YALE at BROWN
Tues., Jan. 9 – 7 p.m. EST
Providence, R.I.
TV: ESPNU
Watch on ESPNU | Live Stats | Game Notes
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale men's basketball team begins defense of its back-to-back Ivy League regular season titles on Tuesday by traveling to Brown. Tipoff at the Pizzitola Center is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU. Jon Meterparel (play-by-play) and Noah Savage (analyst) have the call.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
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• The Bulldogs (9-6) enter Ivy play having won two straight games and four of their last five. Their only loss during the stretch came on Dec. 22 at No. 2 Kansas, 75-60, in a game where they had an 11-point advantage midway through the first half and a one-point lead at halftime.
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• Yale has been off since an 86-78 overtime win at Howard last Wednesday.
John Poulakidas scored a season-high 23 points to lead four Bulldogs in double figures. The victory completed a two-game sweep of a post-holiday road trip that started with an impressive 66-58 win at Santa Clara on Dec. 30.
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• While in DC in the days leading up to the Howard game, the team visited the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture and took a private tour of the White House.
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• All six of Yale's losses have come against teams that currently boast a .500 or better record. The combined overall record of the six is 62-27 (.696). Three of the losses came by four points or less and a fourth (Weber State) was in overtime. The two double-digit losses both came against teams that were ranked in the top-11 nationally – Gonzaga and Kansas – and the Bulldogs had a double-digit lead in the first half of both games.
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• Yale is 8-1 in its last nine Ivy openers. The loss, though, came last season at Columbia, 62-60. The Bulldogs lost three of their first four league games a year ago but rebounded to win nine of their final 10 to finish 10-4 and share the regular season championship with Princeton.
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• In the victory at Howard, Yale's bench outscored Howard's reserves 23-5.
Casey Simmons posted his first double-double at Yale with 11 points and 11 rebounds. First year
Samson Aletan, who was named to the Ivy League Honor Roll on Monday, had seven points, four rebounds and two blocks,
Yussif Basa-Ama contributed five points and two rebounds and
Yassine Gharram tallied two assists and two rebounds.
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• Yale is second in the Ivy League in field goal percentage defense (.412) and third in scoring defense (67.8 ppg.).
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Danny Wolf is second in the Ivy League in rebounding (9.1 rpg.), ninth in scoring (14.1 ppg.) and has a league-best 21 blocked shots.
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Bez Mbeng, the 2023 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, is second in the league in steals (1.9 per game), third in assists (3.6 per game) and 11th in scoring (13.4 ppg.).
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HISTORY LESSONS
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The Bulldogs have won eight straight games over Brown, including an 84-75 victory in last season's regular season finale at the Pizzitola Center that clinched Yale's share of the Ivy title.
Bez Mbeng scored 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field.
John Poulakidas (14 points),
August Mahoney (12) and
Yassine Gharram (10) joined Mbeng in double figures. The Bulldogs have won seven of the last eight meetings in Providence. Yale leads the all-time series 116-53. The first meeting between the teams came in 1905.
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SCOUTING BROWN
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The Bears (4-11) last played on Jan. 2, a 71-70 home loss to Vermont. Kino Lilly Jr. scored 18 points and had six assists to lead Brown, while Kalu Anya recorded his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Lilly (19.3 ppg.) is the Ivy League's top scorer and leads the league with 42 three-pointers, while the Bears feature two of the league's top six rebounders in Nana Owusu-Anane (3rd, 8.7 rpg.) and Anya (6th, 6.9 rpg.). Owusu-Anane (50) and Anya (38) are 1-2 in the league in offensive rebounds. Eight of Brown's 15 games have been decided by five points or fewer. The Bears also have a 10-point overtime victory over Kansas City on their resume.
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