It was a special weekend for the Yale men's basketball program. It was the weekend of a lifetime for Matt Townsend '15.
In late November of 2014, the Bulldogs traveled to Kent, Ohio, where they pulled off the rare feat of winning three games in three days to capture the Men Against Breast Cancer Classic. Townsend, though, was only there for the final victory. His first two days of that weekend were spent in New York City where he earned one of the most prestigious academic honors in the nation – being named a Rhodes Scholar.
Less than 24 hours after the announcement, Townsend had rejoined his teammates and then went out and shot 5-for-5 from the field en route to scoring 12 points as the Bulldogs knocked off a solid Kent State squad 66-59.
That's quite a 36 hours.
It all began on Friday when Townsend left campus and headed into New York City for the first event on the agenda, a glitzy cocktail party for the candidates in a lower Manhattan apartment.
"The elevator opened right into the wood-lined, massive apartment," Townsend remembered.
Saturday was his interview. "It was a whirlwind," he said.
That was followed by a lengthy wait to learn his fate. Townsend passed the time following Yale's game with Illinois State on his phone. Then, at 6 p.m., he learned he had been selected as one of the 32 Rhodes Scholars.
How did he celebrate?
"I hopped in the car with my dad to head to the airport," he said.
There was a plane to catch to Ohio. Normally a starter, Townsend came off the bench in Sunday's game with Kent State. He checked in at the 16:20 mark and promptly assisted on a Javier Duren layup. Still, the Bulldogs trailed 32-24 at halftime. Townsend, though, scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half as Yale rallied for the impressive win.
"It was a great feeling to be able to fly in for the last game and be able to contribute after everyone had had my back," he said.
Townsend had learned only two weeks prior to the tournament that he had been selected to interview for the Rhodes Scholarship.
"I remember talking to Coach [James] Jones and explaining the unusual situation and the timing," Townsend said. "He had been tremendously supportive through the process, writing me one of the eight letters of recommendations [needed]. There was never any question that he had my back and that from the top down the team would have my back."
Success in the Kent State tournament was part of a memorable senior season for Townsend and the Bulldogs, who knocked off defending NCAA champion UConn two weeks later. Yale went on to capture a share of the Ivy League championship but fell to Harvard in a playoff game to determine the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
There also were more individual honors for Townsend, who was named the Capital One Academic All-American of the Year for Division I in men's basketball, was the recipient of Yale's Kiphuth Student-Athlete Distinction Award, presented to the male student-athlete who ranked highest in scholarship and earned two varsity awards and was selected as a candidate for the men's basketball Senior Class Award.
Three months following his Yale graduation, Townsend was off to England to study at Oxford University.
"What a tremendous two years," he said. "Academically it was something out of Harry Potter. We took our end-of-year exams all together in a massive academic room dressed in full academic regalia for four plus hours. The Rhodes Scholar community there was amazing and the source of some of my best friends today."
During his time at Oxford, Townsend was able to travel around Europe, including a trip to Israel. He also took up rowing and played for the basketball team, which visited China for a series of exhibition games.
"It was two years filled with a lot of learning not only in my courses but in all the other opportunities I had the chance to partake in," he said.
Academically, he earned two separate one-year master's degrees – in medical anthropology and public policy.
Presently, Townsend is wrapping up his final year of medical school at Harvard. He's worked and learned at the hospital for the past two years, is working on research projects and has been interviewing for residency positions.
His long-term goal is to go in to gastroenterology, focusing on obesity, metabolic disease and fatty liver disease.
"Growing up as an athlete and personally being interested my own nutrition and health probably contributed to that," he said. "What sold me [on practicing medicine] is how much of a team sport it is. Medicine is one of those things that gets done with a whole bunch of people working together, so it's a very natural fit."
Townsend texts regularly with Coach Jones and assistant coaches
Matt Kingsley and
Justin Simon. He watched the 2016 NCAA Tournament victory over Baylor in a dining hall at Oxford, has been a regular when the Bulldogs played at Harvard during his time at medical school and was in New Haven for the victory over the Crimson in the 2019 Ivy League Tournament.
Townsend certainly hasn't been surprised by the success the Bulldogs have enjoyed in recent years.
"One of the most satisfying things was to see how the program was building and to be a part of that throughout my four years," he said.
