NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The debut of the 2023-24 Yale men's basketball team provided a good look at what could be the deepest team in
James Jones' long and ultra successful career. Three Bulldogs scored in double figures and 15 scored in all as Yale cruised to a 102-53 victory over Vassar at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Yale (1-0) won its home opener for the 13th straight season.
TURNING POINT
Not surprisingly, Yale seized control right from the start, scoring the game's first 10 points. Vassar pulled to within 12-10, but the Bulldogs answered with a 17-0 run, capped by an
August Mahoney three-pointer that had Yale in front 29-10 midway through the first half. The lead was 48-24 at halftime and grew to as many as 53 points late in the second half.
HIGH SCORERS
Nick Townsend scored 13 points to lead the balanced attack.
Bez Mbeng and
John Poulakidas each added 12. Mahoney finished with nine points and was 3-of-4 from three-point range,
Danny Wolf scored eight points,
Matt Knowling and
Devon Arlington each had seven,
Samson Aletan and
Luke Kolaja contributed six points apiece.
KEY STATS
The Bulldogs shot 63.5 percent (40-of-63) from the field and outrebounded Vassar 48-31. Wolf grabbed 10 boards to lead the way, while Townsend added seven. In addition to his 12 points, Mbeng had five rebounds and five assists.
QUOTING JONES
"It was nice to be back out on the court. Our guys were obviously excited about playing a game. We've had practice for about a month and a half now, so it was nice to get out and play against somebody else," said Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "We've got a lot of work to do, but there were some promising things out there. Defensively, I thought we gave up too many open shots and we need to do a better job staying connected and getting stops."
NOTES
• Aletan, a first year, quickly became a fan favorite as the first two baskets of his career were dunks. He made all three of his shots from the field and had a rebound in 12 minutes.
• In his Yale debut,
Casey Simmons contributed four points and four rebounds in 14 minutes.
Trevor Mullin (two points) also scored in his first career game.
•
Yassine Gharram had five points, four assists and one turnover in 13 efficient minutes, and
Yussif Basa-Ama had three rebounds and two assists in nine minutes.
• In all, the Bulldogs got 48 points off the bench.
• Yale has now won its season opener in seven of the last eight seasons.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bulldogs leave Thursday for a two-game trip to the West Coast. Yale faces Gonzaga, ranked No. 11 in the AP preseason national poll, on Friday. Tipoff is slated for 9 p.m. EST. On Sunday, the Bulldogs meet Loyola Marymount in California in a 6 p.m. EST tip.
