NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The college basketball season isn't even a week old, and the Yale men's basketball team already has made a big statement.
Matthue Cotton scored a career-high 23 points, and
Azar Swain added 17 as the Bulldogs posted a dominant 91-71 victory over UMass before a very impressed crowd at Lee Amphitheater.
Yale shot 54.2 percent from the field and limited the Minutemen to 35.1 percent.
UMass (1-1) scored the first five points of the game. From there, it was all Bulldogs.
A Cotton three-pointer midway through the first half gave Yale a 27-19 lead. By halftime the advantage had grown to 43-30, and the Bulldogs led by as many as 25 in the second half.
Cotton excelled at both ends of the floor. He was 8-of-15 from the field, 5-of-10 from three-point range and helped hold T.J. Weeks Jr., one of UMass's top scoring threats, to 1-of-6 shooting from the field.
"He was tremendous," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "He played hard and went after the ball. His defensive presence was also really big for us. He's taken great pride in himself to get better [defensively]."
Jalen Gabbidon also scored in double figures with 13 points, and just like in the season-opening win over Vassar, the Bulldogs got contributions from throughout the lineup.
Isaiah Kelly, Jack Molloy and
Yussif Basa-Ama each added eight points and
August Mahoney scored seven.
"I like my group," Jones said.
The Bulldogs have now won 10 straight non-conference games in the friendly confines of Lee Amphitheater. Their last home loss to a non-Ivy opponent came against Monmouth (85-64) on Dec. 22, 2017.
Yale plays its first road game of the season on Sunday, traveling to Seton Hall. Tip off is slated for noon at the Prudential Center, and the game will be televised nationally on FS1.
