VASSAR at YALE
Mon., Nov. 6 – 7 p.m.
John J. Lee Amphitheater
ESPN+ Video | Live Stats | Tickets
 
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A highly anticipated Yale men's basketball season kicks off on Monday night at the John J. Lee Amphitheater when Vassar visits. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m., and the game can be seen on ESPN+.
 
 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
 
• The Bulldogs are coming off a highly successful 2022-23 season that saw them win 21 games, share the league title with Princeton and advance to the postseason National Invitation Tournament.
 
• Yale has won its season opener six times in the last seven seasons.
 
• The Bulldogs have won their home opener in 12 straight seasons.
 
• Since the start of the 2014-15 season, Yale has posted an 81-16 (.835) record at Lee Amphitheater.
 
• Yale begins the season ranked No. 9 in the College Insider Mid Major Top-25 poll. The Bulldogs won't have to wait long to test themselves against other top mid-major programs. In game No. 2 of the season on Nov. 10, Yale faces Gonzaga, the top-ranked team in the poll. Gonzaga, 31-6 last season, received 21 of the 31 first-place votes. Two days later, on Nov. 12, the Bulldogs play at Loyola Marymount, No. 15 in the poll.
 
• Yale begins the season as the Ivy League favorite. The Bulldogs were selected first in the league's official preseason media poll, released in October. Yale, which had 124 points, received 14 of the 16 first-place votes. The other two first-place votes went to Princeton, which had 110 points and is projected to finish second. Cornell (80 points) is third followed by Brown (77), Penn (68), Harvard (66), Dartmouth (28) and Columbia (23).
 
• The Bulldogs return four of their five top scorers from last season, including unanimous first team All-Ivy selection Matt Knowling, league defensive player of the year Bez Mbeng and August Mahoney, who led the league in free throw percentage and three-point field goal percentage.
 
• Under the direction of James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach, Yale has won Ivy regular season championships in five of the last eight seasons and Ivy League Tournament titles in 2019 and 2022.
 
HISTORY LESSONS
 
Yale and Vassar are playing for the second time. Five Bulldogs scored in double figures, including Mahoney, who had 11 points, as Yale opened the 2021-22 season with an 88-42 win over the Brewers at Lee Amphitheater. It was the Bulldogs' first game after the pandemic had canceled the 2020-21 season.
 
SCOUTING VASSAR

The Brewers finished the 2022-23 season with a 13-13 overall record and a 9-9 mark in Liberty League play. They reached the first round of the Liberty League Championship. Vassar graduated its entire starting lineup from last season, including a pair of All-Liberty League selections. Head Coach Ryan Mee enters his fifth season (sixth year, no season in 2020-21 due to COVID-19) in 2023-24. He has led Vassar to three Liberty League Championship appearances. Mee led the Brewers to their first ever Liberty League Championship in 2021-22 and advanced to the NCAA First Round against WPI.