Brown and Yale Come to Leede Arena This Weekend

The Games: Dartmouth (5-15, 1-5) vs. Brown (8-12, 1-5) and Yale (11-9, 4-2)
Location: Leede Arena (2,100), Hanover, N.H.
Tipoff: Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11-12 at 7 p.m.
Series Record vs. Brown: Dartmouth leads 75-66
Series Record vs. Yale: Bulldogs lead 101-95
Live Audio - Dave Collins, play-by-play (Yale game on SIRIUS Channel 130)
Live Stats
Live Video
Complete Game Notes

Cormier Coaching 400th Game
•    In the first of two games this weekend against Brown and Yale, Dartmouth's Paul Cormier will be coaching his 400th game as a collegiate head coach with 203 coming with the Big Green. Cormier sports a 178-221 record to date.
•    Dartmouth last swept the home weekend against these two schools just two years ago, topping the Bears in overtime, 63-61, then knocking off the Bulldogs, 57-54.
•    The Green have lost eight of their last nine with the lone win coming here in Leede Arena on Jan. 28 against Cornell, 64-57.
•    This past weekend, Dartmouth took one on the chin in Philadelphia as Penn took a 78-47 contest. The next night, however, the Big Green played league-leading Princeton dead even in the first half before succumbing in a 68-53 loss.
•    Both junior Kirk Crecco and freshman Tyler Melville scored in double figures in both games, as Crecco shot a combined 9-for-18 on the weekend with 23 points and Melville 8-of-14 for 21.
•    Free throw shooting has become a sudden problem in conference play with Dartmouth managing just 53.6 percent from the charity stripe after topping 73 percent outside the league.

Series vs. Brown (8-12, 1-5)
•    While the Bears have won six of the last seven and 15 of 20 against Dartmouth, the Green still hold the advantage in the all-time series, 75-66.
•    The lone Dartmouth victory in the last seven meetings came in overtime in 2009 at Leede Arena, 63-61.
•    Last year Brown won both encounters by double digits, 75-60 in Providence and 76-57 in Hanover.
•    Since Leede Arena opened in 1987, the Big Green have won 17 of the 23 contests against the Bears.
• The first two games between the two schools on the hardwood came in February of 1902 with the Big Green winning both games, 70-14 and 39-20.

Scouting the Bears
•    Brown is tied for sixth place with the Big Green and Cornell, the latter of which defeated the Bears most recently in Providence, 91-79.
• The best win for Brown this year came last month in its final non-conference game, topping Quinnipiac at home, 87-78.
•    Away from Providence, the Bears have won just twice — at Fordham and Maine, but did push Penn to overtime in the Palestra two weeks ago.
•    Brown is 2nd in the league in free throw percentage and 4th in scoring, but last in scoring defense.
•    Brown's top player of late has been freshman Sean McGonagill, who was recently named the league's Player and Rookie of the Week. He posted 39 points in the Bears' lone Ivy win over Columbia, and is averaging nearly 15 points in league games.
•    Peter Sullivan, Brown's overall scoring and rebounding leader at 13.1 ppg thanks to a penchant for getting to the foul line and 5.7 rpg, has missed the last three games due to injury.
•    Both Tucker Halpern (.447) and Adrian Williams (.423) have been shooting well from the outside in league play, while Dockery Walker has provided a nice inside game (77.8 FG pct. and 6.2 rpg).

Series vs. Yale (11-9, 4-2)
•    This is the 197th game played between Dartmouth and the Bulldogs with Yale holding a slim 101-95 advantage to date.
•    The Bulldogs have won the last three meetings and 17 of the previous 20, but each Big Green victory came here in Leede Arena
•    Yale rallied to beat Dartmouth in the first game last year, 69-56, after trailing by 10 with 14 minutes to play, then won in Hanover, 55-45.
•    The Big Green are 13-10 all-time against Yale at Leede Arena, last beating the Bulldogs here two years ago, 57-54.
•    Dartmouth played Yale in the Big Green's first varsity season, 1900-01, defeating the Elis, 22-15.

Scouting the Bulldogs
•    Yale came up with a signature win in the third game of the year, knocking off Boston College on the Eagles' home court, 75-67.
•    Since losing the final three games before the new year, the Bulldogs have won six of eight with their only two losses on the road at Penn and Princeton.
•    Last week Yale nipped both Cornell and Columbia by a total of six points.
• Greg Mangano is a huge force in the post, averaging a double-double to date at 15.1 points and 10.0 rebounds, plus a league-leading 57 blocks (16th nationally). He can even pop a three-pointer with 20 triples on the season.
•    The Bulldogs also feature a solid backcourt in guards Austin Morgan (13.0 ppg, 44.9 3FG pct.) and Porter Braswell (11.1 ppg, 39.4 3FG pct.).
•    Yale features one of the toughest defenses in the league, holding opponents to a league-low 41.7 field goal percentage, but are next to last in turnovers forced and last in steals.
• Like Dartmouth, Yale has had a stable starting lineup with four players on the court for the tip in every game.
•    The team's three-point accuracy has tailed off considerably in league play at just 28.8 percent, compared to 37.5 pct. in non-conference action.

Two Halves Make a Whole
Ten times this year — and four times in the six conference games — the Big Green have ended the first half no worse than a point within of their opposition. But on only four of those occasions has Dartmouth managed to win the game. The most recent occurrence came at league-leading Princeton where the Green played the host Tigers to a draw at the break, 34-34, only to lose by 15 points.

Magic Number is 64
It seems that 64 points is Dartmouth's break-even point for wins and losses. When the Big Green have scored more than 64 this season, they are 4-0; fewer than 64, 0-14. But when they hit 64 exactly, they have split their two games — 67-64 loss at Colgate, 64-57 win over Cornell.

Spot Up Trotter
In his first two years with the Big Green, junior Jabari Trotter shot just 31.6 percent (36-for-114) on his three-point attempts, but has cranked up the accuracy this season. The guard leads Dartmouth at 45.6 percent (31-for-68) and ranks second in the Ivy League.

30-Point Differences a Rarity
Dartmouth suffered a 78-47 loss to Penn on Feb. 4, its worst conference loss since Cornell — which advanced to the Sweet 16 — beat the Big Green by 34 last year. In only 40 of Dartmouth's 791 all-time Ivy League contests has either the Green or its opposition won by 30 or more; that's less than one instance per season (this is the 57th Ivy season).

Weeden On His Way to Record
Co-captain Clive Weeden is on pace to tie the Dartmouth record for games played in a career. The senior post man has played in 101 games to date, and should he play in each of the final eight contests, he would equal the mark held by David Gardner '05.

Paucity of Rebounds at Penn
After seeing a resurgence of sorts on the glass early in conference play, Dartmouth got boxed out by the Quakers on Feb. 4. The Big Green managed just 18 rebounds in the contest, the first time they were held to fewer than 20 in a game (19) in nearly six years. The opponent? Penn. The place? The Palestra. Must be the lighting …

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