YALE at HARVARD
Sat., Jan. 27 – 2 p.m. EST
Cambridge, Mass
Watch on ESPN+ | Live Stats | Game Notes
 
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale men's basketball team wraps up the month of January with a trip to Cambridge to face Harvard on Saturday. Tipoff at Lavietes Pavilion is slated for 2 p.m. and ESPN+ has the stream.
 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
 
• The Bulldogs are looking to complete a perfect month. Yale already has posted victories over Howard, Brown, Columbia and Dartmouth in January. All but the Columbia win came on the road.
 
• The last time the Bulldogs went undefeated in a month was when they were 5-0 in January of 2020.
 
• Yale has won five straight games overall, including a victory at Santa Clara on Dec. 30, and six of its last seven games. The only blemish was at then No. 2 Kansas on Dec. 22 in a game where the Bulldogs had an 11-point first-half lead and a one-point halftime advantage on the Jayhawks.
 
• Yale is looking to start 4-0 in Ivy League play for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
 
• The Bulldogs are coming off a dominant 76-51 win at Dartmouth last Saturday. Yale led 38-28 at halftime and built the advantage to 32 midway through the second half. Dartmouth shot just 29 percent from the field and made only 15 goals in the game.
 
• In its three Ivy games, Yale is shooting 50.3 percent from the field, while holding its opponents to just 37.4 percent.
 
• The Bulldogs lead the Ivy League in field goal percentage defense (.406) and rebounding margin (+5.22) and are second in scoring defense (67.0 ppg.).
 
• Danny Wolf has been the Ivy League Player of the Week in each of the last two weeks. In last Saturday's victory over Dartmouth, he scored 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and added 14 rebounds, two assists and four steals. Wolf, who leads the league in rebounding (9.8 rpg.) and blocked shots (27), has double-doubles in each of his last four games and has seven double-doubles on the season. He is 21st in the nation in rebounding and 34th with the seven double-doubles.
 
• John Poulakidas is fifth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.455). Over his last four games, Poulakidas is shooting 56.7 percent (17-of-30) from long range.
 
• Bez Mbeng, who had 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals in the win over Dartmouth, is second in the league in steals (34) and assists (3.7 per game) and fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.78).
 
HISTORY LESSONS
 
Yale has won four straight games over the Crimson, including the last two at Lavietes Pavilion. Matt Knowling scored 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field to lead the Bulldogs to 68-57 victory in the last meeting in Cambridge. Yale's 125 overall victories against the Crimson are the most against any opponent. The first meeting between the teams was a 41-16 Yale victory in 1901.
 
SCOUTING HARVARD
 
The Crimson (10-6, 1-2 Ivy) had a 46-26 halftime lead and held on for a 70-61 win over Penn at The Palestra last Saturday. Chisom Okpara scored 18 points and Louis Lesmond added a career-high 17 to lead Harvard. Malik Mack, who scored 16 points and had five assists in the win over the Quakers, was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the sixth time this season on Monday. Mack (18.7 ppg.) and Okpara (18.1 ppg.) are second and third respectively in the league in scoring. Mack is the league leader in assists (4.5 per game). The Crimson is 6-2 in Lavietes Pavilion this season. Tommy Amaker is in his 17th season as the head coach at Harvard.
 
SUITS AND SNEAKERS
 
The Yale coaching staff will be wearing special sneakers during Saturday's game in support of Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers Week, a nationwide event when basketball coaches across the country unite for a common cause – ending cancer as we know it, for everyone. To raise awareness and bring attention to the cause during this week, coaches suit up during their game – and of course, wear their most eye-catching sneakers.