Big Green Attempt to Subdue League-Leading Yale, Brown

GAMEDAY INFORMATION at YALE BULLDOGS // BROWN BEARS
Date & Time	Friday, February 6, 7 p.m. // Saturday, February 7, 6 p.m.	Dartmouth	Stats	Yale	Brown
Location	New Haven, Conn. // Providence, R.I.	8-10, 1-3	Record	15-6, 4-0	9-12, 0-4
Arena (Capacity)	Lee Amphitheater (2,800) // Pizzitola Sports Center (2,800)	Lost 2	Streak	Won 5	Lost 4
All-Time Series	Bulldogs lead 107-97 // Big Green lead 77-72	61.3	Scoring	69.4	66.1
Tickets	Yale // Brown	.428	FG%	.440	.420
Broadcast	CBS Sports Network // Big Green Insider on the Ivy League Digital Network	.339	3FG%	.359	.311
Yale Logistics	Directions // Seating Chart	5.8	3FG/g	6.9	5.6
Brown Logistics	Directions // Seating Chart	.655	FT%	.706	.708
Twitter	@DartmouthMBK // @DartmouthSports	+1.2	Reb Margin	+6.6	+2.6
Dartmouth Links	Home // Roster // Schedule // Stats // Notes // Live Stats	12.7	Assists	14.2	11.7
Yale Links	Home // Roster // Schedule // Stats // Notes	12.7	TO	13.0	16.0
Brown Links	Home // Roster // Schedule // Stats // Notes	7.3	Steals	6.4	4.9

Click the above graphic to find CBS Sports Network in your area to watch the Big Green take on Ivy-leading Yale on Friday night.

Looking to Rebound at Yale, Brown
•    After being swept at Penn and Princeton, Dartmouth wraps up a five-game road trip at league-leading Yale and Brown, the latter of which is the only winless team in Ivy play.
•   The Big Green struggled with their outside shooting last weekend, going the first 32 minutes at Penn without a three-pointer before missing all nine long-range attempts at Princeton. In all, the Green hit just 5-of-32 (.179) three-point attempts.
•   Dartmouth is hoping its trend of not winning or losing more than two games at a time continues this weekend for it needs to beat the Bulldogs to snap its two-game slide.
•   Gabas Maldunas, who had shot just 38.7 percent from the floor over the previous eight games, found his stroke last weekend by converting 12-of-17 (.706) field goals in the two games.
•   The Big Green have outrebounded their opponents this season, but the Quakers and Tigers had 11 more caroms combined. Dartmouth's two leading rebounders on the weekend were John Golden and 5-9 Malik Gill with eight apiece.
•   Dartmouth leading scorer Alex Mitola was held to just 11 points in the two games, but still averages 13.3 a night.

Series vs. Yale
•   Dartmouth has played the Bulldogs 204 times entering this contest. Yale has the advantage with a 107-97 mark against the Big Green.
•   The visiting team won both meetings last year with the Bulldogs winning the first showdown, 67-54, before Dartmouth ended a 14-game skid at Lee Amphitheater in the season finale, 69-61.
•   Alex Mitola scored 29 points in the victory last year with five three-pointers as he earned Ivy Co-Player of the Week honors.
•   Dartmouth is 28-52 all-time against Yale at this venue. The Big Green also played an Ivy playoff game here in 1959, beating Princeton, 69-68.
•   Yale has won 23 of the last 28 meetings.
•   Head coach Paul Cormier is 11-14 all-time against the Bulldogs, 9-13 while at Dartmouth.

Scouting the Bulldogs
•   Picked to finish second in the preseason poll, Yale has jumped up to the top of the standings as the only undefeated team in league play at 4-0.
•   Back in the beginning of December, the Bulldogs caught the attention of the basketball world by defeating the defending national champion, UConn, on a last-second three-pointer, 45-44.
•   Even with the 15-6 record, Yale has played only six home games, going 5-1 in those contests.
•   The Bulldogs are led by the terrific tandem of forward Justin Sears (14.7 ppg, 7.5 rpg) and guard Javier Duren (14.1 ppg, 4.2 apg, 37 threes).
•   Jack Montague is a dead-eye shooter, hitting 45-of-101 (.446) from behind the arc.
•   With Sears and Armani Cotton (5.6 rpg), Yale has dominated the boards this year, grabbing 6.6 more than its opponents per game.
•   As a team the Bulldogs shoot better than 70 percent from the foul line.
•   Head coach James Jones (Albany '86) is the longest tenured head coach in the Ivy League, now in his 15th year with an overall record of 224-228 and a share of an Ivy title to his credit (2001-02).

Series vs. Brown
•   While the Bears have won 12 of the last 15 and 21 of 28 against Dartmouth, the Big Green still hold the advantage in the all-time series, 77-72.
•   Like the Yale series last year, the visiting team won both games with Brown winning at Leede Arena, 75-62, before Dartmouth returned the favor in Providence, 75-68.
•   Tyler Melville put up 23 points in the win and Connor Boehm added 22, becoming the first Big Green teammates in six years with 20 points.
•   At the Pizzitola Sports Center, Dartmouth has a 10-15 record, and the victory last year ended an eight-game slide at the venue.
•   Head coach Paul Cormier is 12-12 against Brown in his head coaching career, 10-12 at Dartmouth.

