COLUMBIA at YALE
Mon., Jan. 15 – 7 p.m. EST
New Haven, Conn.
Watch on ESPN+ | Live Stats | Game Notes
 
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Yale plays at home for the first time in over a month when Columbia visits the John J. Lee Amphitheater on Monday. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. and ESPN+ has the video with Justin Gallanty (play-by-play) and Christine Huber (analyst) on the call.
 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
 
• Yale's last home game was on Dec. 8, a 95-36 thrashing of Colby-Sawyer. The time away, though, didn't stop the positive momentum as the Bulldogs won four of five on the road, including a 66-58 victory over a Santa Clara team that  beat Gonzaga on Thursday night. The only blemish came at then No. 2 Kansas, a 75-60 loss in a game where Yale had an 11-point advantage midway through the first half and a one-point lead at halftime.
 
• Monday is Yale's only home game in the month of January. The Bulldogs don't play again at Lee Amphitheater until Feb. 2 against Princeton.
 
• Over the last five seasons, Yale is 29-6 (.829) at home in Ivy play.
 
• Yale opened the 2024 Ivy season with a 70-60 win at Brown last Tuesday. Danny Wolf scored 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, had five assists and blocked three shots, while Bez Mbeng contributed 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals.
 
• Wolf was named to the Lou Henson Award Mid-Season Watch List earlier this week. The Henson Award is presented annually to the top mid-major player in Division I college basketball. Wolf leads the Ivy League with 24 blocks, is second in rebounding (9.1 rpg.), ninth in scoring (14.2 ppg.) and seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.447, 17-of-38).
 
• Mbeng also is among the Ivy leaders in several categories, including scoring (11th, 13.6 ppg.), assists (2nd, 3.7 per game), steals (2nd, 30) and minutes played (3rd, 32.4 per game).
 
• August Mahoney is third in the league in free throw percentage at .857 (24-of-28).
 
• Wolf (.447), John Poulakidas (.419) and Mahoney (.414) are all shooting better than 40 percent from three-point range.
 
• Yale is second in the Ivy League in scoring defense (67.8), field goal percentage defense (.414) and rebounding margin (+4.94).
 
HISTORY LESSONS
 
Yale has won 12 of the last 14 meetings with Columbia at Lee Amphitheater, including a 99-68 victory last season when the Bulldogs shot 65 percent from the field and scored 58 second-half points. Matt Knowling scored 22 points and John Poulakidas added 13. Bez Mbeng contributed nine points and six assists. That win earned Yale a split of the season series as the Lions won 62-60 in Levien Gym in the Ivy opener for both teams. Columbia leads the all-time series 127-116. The first meeting came in 1902, a 48-3 Yale victory in New Haven.
 
SCOUTING COLUMBIA
 
The Lions (9-5, 0-1 Ivy) opened league play with a 91-79 loss at Cornell last Tuesday. Avery Brown led Columbia with a season-high 17 points in 38 minutes of action, followed by double-figure efforts from Josh Odunowo (11), Kenny Noland (11), Jaden Cooper (10), and Zine Eddine Bedri (10). The Lions shot 32-of-59 from the field. Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa (13.3 ppg.) leads the team in scoring but missed the Cornell game due to injury. Brown (12.1 ppg.) and Blair Thompson (10.2 ppg.) also average double figures. The Lions are second in the league in scoring offense (81.6 ppg.) and field goal percentage (.479). There is a familiar face on the Columbia bench. Assistant coach Tobe Carberry spent three seasons on James Jones' staff at Yale, helping guide the Bulldogs to a 30-12 Ivy record and a pair of NCAA Tournament berths.