Dartmouth Hosts Last Game Before Fall Finals

Tuesday, November 19

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Thomas College

Team Bonding men's basketball action versus Florida Gulf Coast

Photo by: Doug Austin

11/19/2019 9:24:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Leede Arena ESPN+Audio Broadcast Live Stats @DartmouthMBK Dartmouth Notes

The Big Green welcome Thomas College to Leede Arena Tuesday night

By: Rick Bender

• On the eve of final exams, Dartmouth will get one more game in with Division III Thomas College at Leede Arena on Tuesday night.
• This will be the Big Green's fourth game in five days having just won two of three at the River Hawk Invitational hosted by UMass Lowell this past weekend, earning a share of the title with Merrimack and Jacksonville.
• Dartmouth split two low-scoring affairs, beating Merrimack, 55-46, before going cold in a 57-37 defeat against the Dolphins.
• In the final game, the Big Green let a 19-point lead slip away, then rallied from four down in overtime to defeat the host River Hawks, 80-75.
• Chris Knight was named to the all-tournament team for leading Dartmouth with an average of 10.3 points in the three contests.
• Knight is the only Big Green player to average in double figures through five games (12.4 ppg) with the team tallying just 59.0 per game.
• The defense has been the driving force in Dartmouth winning four of its first five games for the first time in 23 years, holding opponents to 38.5 percent shooting and 27.4 percent from distance.
• Dartmouth held three consecutive opponents to fewer than 60 points for the first time since January 2015 (FGCU, Merrimack and Jacksonville).
• Ian Sistare, a 6-3 guard, is the Big Green's leading rebounder thus far at 7.8 per game and has led the team on the glass in three of the five games.

Series vs. Thomas
• This is the first time these two schools have met on the hardwood.
• Over the last 15-plus seasons, Dartmouth has played a school from outside of Division I a dozen times, winning the 12 contests by an average margin of 40.3 points.
• The Big Green had two games against Division III schools last year. The first was a 114-39 victory over Newbury College, the second-largest margin of victory in program history, while setting a school record with 22 3-pointers.
• The other was a 100-54 triumph against Elms College, giving Dartmouth triple digits in two games in a season for the first time in 30 years.
• The last loss to a team outside of Division I was a 50-48 defensive battle at Division II Hawaii-Hilo on Nov. 28, 2003.

Scouting the Terriers
• Thomas opened up its season this past weekend by hosting the Charlie Ryan Classic, winning both of its games: 83-74 over Maine-Machias and 90-65 over Maine-Fort Kent.
• The Terriers have crashed the boards at the offensive end thus far, averaging 20 per game that have led to 20.5 second-chance points.
• Gotta love 6-5 forward Lovegeurson Fleurine who has recorded double-doubles in both contests, leading the team with 17.5 ppg and 13.5 rpg.
• Three others score in double figures as well, two of whom are under 6-feet tall — 5-7 Demetris Webster (16.5 ppg) and 5-10 Jordan Goodson (13.0). The other is 6-2 Zach Mackinnon at 14.0.
• Thomas plays an up-and-down style of ball, averaging 73 shots and 27 3-point attempts per game.
• Last year, the Terriers posted a 14-13 record but finished strong with six wins in their last seven games.
• Thomas is coached by Deshon Gaither (Ashford '98), in his first season at the Waterville, Maine, institution. He has served as an assistant in the Northeast at Maine and Bryant, as well as the Far East in Japan.

ESPN+
Every Ivy League game, all home games and select road non-conference games will be streamed live on ESPN+, including this game against the Terriers. Fans can sign up for a monthly ($4.99) or annual ($49.99) subscription and see 20 of the 29 scheduled Big Green games this season. Visit espn.com/watch to find out how to subscribe and catch Dartmouth online all season.

First 4-1 Start in 23 Years
Dartmouth began the season by winning its first three games for the first time in 23 years and enters this game with a 4-1 record, something it hadn't done since that same season in 1996-97. If the Big Green want to continue matching that team's start, they will need to win their next four contests as well; Dartmouth won eight of its first nine games that year (the eighth coming against Buffalo coincidentally, the team this year's squad beat to open the season) on its way to an 18-8 overall record and 10-4 mark in the Ivy League.

Invitational Tri-Champs
Dartmouth played in the inaugural River Hawk Invitational, hosted by UMass Lowell, on Nov. 15-17 and came away with a share of the title by winning two of its three games. First the Big Green knocked off Merrimack (coached by former Dartmouth assistant Joe Gallo), 55-46. After dropping another low-scoring affair to Jacksonville, the Green defeated the host in overtime, 80-75. Dartmouth ended up sharing the crown with Merrimack and Jacksonville, both of whom also beat the River Hawks while the former kept the Dolphins from sweeping the field on the final day in a 54-44 final.

Knight Named All-Tournament
Forward Chris Knight was named to the River Hawk Invitational All-Tournament team this past weekend after helping the Big Green earn a share of the tournament title by winning two of their three contests. The junior was the only Dartmouth player to average double figures in scoring at 10.3 points a game, and he grabbed 4.7 rebounds a game while collecting a total of seven assists and two blocks. Knight tallied 13 points and eight boards in the 55-46 win against Merrimack in the opener, then provided 14 points in the 80-75 overtime triumph over the host, UMass Lowell.

Overtime Win
It didn't look like it would take overtime to defeat UMass Lowell when Dartmouth held a 19-point lead with 10:30 to play. But the Big Green did not fret over letting that lead slip away, pulling out an 80-75 victory at UMass Lowell on Nov. 17. It was Dartmouth's first win after regulation since an 80-79 victory over Columbia on Feb. 18, 2017. The Green had lost their previous three games that were decided in overtime.

Rai-sing to the Occasion
Dartmouth suffered through a scoring drought of more than six minutes that allowed UMass Lowell to claw its way back into the game on Nov. 17. The Big Green also missed four of their six free throw attempts (including the front end of a one-and-one twice) down the stretch, and UML rallied to send the game to overtime. But Aaryn Rai proved to be the difference, canning all six free throws in the extra session to seal the 80-75 victory.

Getting Defensive
Last year, the opposition shot 46.0 percent from the floor and averaged over 70 points a game. This year, Dartmouth has really clamped down thus far, holding opponents to 38.5 percent shooting and just 58 points a night. In the first three games, none of the teams shot better than 34.0 percent, and twice the Big Green did not allow even 50 points.

New 3-Point Line Proving Tough
With the 3-point line moved back from 20-feet 6-inches to the international distance of 22-feet 1.75-inches, Dartmouth perhaps just needed time to get used to the new standard. In each of the first four games, the team shot no better than 31.6 percent behind the arc. But against UMass Lowell, that improved to 44.0 percent. This trend is popping up around the country as well. Last year, 13 of the 353 teams finished the season shooting under 30 percent on 3-point attempts. Entering Monday's action, 103 of the 353 were under 30 percent.

55-Point Win
It isn't terribly often that Dartmouth wins a game when scoring fewer than 60 points. But the Big Green managed to pull off that trick against FGCU on Nov. 11, 55-49, then did it again their next time on the court against Merrimack in a 55-46 win. Those was the first Dartmouth victories when scoring under 60 points since the buzzer-beating triumph over Yale in the 2014-15 regular-season finale that allowed the Green to qualify for postseason play for the first time since 1959. To find the last time Dartmouth scored no more than 55 in a win you have to go back to a 48-44 win over Columbia in February of 2010.

Defense! Defense!
Dartmouth held FGCU to just 20 points in the second half and Merrimack to a lowly 17, the third and fourth times in the last two seasons that an opponent scored no more than 20 in the second stanza. Prior to those four contests, you have to go back to November of 2011 to find the last time the big Green D was that stingy. And both of Dartmouth's first two opponents shot less than 36 percent from the floor, the first time that had happened in consecutive games since the end of February in 2015. That was when the Big Green were in the midst of a five-game winning streak to end the season, qualifying them for postseason play.