YALE at No. 2 KANSAS
Fri., Dec. 22 – 8 p.m. EST
Lawrence, Kan.
ESPN+ Video | Live Stats | Game Notes
 
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Exams are over, and Yale is off to one of the meccas of college basketball for a big test on the court. The Bulldogs face No. 2 Kansas in historic Allen Fieldhouse on Friday. Tip off is slated for 8 p.m. EST and ESPN+ has the video.
 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
 
• Yale (7-5) is coming off a 10-day break for exams. The Bulldogs haven't played since a 73-66 win at Quinnipiac on Dec. 11. Trailing 35-29, Yale outscored the Bobcats 44-31 in the second half.
 
• The Bulldogs, who have won two straight games, are second in the Ivy League in scoring defense (67.0 ppg.) and third in field goal percentage defense (.406).
 
• Yale is averaging just 9.8 turnovers per game, which is the second fewest in the league.
 
• Danny Wolf was named the Ivy League Player of the Week after posting his third double-double (career-high 22 points, 12 rebounds) of the season in the win at Quinnipiac. Wolf, who has scored in double figures in nine straight games, is second in the lvy League in rebounding (9.0 rpg.) and blocked shots (16) and fourth in field goal percentage (.500). Last year as a first year, he averaged 2.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 21 games off the bench.
 
• Four Bulldogs average double figures in scoring, led by Bez Mbeng at 13.6 ppg. Wolf (13.4 ppg.), Matt Knowling (11.5 ppg.) and John Poulakidas (11.0 ppg.) are the other double figure scorers.
 
• Mbeng, the 2022 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, leads the league with 23 steals, is sixth in assists (3.3 per game) and fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.74).
 
• Wolf (.480), Poulakidas (.417) and August Mahoney (.412) are all shooting better than 40 percent from three-point range.
 
• Casey Simmons, who transferred to Yale from Northwestern, has come off the bench and scored in double figures in each of the last two games. In the win at Quinnipiac, he tallied 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field.
 
• The Bulldogs are coming off a highly successful 2022-23 season that saw them win 21 games, share the Ivy League regular season title with Princeton and advance to the postseason National Invitation Tournament.
 
• The Bulldogs are in the midst of the most successful era in the long history of the program. Over the last eight seasons, Yale has posted an 84-28 (.750) Ivy League record, won five Ivy championships, two Ivy League Tournament titles and earned three NCAA Tournament berths, including notching the first NCAA victory in school history – over Baylor in 2016. Yale also was set to appear in the NCAA Tournament in 2020 but it was canceled due to the pandemic.
 
• Yale is 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).
 
HISTORY LESSONS
 
Yale is making its third trip to Kansas under head coach James Jones. The Bulldogs fell to the Jayhawks in both the 2005-06 and 2007-08 seasons. Overall, this is the fourth meeting between the teams. The other came in 1975, a 63-54 Kansas win in the Jayhawk Classic. Jones has never shied away from taking his team to face the nation's top programs. During his tenure, Yale has played at Rupp Arena vs. Kentucky (2022), Gampel Pavilion vs. UConn (2003 and a victory in 2014), Pauley Pavilion vs. UCLA (2007), Cameron Indoor Stadium vs. Duke (2015, 2018), The Dean Smith Center vs. North Carolina (2019) and Gallagher-Iba Arena vs. Oklahoma State (2002, 2019). Earlier this season, Yale played Gonzaga at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
 
SCOUTING KANSAS
 
The Jayhawks (10-1) have won six straight games since their only blemish, a loss to Marquette at the Maui Classic. Included in the streak are victories over Tennessee, UConn and most recently at Indiana last Saturday. Kansas has won 13 straight games against non-conference opponents in Allen Fieldhouse and are 151-6 (.962) under head coach Bill Self in the historic arena. The Jayhawks are sixth in the nation in field goal percentage (.518), 13th in field goal percentage defense (.376) and second in assists (21.7 per game). Individually, Hunter Dickinson is second in the nation in rebounding (12.7 ppg.), while averaging 19.2 ppg, and Dajuan Harris Jr. is eighth nationally in assists (6.8 per game). Kansas, currently No. 2, has been ranked in the top-10 in each of the last 45 weekly polls, the longest active streak in the nation.