained Yale last season and now starts for the Buffaloes.

Yale men nab “gutsy win” to clinch Outrigger Rainbow Classic title

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Junior forward Matt Knowling contributed 18 points in 40 minutes, both game highs, in Yale’s Outrigger Rainbow Classic-clinching win in Honolulu. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Add an Outrigger Rainbow Classic win to James Jones’ coaching resume.

Yale men’s basketball outlasted Hawaii in a defensive struggle, 62-59, in overtime to claim the title early Monday night local time in Honolulu.

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Eight-man rotation coming into shape for Yale men ahead of matchup with Hawaii

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The Yale men’s basketball team improved to 3-0 for the first time since the 2015-16 season that it finished in the NCAA Tournament round of 32 with an 80-51 thrashing of Mississippi Valley State Sunday.

The game in the Outrigger Rainbow Classic in Honolulu wasn’t even that close.

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How Yale men outlasted Eastern Washington in Honolulu showdown

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Yale junior forward Matt Knowling posted 26 points on 10-for-15 shooting in 28 minutes in his team’s 74-60 win over Eastern Washington in Honolulu Friday. Knowling has shot 80% from the field through the first two games of the season. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

The James Jones system is all about rebounding and defense. The system was on full display Friday in Honolulu.

The Bulldogs bested Eastern Washington, 74-60, at the Outrigger Rainbow Classic, powered by a 36-24 edge in rebounding over the Eagles.

“It was a tremendous defensive effort,” Jones said.

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2022-23 IHO Men’s Preseason Poll

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Only five points separated the top three teams in the Ivy League Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll, and our final tabulation was even tighter. Just three points separated the team atop IHO contributors’ preseason poll.

Yale gets the slight nod here, with our contributors trusting James Jones to lead the Bulldogs to their fifth Ivy League title in an eight-season span in a bid to represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament for a third straight time. Penn, the Ivy League preseason poll’s top team above Princeton by a single point, also finished a single point above Princeton in our standings. Our contributors saw potential for success in a roster that returns most of the key players from last year’s squad that placed third in the Ivy standings. We’ve got Princeton pegged to finish third, aided in their quest to repeat as Ivy League champions by returning 2021-22 Ivy Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan but losing significant backcourt production from last year’s conference title team.

Harvard was the clear No. 4 finisher in our poll, a showing that would improve upon the disappointing sixth-place result that locked the Crimson out of the Ivy League Tournament on its home floor last season. We have Cornell ranked slightly ahead of Brown as the Big Red look to build on last season’s overachieving Ivy League Tournament berth and the Bears look to bounce back from an underachieving sixth-place finish (tied with Harvard) a season ago. Columbia and Dartmouth tied in our voting tally at the bottom of the standings as both programs look to secure their first Ivy League Tournament appearances.

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