Yale at Monmouth
Thur., Dec. 22 – 7 p.m.
West Long Branch, N.J.
TV: SNY
FloSports Video | Live Stats | Yale Game Notes
 
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale wraps up the non-conference portion of its schedule with a trip to Monmouth on Thursday. Tipoff at the OceanFirst Bank Center is slated for 7 p.m., and the game will be televised regionally on SNY and streamed by FloSports. It's the final tune up before the Ivy League opener on Dec. 31 at Columbia.
 
It has been a very successful start to the season for the Bulldogs, who are trying to enter Ivy play with double digit overall wins for the third time in the last four seasons.
 
For the last week, Yale's focus has been on final exams. The Bulldogs (9-3) haven't played since a 77-64 victory at Fairfield on Dec. 12. Bez Mbeng, who was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Monday, scored 12 of his career-high 20 points in the second half as Yale rallied from a five-point deficit, outscoring the Stags 53-35 over the final 20 minutes.
 
Big finishes have been common this season for the Bulldogs, who have outscored their opponents 479-343 in the second half and won three times when trailing at the break. That has helped Yale post a number of impressive victories. Seven of its 10 wins have been by double figures. The Bulldogs are ninth in the nation in scoring margin (19.0 ppg.) and also are among the national leaders in scoring defense (10th, 57.6 ppg.), rebound margin (12th, +9.2) and field goal percentage defense (22nd, .382).
 
A deep and talented roster has fueled the success. Nine different Bulldogs have scored in double figures at least once, seven have led the team in scoring and 10 have led in rebounding.
 
Yale, which doesn't have a home game in the month of December, is in the middle of a stretch of six straight road games. Two of its three losses have come during the stretch, but both were competitive games against major conference opponents -71-61 to Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse and 69-59 to Kentucky at Rupp Arena. The Bulldogs had a lead in the second half against UK. The only other blemish on the year is a three-point loss (65-62) at Colorado.
 
Yale is in the midst of the most successful era in its long history. Over the last seven seasons, the Bulldogs have posted a 74-24 (.755) Ivy League record, won four Ivy championships, two Ivy League Tournament titles and earned four NCAA Tournament berths, including notching the first NCAA victory in school history – over Baylor in 2016.
 
Yale won 19 games a year ago, captured the Ivy League Tournament title with a thrilling victory over Princeton in the championship game and earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the third straight season.
 
HISTORY LESSONS
 
The visiting team has won each of the previous three meetings in the Yale-Monmouth series. The Bulldogs' last trip to New Jersey resulted in a 66-58 victory in 2018. Miye Oni, who went on to play in the NBA for the Utah Jazz and is currently playing professionally in London, scored 20 points to pace Yale. The Hawks won the most recent meeting, 69-60 last December at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
 
SCOUTING MONMOUTH
 
Yale is the third Ivy League opponent for the Hawks, who fell to Cornell on Nov. 25 and at Princeton on Dec. 10. Monmouth (1-11) is playing only its fourth home game of the season but second in a row. The Hawks lost to Charlotte on Saturday. Myles Foster (11.4 ppg.) leads the team in scoring and is the only player to have started all 12 games. Myles Ruth, who scored 16 points on Saturday vs. Charlotte, has reached double figures in four of the last five games. The Hawks are in their first season as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. They play their first CAA game on Dec. 28 against UNC Wilmington.