Yale Athletics

Yale men’s basketball continued its strong recent play with a blowout win against Dartmouth over the weekend.

The Bulldogs (12–6, 3–0 Ivy) made light work of Dartmouth (4–12, 0–3 Ivy) in a 76-51 road victory, extending their win streak to five.

“This is always a tough place to play,” head coach James Jones said to Yale Athletics. “I thought our defense was stellar. Our guys did a good job of not giving up easy shots as we did in the last game. That’s the takeaway and hopefully something we can build on.”

Forward Danny Wolf ’26, coming off his second Ivy League Player of the Week honor, led all scorers with 19 points to go with his 14 rebounds. Forward Matt Knowling ’24 added 16 points on 7-9 shooting and guards Bez Mbeng ’25 and John Poulakidas ’25 finished with 14 and 12, respectively, in a team-wide offensive effort.

After going down 12–11 in the game’s first ten minutes, the Elis went on a 9–0 run to take a 21–12 lead, from which they never looked back.

The Bulldogs led by more than 30 points during parts of the second half, as Dartmouth scored just four points in the second half’s first 11 minutes.

Team captain August Mahoney ’24 said that winning by such a big margin on the road will give the team confidence going forward.

“Every game in the Ivy League is a tightly contested battle,” he said. “Every team knows each other’s stuff so you really have to execute and lock into the game plan. That being said, road games are that much tougher.”

Mahoney also acknowledged that “each week brings its own challenges” and that the group remains focused for Saturday’s matchup against Harvard, also on the road. 

Improvements on defense

Yale’s offense has looked a step quicker than its defense at times this season, but it was the defense that took the spotlight on Saturday afternoon.

The Elis held the Big Green to just 28 percent shooting from the field and 27 percent from three, and the 51 points they allowed is their second-lowest all season to a Division I opponent. Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin acknowledged Yale’s stifling second-half defense, saying to Dartmouth Athletics that “we took some questionable shots” and “They (Yale) made some plays.”

Yale, usually a more defense-oriented team — but whose adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency metrics rank 92nd and 108th in the nation, respectively, according to kenpom.com — has leaned on its defense to build its five-game win streak. Four of their five opponents in those games have been held to 70 points or less.

Last season, during the Elis’ six-game win streak against Ivy League teams, five of the six opponents were held to 70 points or less.

The Bulldogs will hope to keep their defensive intensity levels high as they enter the heart of the Ivy League schedule once again.

Success on the road

Last year, the Bulldogs were 6–1 in Ivy League home games but 4–4 away, including their loss to Princeton in the Ivy tournament. 

To start this year’s Ancient Eight campaign, Yale has won both of its road games, against Brown and Dartmouth. On account of Yale’s road-heavy non-conference schedule, 13 of its 18 games this season have been played away from home, and four of the five games over the course of the Bulldogs winning streak have been road games.

If the Bulldogs can combine strong road play with their historically dominant home record, they’ll be a tougher force to be reckoned with for the rest of the league, especially in this year’s Ivy tournament, which will be in New York City.

Looking ahead

Yale will look to extend its winning streak to six next Saturday against the Harvard Crimson. 

The game will tip off at 2 p.m. at Harvard’s Lavietes Pavilion.