Big Green Looking for an Encore with UNH in Town Sunday

GAMEDAY INFORMATION vs. NEW HAMPSHIRE WILDCATS
Date & Time:	Sunday, November 30, 3 p.m.	Dartmouth	Stats	UNH
Location:	Hanover, N.H.	1-2	Record	2-2
Arena (Capacity):	Leede Arena (2,100)	Won 1	Streak	Won 1
All-Time Series:	Tied 32-32	57.7	Scoring	68.0
Tickets:	Information	.414	FG%	.401
Broadcast:	Big Green Insider on the Ivy League Digital Network - Drew Galbraith play-by-play	.347	3FG%	.329
Logistics:	Directions // Parking // Seating Chart	.647	FT%	.750
Twitter:	@DartmouthSports // @DartmouthMBK	0.0	Reb Margin	+5.3
Dartmouth Links:	Home // Roster // Schedule // Stats // Notes	1.0	Assists	11.3
IPFW Links:	Home // Roster // Schedule // Stats // Notes	14.7	TO	13.3

How About an Encore?
•   Following a 68-67 victory over IPFW in the home opener on Friday, thanks to a three-pointer at the buzzer by Connor Boehm, Dartmouth is aiming to win its second straight at Leede Arena with in-state rival New Hampshire in town.
•   This game will be the 300th for Paul Cormier as the Dartmouth head coach.
•   The Big Green have now won three straight home openers thanks to their first-ever triumph over the Mastodons — the preseason favorite to win the Summit League this year — in four tries.
•   Boehm may have provided the dramatics and a double-double with 10 points and a personal-best 14 rebounds, but it was the co-captains, Alex Mitola and Gabas Maldunas, who led the Big Green on the court with 21 and 18 points, respectively.
•   Mitola may have led all players in scoring, but he didn't score his first points of the game until nearly 18 minutes had expired.
•   After turning the ball over 19 times in each of the first two games, the Dartmouth did a much better job of taking care of the ball with just six miscues.
•   During a stretch of almost 10 minutes in the first half, the Big Green were held scoreless as IPFW rattled off 15 straight points to build a 10-point lead. It was the first time in almost four years that Dartmouth rallied from a double-digit deficit to win a game.

Series vs. New Hampshire
•   The only two Division I schools in the state of New Hampshire have met 64 times on the hardwood with each side winning 32 times.
• Dartmouth defeated the Wildcats last year in Durham, 62-48, to even the series. Gabas Maldunas had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds while Tyler Melville led the Big Green by scoring 17.
•   This is the 45th consecutive year these two have squared off. Since the calendar changed to 2000, the Wildcats have won 10 of the 14 meetings.
•   The Big Green are 8-7 against UNH at Leede Arena but have lost six of the last seven. The last win in Hanover came on Dec. 11, 2004.
•   Cormier is 8-5 in his career against New Hampshire, and 1-3 since returning to Hanover.
•   Dartmouth is 114-100 against current America East schools with the majority of those games coming against UNH and Vermont (59-39).

Scouting the Wildcats
•   Coming off a disappointing 6-24 season last year, New Hampshire has gotten younger and sharper in splitting its first four contests with single-digit road losses at Boston College and Bryant and, most recently, a solid 75-68 win against Boston U.
•   Four Wildcats scored in double figures against the Terriers on Nov. 25, led by sophomore Daniel Dion off the bench with 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting with four three-pointers.
•   The top three scorers for UNH are Dion (12.0 ppg) and a pair of freshmen in Jaleen Smith (12.0) and Tanner Leissner (11.5).
•   Smith and Leissner also are the Wildcats' top two rebounders at around 5.5 per game, helping UNH best its opponents on the glass by 5.3 a night.
•   For those wondering, Tommy McDonnell (3.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg) is not a mash-up of the Big Green's Tommy Carpenter and Brandon McDonnell.
•   The UNH defense has tied up opponents behind the arc, holding them to under 25 percent.
•   Bill Herrion is in his 10th season at UNH, sporting a 100-170 record with the Wildcats. He also coached Drexel to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances in eight seasons and helmed East Carolina for six years.

Boehm Buzzer Beater
Dartmouth got a huge boost from power forward Connor Boehm on Nov. 28 as the junior drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Big Green to a 68-67 win in their home opener against IPFW. Boehm had knocked down just 16 three-pointers in his first two seasons, and a mere six last year. But with sharp-shooter Alex Mitola triple-teamed on the final possession, Boehm was wide open from the wing to turn a defeat into victory. It was the first one-point win since David Rufful converted a three-point play with one second left to beat St. Francis (N.Y.), 65-64, on Jan. 18, 2010.

Don't Forget the Double-Double
With Connor Boehm's game-winning triple, he registered his third career double-double with 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. It was the first time the Big Green was on the winning end of his seven career games with at least 10 boards.

Rally from Double-Digit Deficit
When Dartmouth fell behind IPFW by 10 points in the first half on Nov. 28, recent history did not give the Green much chance of coming back to win the game. The last time they trailed by at least double digits at any point in a game and still won was against Army on Dec. 11, 2010. Dartmouth fell behind by 12 in the second half, and was still down 10 with 13:30 to play, yet defeated the Black Knights, 71-68, taking the lead for good in the final minute.

Mitola Tops 20
Point guard Alex Mitola became the first Big Green player to reach 20 points in a game this year with 21 against IPFW on Nov. 28. All of those tallies came in the final 22:09 of the game with 16 in the second half as he knocked down 9-of-15 shots with a trio of three-pointers. He now has 139 long balls in his career, eighth all-time at Dartmouth and just five away from sixth.

Free Throws Hard to Come By
In the last two games, Dartmouth has combined to attempt only 15 foul shots, making nine. The last time the Big Green had so few attempts in consecutive games was against Brown and Princeton at the end of the 2010-11 campaign (14). And the last time they made less than 10 combined was against Penn and Princeton (5) on Feb. 5-6, 2010.

Block Party
Senior Gabas Maldunas has seven of Dartmouth's 12 blocks to move into fourth place on the program's all-time list with 114. Most recently he swatted four against IPFW, but it was the other block that got the most attention as Wesley Dickinson absolutely hammered a field goal attempt, and even knocked it directly to teammate Eli Harrison.

Tending to the Turnovers
One big reason for Dartmouth's losses in its first two games was turnovers as the Green committed 19 in each contest, a total they did not reach once all last season. Against IPFW on Nov. 28, however, Dartmouth corrected the error of its ways with a mere six miscues. At the same time, the defense was forcing 14 turnovers that led to 21 Big Green points, every one of which was vital to the 68-67 win.

Chairmen of the Boards
Connor Boehm and Gabas Maldunas currently rank 1-2 in the Ivy League rebounding leaders with 9.7 and 8.7, respectively. The two have combined for just over half of Dartmouth's rebounds (55 of 109) in the first three games.

Schedules