Yale at No. 20 Auburn
Sat., Dec. 4, 2021 – 2 p.m. EST
Auburn, Ala.
ESPNU Video | Live Stats | Game Notes
 
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale men's basketball team heads to Alabama to face Auburn riding the momentum from an outstanding second half in Wednesday's 82-72 victory over Lehigh. The Bulldogs scored 57 points and shot 54.5 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes against the Mountain Hawks. It will take a similar effort for 40 minutes against the Tigers, who are ranked No. 20 in the nation. Tip off at Auburn Arena is slated for 2 p.m. EST, and the game will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
 
Jalen Gabbidon spearheaded Wednesday's strong second half, scoring all of his career-high 22 points after the break. He missed his only shot of the first half and then went 6-of-8 from the field and made four three-pointers in the final 20 minutes. Gabbidon, the 2020 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, is averaging 11.7 points per game, while also leading the team in rebounding (5.6 rpg.).
 
Azar Swain leads the Bulldogs and is second in the Ivy League in scoring at 18.9 ppg. Swain, a 2020 first team All-Ivy selection, has scored at least 20 points in five of the last six games, including tallying 23 in the win over Lehigh. Swain also is on the verge of a major milestone. With 219 career three-pointers, he is 10 shy of the school record, set by Ed Petersen '92.
 
Matthue Cotton leads the team with 19 three-pointers and also averages double figures in scoring at 11.8 ppg. Cotton had a career-high 23 points in the Bulldogs' 91-71 victory over UMass earlier in the season.
 
Yale's offense has been bolstered by the return of EJ Jarvis, who missed the first five games due to injury. Jarvis is averaging 10.7 points over the last three games, including scoring a career-high 13 against Stony Brook last Sunday.
 
Yale, ranked No. 25 in the CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top 25, is in the midst of the most successful era in the long history of the program. Over the last six seasons, the Bulldogs have a remarkable 63-21 Ivy record. During that stretch, they have won four league titles and earned three NCAA Tournament berths, including notching the first NCAA victory in school history.
 
James Jones, the Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs, is the all-time winningest men's basketball coach at Yale. His 338 career victories are the second most in Ivy League history, and his 180 Ivy wins are the third most in league history. 

Jones, the longest tenured coached in the league, has guided the Bulldogs to five Ivy League championships – 2002, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020 - three NCAA Tournament berths – 2016, 2019, 2020 - and six postseason appearances.
 
HISTORY LESSONS
 
The Bulldogs are playing Auburn for the first time. Yale, though, does have some history with the SEC. The most memorable moment came against LSU in the championship game of the 1969 Rainbow Classic, a 97-94 Yale victory. Jim Morgan '71 scored 35 points to pace the Bulldogs, while Pete Maravich scored 34 points to lead the Tigers. That was Yale's last win over an SEC school. The Bulldogs also played LSU in their most recent NCAA Tournament game in 2019, falling to the Tigers 79-74. The other schools that are currently in the SEC that Yale has beaten are Tennessee (1961) and Vanderbilt (1907).
 
SCOUTING AUBURN
 
The 20th-ranked Tigers (6-1) have won three straight games since suffering their only loss, a 115-109 double overtime decision to UConn at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. Auburn knocked off Central Florida 85-68 on Wednesday night. Jabari Smith (16.9 ppg.) leads the team in scoring, while Walker Kessler (7.7 rpg.) is the top rebounder. In seven + years as head coach at Auburn, Bruce Pearl has led the Tigers to 144 wins, two Southeastern Conference championships, consecutive NCAA Tournament berths and the program's first ever appearance in the Final Four.