Scouting the Bears
•   Brown got off to a slow start before finding some success in December, but has lost its first four Ivy League games to fall below .500 for the season.
•   The biggest win this year came back on Dec. 8 when the Bears knocked off cross-town rival Providence College, 77-67.
•   Brown suffered a blow to its prospects for the season with the departure of its top player, Leland King (14.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg).
•   The Bears still have four others who average between nine and 11 points a game, however, including the two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, Cedric Kuakumensah (10.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg)
•   Keep an eye on J.R. Hobbie, who is Brown's best deep threat with 42 three-pointers at a 38.2 percent clip.
•   The Bears have solid free throw shooters, including Hobbie (.885), Steven Spieth (.851) and point guard Tavon Blackmon (.817).
•   Joining Kuakumensah in securing the boards is Rafael Maia (7.7 rpg) as the Bears have outrebounded their opposition by 2.6 boards a night.
•   Brown alum Mike Martin '04 is in his third season as the 31st head coach in the program's history, sporting a 37-40 record. He spent a year at his alma mater as an assistant before serving on the staff at Penn for six seasons.

Yale Game on CBS Sports Network
The game at Yale on Friday night will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network, the second Dartmouth game to be featured on the network. The Big Green won the first one at Mercer back on Dec. 16, 67-51, and are hoping to repeat that result. Ivy League Digital Network subscribers will need to tune in to ESPN3 to watch the game live, but will be able to watch the Princeton game on the ILDN Saturday.

Perilous Penn, Princeton Trip
The trip to Penn and Princeton is always the most difficult one for the Big Green, and this year was no exception with losses in both contests. In the 60 seasons of official Ivy League play, Dartmouth has lost both of these road games 50 times and swept the two just once, that coming in 2009.

Streaking Not Allowed
After 18 games this season, Dartmouth has yet to have a winning streak or losing streak of more than two games. It has been more than 30 years since the team has had a stretch of back-and-forth this long; the 1983-84 squad coached by Reggie Minton played its last 18 games winning or losing one or two games at a time. And the only season with a longer stretch like this came in 1969-70 when the Green played their final 22 contests in this pattern.

Honor Among Thieves
Stealing is not frowned upon in basketball, and Dartmouth has been pilfering Ivy opponents left and right in the first four games. The Big Green lead the league, averaging 10 steals in the conference contests, swiping a season-high 13 in the win at Harvard.

Three-Pointers Becoming Scarce
Ever since Alex Mitola hit four three-pointers in overtime against Northern Illinois on Dec. 19, Dartmouth has struggled to find its groove beyond the arc. Through that game, the Big Green were the most accurate team in the league from long range at 39.2 percent (73-for-186). In the nine games since, however, they have knocked down just 25.6 percent (31-for-121), which includes the 0-for-9 performance at Princeton, ending a streak of 78 games with at least one three-pointer.

Maldunas Finds His Range
Back on Dec. 14, Gabas Maldunas scored a season-high 27 points at Jacksonville State thanks to hitting 11-of-15 shots. But in the eight games after that, he failed to make more than half of his field goal attempts. That changed the weekend of Jan. 30-31 as the senior canned 6-of-9 against Penn and 6-of-8 at Princeton for a 70.6 percent success rate in the two games. And against the Tigers, he led the team in scoring (12 points) for the first time since that 27-point outburst.

Gill Represents Reserves
At Penn on Jan. 30, Malik Gill led Dartmouth with a season-high 15 points, the only points produced by players coming off the bench. It was just the third time this season in which the Big Green's leading scorer was not a starter, with Miles Wright accomplishing the feat twice (15 at Longwood, 14 at Mercer).

Speaking of Reserves …
Several players who have received only a few minutes on the court this season got a chance to stretch their legs, so to speak, at Princeton on Jan. 31. Sophomores Cole Harrison and Wesley Dickinson each scored six points while freshman Cameron Smith played a season-high eight minutes with a steal that led to his layup, plus an assist on another bucket.

Smothering Gill
True, gills are normally thought of as allowing fish to breathe. But Malik Gill smothers opponents with his relentless defense, leading the team with 26 steals despite averaging just under 18 minutes a game. The 5-9 guard has pestered opponents throughout his career with 108 steals, 13th all-time at Dartmouth. Of the 12 players ahead of him, no one is even close to his rate of one steal per 9.5 minutes on the court; the closest is James Blackwell '91 at one per 15.8 minutes.

No Rest for the Weary
Well, Alex Mitola may not be weary, but the junior point guard has seen plenty of action this season and in his two-and-a-half-year career. He has started each of Dartmouth's 74 games since arriving on campus and has averaged close to 33 minutes a game. This year, he leads the Ivy League and ranks 52nd nationally by playing an average of 35:30 each and every contest.

Also Among the Ivy Leaders
Dartmouth has a number of players among the league leaders in various statistical categories:
•   Alex Mitola is among the top 10 in five other categories — assist-to-turnover ratio (2.6, 2nd), 3FG per game (2.8, 2nd), scoring (13.3 ppg, 8th), 3FG percentage (.385, 9th) and assists (2.9 apg, 10th).
•   Gabas Maldunas is fourth in blocked shots (1.9), sixth in steals (1.4), seventh in FG percentage (.485) and ninth in rebounding (6.2).
•   Malik Gill ranks in three categories — assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1, 3rd), steals (1.4, 4th) and assists (3.3, 7th).
•   Connor Boehm is third in FG percentage (.521).

Maldunas Joins the 900 Club
By scoring the first Big Green bucket of the game at Vermont on Jan. 14, center Gabas Maldunas surpassed 900 points for his career. With 10 games left in his career, the Lithuanian needs 47 points to become the 26th player in the program's history to tally 1,000 (just over six per game). The last player to reach the milestone was Alex Barnett '09.

Consecutive Free Throws
Before missing his last of four free throws at Penn, Alex Mitola had converted 27 straight free throws. While that streak was impressive, it wasn't quite halfway to the Dartmouth record of Joe DiMaggio proportions (and from the same era). Three-time All-American Gus Broberg '41 hit no less than 56 straight foul shots over the 1938-39 and 1939-40 seasons, including the final 54 he attempted in the former campaign.

Schedules