Yale at Butler
Tues., Dec. 6, - 6:30 p.m.
Indianapolis, Ind.
TV: FS1
Live Stats | Yale Game Notes
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The second leg of Yale's six-game road stretch brings the Bulldogs to historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on Tuesday night to face the Butler Bulldogs. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally on FS1.
Yale (8-1) is off to its best start since the 1945-46 team posted a 14-1 record on its way to a New England Championship.
The early success, though, shouldn't come as a surprise. 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.
Despite losing two All-Ivy selections from last year's team, the Bulldogs have continued to thrive. The only blemish thus far was a 65-62 loss at Colorado over Thanksgiving weekend. Yale is coming off a pair of wins last week, 77-72 at Stony Brook on Saturday and 86-40 at home against Howard last Wednesday.
EJ Jarvis scored 17 points to lead the way in the victory over Stony Brook. The Bulldogs had the lead for nearly 38 minutes in the game but could never quite shake the pesky Seawolves.
Against Howard, Yale made a school-record 18 three-pointers.
August Mahoney hit six and paced the Bulldogs with 18 points.
Jarvis and Mahoney were both named to the Ivy League Honor Roll this week.
Yale is among the national leaders in several categories through games of Sunday, including scoring margin (4th, 26.1), rebound margin (5th, +11.3), scoring defense (6th, 54.1), assist/turnover ratio (6th, 1.67) and field goal percentage defense (9th, .356).
Matt Knowling (17.3 ppg.) and
John Poulakidas (11.4 ppg.) lead the team in scoring. Knowling is ninth in the nation in field goals made (70) and 12th in field goal percentage (.680).
Tuesday is the start of busy week for the Bulldogs, who play at Kentucky on Saturday and are at Fairfield next Monday.
HISTORY LESSONS
Yale and Butler are playing for the first time since 1970 and the fifth time overall. Butler won the previous four games, all of which were played in Indianapolis at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The first meeting came on Dec. 30, 1921, a 51-24 Butler victory. In the 1970 game, Jim Morgan '71 scored 26 points for Yale in a 96-77 Butler victory.
SCOUTING BUTLER
The Butler Bulldogs (6-3) have won two straight, including an 80-66 win over Tennessee Tech on Saturday. Chuck Harris posted career-highs of 32 points and six three-pointers in the victory. Harris is the first Bulldog to score 30 points in a game since Kamar Baldwin had 36 at Xavier March 7, 2020, and the first Butler player to hit six three-pointers since Jair Bolden had six against Indiana Dec. 19, 2020. Butler is 69-2 over its last 71 non-conference home games. All five starters average double figures in scoring, led by Harris at 15.6 ppg. Thad Matta is the head coach at Butler. In his 17 years as a college head coach, which includes stints at Butler, Ohio State and Xavier, Matta possesses an incredible record of 439-154 (.740). Matta's teams have won 20 or more games in 16 of those 17 seasons, advancing to the NCAA Tournament 13 times. His 2007 and 2012 Ohio State teams reached the Final Four.
