Men's Basketball Opens 2014-15 on the Road at St. Bonaventure

GAMEDAY INFORMATION vs. ST. BONAVENTURE BONNIES
Date & Time:	Saturday, November 15, 7 p.m.	Dartmouth	Stats (2013-14)	St. Bona
Location:	St. Bonaventure, N.Y.	0-0	Record	0-0
Arena (Cap.):	Reilly Center (5,480)	Won 3	Streak	Lost 1
All-Time Series:	First Meeting	68.0	Scoring	73.4
Tickets:	Information	.444	FG%	.455
Broadcast:	Atlantic 10 Network (SBU-TV production)	.380	3FG%	.326
Logistics:	Directions // Parking	.686	FT%	.716
Twitter:	@DartmouthSports // @DartmouthMBK	+2.0	Reb Margin	+2.7
Dartmouth Links:	Home // Roster // Schedule // 2013-14 Stats // Preseason Video // Notes (PDF)	12.6	Assists	13.4
St. Bona Links:	Home // Roster // Schedule // 2013-14 Stats // Notes (PDF)	12.0	TO	12.8

Season Opener
•   Dartmouth opens up its 2014-15 season on the road for the first time since 2011-12, playing St. Bonaventure for the first time ever. While the Big Green won the season opener at home each of the last two years, they have not won a season opener outside of Hanover since Nov. 19, 1999 in a neutral-site game against Colgate.
•   The last time Dartmouth won a season opener on an opponent's home court was during head coach Paul Cormier's first tenure with the Big Green at Vermont on Nov. 28, 1987.
•   In the first 113 seasons of Dartmouth basketball, the program has posted an 76-37 record in season openers. The Big Green's longest winning streak (15) on opening day came from the 1929-30 through the 1943-44 seasons.
•   In last year's victory over Lyndon State, Dartmouth scored 106 points, led by Malik Gill off the bench with 14. All 12 of the players that saw action scored as the Green won by 45 points against the Division III Hornets.
•   Head coach Paul Cormier is 6-5 in season openers at Dartmouth. He won his first four, then dropped five straight, thanks to playing Virginia, Boston College, Richmond, Providence and Rutgers in those games.

Meet Your Big Green
• Nearly the entire roster from last year's 12-16 squad — Dartmouth's best record in 15 years — with 13 of the 15 lettermen back. Those returning players account for 85.3 percent of the points and 93.5 percent of the rebounds from 2013-14.
•   The Big Green have two seniors on the squad in center Gabas Maldunas and wing John Golden. That matches the total number of seniors from the last two seasons combined (one each year).
•   Maldunas and junior point guard Alex Mitola are serving as co-captains this year. Mitola led Dartmouth in scoring (11.8 ppg) and assists (2.7 apg), while Maldunas was leading the league in rebounding (8.5 rpg) when a knee injury ended his season after just one Ivy League contest.
•   Dartmouth has three players that hit at least 20 three-pointers at a 40 percent clip last year — Mitola, Kevin Crescenzi and Eli Harrison.

Series vs. St. Bonaventure
•   This is the first meeting between these two schools on the hardwood.
• Dartmouth has an all-time record of 16-28 against current Atlantic 10 schools.
•   After this game, the Big Green will have played at least once against every A-10 school except St. Joseph's and VCU.
•   Cormier is 1-11 all-time against A-10 schools with the lone win coming against Fordham while at Fairfield.

Scouting the Bonnies
•   St. Bonaventure posted a record of 18-15 last year and a 6-10 mark in the Atlantic 10 to place ninth. But the Bonnies went on a run in the conference tournament, reaching the semifinals before succumbing to St. Joseph's.
•   Two starters return in seven-foot center Youssou Ndoye (10.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.2 blocks per game) and wing Andell Cumberbatch (8.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg). Only two other returning players averaged more than two points a game.
•   The Bonnies have 51 percent of last year's scoring back and 56 percent of their rebounds.
•   St. Bonaventure knocked off two ranked opponents last year in 18th-ranked St. Louis and 21st-ranked Massachusetts.
•   Mark Schmidt (BC '85) is in his eighth year with the Bonnies, owning a 106-110 record. In 15 years as a Division I head coach, he is 188-200.

Free Video Available for Opener
Fans that can't make the trip to St. Bonaventure can watch the Dartmouth season opener live for free courtesy of St. Bonaventure and the Atlantic 10 Network. The broadcast begins 10 minutes before tip, simply click on the link to access the game.

