Box Score Yale Hopes To Avenge Last Friday's Loss To
Brown
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. - In recent years, the Yale men's basketball
team has had some success against Brown at the Pizzitola Center.
The Bulldogs have won two of their last three games in Providence.
It would certainly be in their best interest to add another victory
when the two teams meet on Friday at 7 p.m. The game can be heard
on WYBC (1340 AM, wybc.com) with Michael Dunn and Ian Halpern
calling the action or on Sirius XM radio channel 130.Brown edged
Yale 75-66 last Friday at the John J. Lee Amphitheater in the Ivy
League opener for both teams. The Bulldogs will be looking to avoid
their first 0-2 Ivy start since 2004-05. In order to reverse last
week's outcome, Yale will have to shoot better. The Bulldogs made
only 3-of-18 three-pointers and 11-of-18 free throws. That could
mean more opportunities for forward Michael Sands, who is shooting
53.8 percent (21-of-39) and averaging 13.8 points and 7.5 rebounds
in the last four games. Sands paced Yale with 15 points and eight
rebounds last Friday. Alex Zampier, who is second in the league in
scoring (18.4 ppg.), was held to 14 points in the first meeting.
Yale got significant contributions from Jordan Gibson (13 points),
Michael Grace (14 points) and Paul Nelson (five rebounds, three
blocks). Grace, a freshman, is averaging 9.7 points and 4.0 assists
in the last three games.
HISTORY LESSONS
Brown is looking to sweep the season series from Yale for the
first time since 2005. The teams have split the last 10 meetings,
but the Bulldogs lead the all-time series 94-50.
SCOUTING BROWN
The Bears (7-11, 1-0 Ivy) are one of the top shooting
teams in the Ivy League. They are third in the conference in field
goal percentage (.444) and three-point field goal percentage
(.358). Brown's bench played a significant role in the victory over
Yale last Friday, contributing 39 points. Steve Gruber led the way
with 15 points, while freshman Andrew McCarthy added 14 points and
eight rebounds which led to him earning Ivy League Rookie of the
Week honors. Bears' leading scorer Matt Mullery (15.1 ppg.) was
limited due to an ankle injury last Friday and had only five
points. He did, however, contribute seven assists. Brown made
7-of-18 three-pointers and 24-of-29 free throws in the victory over
the Bulldogs.
BULLDOGS PICKED 5TH IN PRESEASON IVY
POLL
The Bulldogs were picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League
preseason media poll, released on Oct. 28 during a media
teleconference. Yale has finished higher than projected in three of
the last four years. Two-time defending champion Cornell is the
overwhelming favorite. The Big Red received all 16 first-place
votes. Princeton is second followed by Penn and Harvard. Columbia
(sixth), Brown and Dartmouth round out the poll. The Bulldogs, who
finished in a tie for second place with Princeton last year, lose
four starters but return Alex Zampier, an honorable mention All-Ivy
selection. Zampier led the Ivy League in free throw percentage
(.848) and was eighth in scoring (13.2 ppg.) and second in steals
(1.6 per game). In addition, Yale welcomes back four other players
who averaged at least 10 minutes per game.
2009-10 Ivy League Men's Basketball
Preseason Media Poll
1. Cornell - 128 points (16 first-place
votes)
2. Princeton - 96
3. Penn - 92
4. Harvard - 86
5. Yale - 59
6. Columbia - 55
7. Brown - 41
8. Dartmouth - 19
CONNECTICUT 6
The state of Connecticut has a rich basketball tradition. A new
chapter in that history starts this season with the formation of
the Connecticut 6, a partnership between six of Connecticut's
Division I schools - Yale, Central Connecticut, Fairfield,
Hartford, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart. The inaugural Connecticut 6
Classic tripleheader was Nov. 13 at the Arena at Harbor Yard. The
Classic moves to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville in 2010. In
addition to the tripleheader, a preseason All-Connecticut 6 team
was selected and there will be a Connecticut 6 Player of the Week
chosen each week during the season.
SNYDER-FAIR JOINS YALE STAFF
Jamie Snyder-Fair, who helped Washington &
Lee make its first appearance in the ODAC championship game in 20
years last year, has joined James Jones' staff. In his one season
at W&L, the Generals won 16 games, their most since 1988-89.
Prior to Washington & Lee, Snyder-Fair was an assistant coach
at Vassar where he helped the Brewers to 18 wins, which tied the
school record. He also spent two years as an assistant at Amherst.
HEAD COACH JAMES JONES
James Jones has made quite an impact on the Yale
basketball program. In 10 seasons, Jones has guided Yale to success
not seen in New Haven in 40 years. In 2001-02, Jones led the
Bulldogs to their first Ivy League title since 1962-63 and the
first postseason tournament victory in the 107-year history of Yale
basketball. The team won 21 games, the second most in the modern
era of Yale basketball, and reached the second round of the
National Invitation Tournament. Jones, the longest tenured coach in
the Ivy League, earned his 100th victory at Yale when the Bulldogs
beat Columbia on Feb. 9, 2007. He is only the fourth coach in
school history with at least 100 wins. His overall record at Yale
is 130-149, including a 77-63 (.550) mark in Ivy games. The
Bulldogs have won at least 10 Ivy games twice during his tenure and
have had a .500 or better record in league play in each of the last
nine years. Three assistant coaches who worked under Jones have
gone on to become head coaches - Isaiah Cavaco (Oberlin), Mark
Sembrowich (Academy of Arts University) and Mark Gilbride
(Clarkson).Jones served as an assistant coach to Villanova's Jay
Wright for the 2007 USA Basketball Men's Pan American Games Team.
SIX FORMER YALIES IN PRO RANKS
Six Yale graduates, all coached by James Jones, are currently
playing professional basketball. Edwin Draughan '05 (FOS Ouest,
France), Dominick Martin '06 (Illescas CLM, Spain), Matt Kyle '08
(Tunisia), Eric Flato '08 (Plymouth Raiders, England) and Ross
Morin '09 (SAM Massagno, Switzerland) are playing overseas, while
Travis Pinick '09 was was selected in the eighth round of the 2009
NBA D-League Draft by the Los Angeles D-Fenders.
2009-10 SCHEDULE NOTES
• The 2009-10 schedule features 31 regular season games,
including 12 in the friendly confines of the John J. Lee
Amphitheater. It will mark the most games Yale has played in a
season since 2001-02 when the Bulldogs finished 21-11.
• The Bulldogs made their second appearance in the
Preseason NIT. Yale fell to No. 1 ranked UConn in the tournament to
open the 2003-04 season. The Bulldogs played four games in this
year's tournament.
• The game with Quinnipiac on Nov. 21 capped a busy day on
the Yale campus. The 126th edition of the Yale-Harvard football
game was played at noon at Yale Bowl. Yale and Quinnipiac had met
only once before, an 87-69 Bobcat win in 1999 in the Phoenix
Classic at the Hartford Civic Center.
• Senior Alex Zampier had a homecoming when the Bulldogs
visited Albany on Jan. 3. Zampier, an East Greenbush, N.Y., native,
graduated as the second all-time leading scorer at Columbia High
School with 1,381 points. Yale head coach James Jones is a 1996
Albany graduate. He played for and coached with the legendary Dr.
Richard Sauers, one of only seven coaches to win more than 700
games.
• The Bulldogs opened the 14-game Ivy League schedule at
home against Brown on Jan. 15. Three of Yale's first four Ivy games
will be at Lee Amphitheater.
Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity
