Anika Arora Seth

To return to March Madness, Yale must first win the Ivy League Tournament, where only the top four teams from the regular season earn a chance to compete. This year, those teams are Yale, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Princeton. 

On Saturday in Providence, Rhode Island, the No. 1 seeded Bulldogs (20–7, 13–1 Ivy) will face No. 4 Princeton (19–10, 8–6 Ivy) in the tournament’s opening round. 

“I feel great about our team,” head coach James Jones said at a Friday press conference.
“The avenue for a team to beat Yale would be to go out and knock down a bunch of threes and they’re certainly capable of doing that. So our job is to go out and play the defense we know we’re capable of playing.”

Yale is coming off one of its greatest seasons of all time, tying the program record for most conference wins with 13—matching the 2015-16 and 1961-62 teams. Earlier this week, three of Yale’s starting five—Bez Mbeng ’25, John Poulakidas ’25, and Nick Townsend ’26—were named to the All-Ivy first team. Mbeng made history as the first player to win both Ivy League Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, marking his third consecutive year receiving the defensive honor.

Princeton has underperformed this season but is a formidable first-round opponent. The Tigers were picked first in the Ivy League’s preseason media poll after winning the regular season title last season. 

The Bulldogs defeated the Tigers twice during the regular season, winning 77–70 during their first contest on the road and 84–57 at home. After the first matchup, Jones noted that his team struggled to maintain control in the second half, a challenge they faced in multiple games early this season. By the teams’ second meeting on February 15, the Bulldogs had addressed the issue, keeping their foot on the gas and running away with the win. 

Yale is led by its star trio of Poulakidas, Mbeng and Townsend. Poulakidas, a sharpshooting guard, leads the league with 19.3 points per game, while Mbeng has filled the stat sheet with 13.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.9 assists and 1.8 steals per game. Townsend is averaging 15.4 points per game and leads the team in rebounds with 7.1 per game. 

“All three of them work together to make us better,” Jones said of the trio. “Bez makes John’s job easier because he guards the best guy on the other team. John makes Bez’s job easier because the best guy on the other team guards him. Nick Townsend gets open shots because if John’s coming off the screen he’s going to pick and pop.”

The Tigers are led by junior guard Xaivian Lee, who was named to the All-Ivy first team and averages 17 points per game.

If Yale comes out on top, they will face the winner of Cornell vs Dartmouth in the Championship game with an opportunity to secure a ticket to March Madness.

Tip-off is at 11a.m. EST in the Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, Rhode Island.