Year 2 of Ivy League Digital Network
All home games and every Ivy League contest — a total of 19 games — will be streamed live in high-definition this season through the Big Green Insider channel on the Ivy League Digital Network. Visit DartmouthSports.com, the official website of Dartmouth athletics, for information on how to subscribe and watch the action on your computer, tablet or phone.

Preseason Poll
The Dartmouth Big Green were pegged to duplicate their 2013-14 finish — sixth — in the preseason media poll. Three-time defending champion Harvard was a unanimous choice by the media to win the conference crown with all 17 first-place votes. Yale, which advanced to the championship game of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT), was slotted for second, and the remainder of the poll essentially mirrored last year's final standings.

On the Rise
While Dartmouth's 12-16 record last year is not where head coach Paul Cormier wants his team to be, it was the best record for the Big Green since the 1998-99 squad went 14-12. Despite the losing record, Dartmouth outscored its opponents for the first time in 17 years, and the 1,905 points were the most in 25 years.

Starting the Season on a Streak
Not many Division I teams can claim that they are trying to extend a winning streak from last season, but Dartmouth is one of those teams for a second straight year. The Big Green won their final three games of the 2013-14 campaign, and with no conference tournament and no postseason berth, that is how their season ended. The year before, Dartmouth won its final two games, then won the opener the following year to boast a modest three-game streak.

Preseason Tour of Italy
In preparation for the 2014-15 season, Dartmouth embarked on a five-game tour of Italy in early September. Not only did the Big Green go 4-1 against the local competition, but also got a chance to soak in the culture by visiting many of the historical landmarks scattered throughout the country, including the Vatican, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Colosseum.

Golden Streak to End
Senior John Golden has been a mainstay on the court for the Big Green during his first three seasons in Hanover, seeing action in every game at an average of 29.1 minutes while starting the last 58 contests in a row. The wing suffered a preseason injury, however, and is expected to miss the first 4-6 weeks, but should be ready for the Ivy League season that begins against the defending champion Harvard Crimson on Jan. 10.

Oh Captains my Captains
For the first time in four seasons, Dartmouth has co-captains leading the squad in senior Gabas Maldunas and junior Alex Mitola. The lone international player on the roster, Maldunas is on pace to become the Big Green's first 1,000-point scorer in six years and ranks among the program's top 15 rebounders of all-time. Mitola has enjoyed success on the court as well, starting every game in the point guard's first two seasons at Dartmouth while shooting over 40 percent from three-point range and averaging 11.5 points a game.

Maldunas Ready To Go
After missing the last 13 games of the 2013-14 season — all against Ivy competition — Gabas Maldunas has recovered and is ready to get his senior year started. At the time he was injured, Maldunas was leading the team in scoring (11.2 ppg) and was at the top of the Ivy League in rebounding (8.5 rpg) after earning a spot on the All-Ivy Second Team as a sophomore.

Consistency Is A Virtue
Alex Mitola has had eerily similar seasons in his first two years at Dartmouth. The junior point guard set a freshman record with 65 three-pointers, and followed that up with 66 last year. His 102 field goals as a rookie evolved into 103 as a sophomore, and his scoring average ticked up from 11.3 ppg to 11.8. The one noticeable difference in his stats was the improvement in his assist-to-turnover ratio — from 0.89 to 1.70 (20 more assists, 18 fewer miscues).

Battle of Ball State?
In an interesting quirk of fate, both Dartmouth and St. Bonaventure have transfers from Ball State on their roster. The Big Green has guard Quinten Payne, who came to Dartmouth after playing last year for the Cardinals, while the Bonnies feature guard Marcus Posley, who played at Ball State in the 2012-13 season before playing a year at Indian Hills Community College. The two did not play together, however, and won't play against each other in this game either as Payne is sitting out this season due to NCAA transfer rules.

Man of Steal
Although he has missed 10 games and averaged just 15.3 minutes per contest in his first two seasons, Malik Gill has made quite an impact on defense. He finished second in the Ivy League as a freshman with 50 steals, a total only four players in Dartmouth history had topped, including Kenny Mitchell '97 twice. Last year he once again led the team with 32, and has averaged one steal for every 8.6 minutes on the court. The next best ratio belongs to Kevin Crescenzi at 24.7 minutes.

Young But Experienced
Dartmouth may have just two seniors on the roster in John Golden and Gabas Maldunas, but 13 of the 15 players from last year are back on the court in 2014-15. The top four scorers return, and 1,625 of the 1,905 points (85.3 percent) are back in the fold as well, including 143 of the 174 three-pointers. The numbers on the boards are even more impressive with 93.5 percent (866 of 926) back with the Big Green.

Schedules