Big Green Head to Quinnipiac for Tuesday Showdown

GAME 4
Dartmouth (1-2, 0-0 Ivy) at Quinnipiac (3-0, 0-0 MAAC)
Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2022 – 7 p.m.
Location: Hamden, Conn. – M&T Bank Arena
All-Time Series: Quinnipiac, 12-4
Last Time: 12/8/21 – L, 72-69
Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats

Setting the Scene
The Dartmouth men's basketball team continues its busy start to the season on Tuesday when the Big Green travel to Quinnipiac to face the Bobcats. Opening tipoff inside M&T Bank Arena is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Dartmouth split its two games last weekend, as a back-and-forth thriller ended in Bryant's favor Friday before the Big Green easily topped MCLA on Saturday, 107-52.

On Friday, Dartmouth erased a 17-point second-half deficit and used a 26-8 run to turn a 58-42 deficit into a 68-66 lead. The run began with a Cade Haskins 3-pointer (he finished the game with a career-high 16 points). Senior Cam Krystowiak had five consecutive points in the run, while freshman Brandon Mitchell-Day ended the run with a 3-pointer to put the Big Green in front, 68-66, with 6:20 remaining. Mitchell-Day went on to score a career-high 18 points in the victory, finishing 8-of-10 from the floor, including a perfect 7-of-7 from two. Bryant answered Dartmouth's run with a 12-0 run of its own and pulled away in the final minutes, 89-70.

On Saturday, it took the Big Green less than six minutes to open a double-figure lead and wouldn't look back, on the way to their largest margin of victory (55) since beating Newbury, 114-39 on Nov. 6, 2018. Junior Robert McRae III led the offense with 18 points, shooting 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from 3-point range. One of those threes was a three-quarters court pass that improbably went in. Junior Dusan Neskovic (16 points) and sophomore Ryan Cornish (10) each scored in double figures for the third time in as many games. Freshman Jackson Munro also scored a career-high 10 points. Neskovic and Mitchell-Day were each named to the Ivy League weekly honor roll on Monday.

Tuesday will be Dartmouth's final game for 10 days due to final exams. The Big Green return to action in a post-Thanksgiving tournament at UTSA in San Antonio.

With a win on Tuesday...
- Dartmouth would snap a seven-game losing streak against Quinnipiac and beat the Bobcats for the first time since a 56-53 win on Dec. 18, 2006 in Hanover.
- The Big Green win at Quinnipiac for just the second time in program history and first since Dec. 18, 2001, 70-68. Dartmouth is 1-6 all-time at Quinnipiac.

3-Point Prowess
Dartmouth knocked down double-figure 3-pointers in each of the first three games of the season (11 at Fordham, 10 vs. Bryant and 13 against MCLA). That made it seven times in eight games with 10+ treys dating back to the end of 2021-22. It's the first time the Big Green have had double-digit made threes in their first three games of the season since 2018-19. Dartmouth is shooting 42.0 percent from behind the arc, good for second in the Ivy League and 41st in the nation.

Last Time Out
HANOVER, N.H. (11/12/22) – The Dartmouth men's basketball team erased any doubt early, opening a 10-point lead less than six minutes into Saturday's contest, and later outscoring MCLA 46-22 in the second half, on the way to a 107-52 win in Leede Arena. Junior Robert McRae III scored a career-high 18 points to lead the offense, with classmate Dusan Neskovic adding 16. Freshman Jackson Munro also got into double figures for the first time in his very young career. In total, 13 Big Green scored points while all 15 players who dressed played at least seven minutes of action.

Scouting Quinnipiac
Quinnipiac enters Tuesday with a perfect 3-0 record, owning wins over Rhode Island (67-62), Stonehill (102-95) and Central Connecticut State (72-70), all on the road. So far, Matt Balanc leads Quinnipiac in scoring (13.3) while Ike Nweke (11.3), Dezi Jones (10.7) and Luis Kortright (10.0) are all in double figures as well. Nweke's 7.3 rebounds per game lead the Bobcats while Kortright and Savion Lewis are tied for the team lead in assists (12).

Balanc was named preseason All-MAAC first team while Jones garnered preseason third team recognition. Quinnipiac was predicted to finish fourth, just behind Iona, Manhattan and Rider. Quinnipiac finished last season 14-17, including 7-13 in conference play, but the Bobcats did beat Marist and Siena in the MAAC Tournament to reach the semifinals.

All-Time Against The Bobcats
Quinnipiac leads the all-time series against Dartmouth, 12-4, which includes seven straight wins. Most recently, the Bobcats won in Hanover last season, 72-69. Dartmouth's last win was on Dec. 18, 2006 at Dartmouth by a 56-53 final. The teams first met on Dec. 11, 1999 on the road, an 85-72 Quinnipiac victory, while the Big Green answered the following season at home, 69-47.

Welcome to Dartmouth!
Head coach David McLaughlin announced in August the addition of three student-athletes in the Class of 2026 — Brandon Mitchell-Day, Jackson Munro and Jayden Williams.

Mitchell-Day, a 6-8, 205-pound forward from Creve Coeur, Missouri, was the conference player of the year for Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day (MICDS) this past winter, scoring over 1,000 points in his prep career. Twice he was named all-state and all-district, and he played AAU ball for Gateway Basketball on the Under Armour Rise Circuit.

A 6-8, 220-pound forward from Wilmette, Illinois, Munro is a product of New Trier High School, which he helped advance to the Illinois State Sectional finals by averaging around 16 points and nine rebounds a game. The Chicago Sun-Times First Team All-State selection was also a two-time All-Central Suburban League performer and named the New Trier/Thanksgiving Tournament MVP. On the AAU circuit, he made a name for himself playing with Fundamental U.

Williams, a product of Windermere Prep in Florida, was All-Florida First Team this past year along with all-district and All-Region 3 honors to his name. The 6-6, 185-pound wing averaged about 18 points and 7.5 rebounds per contest, helping the Lakers post a 20-8 record during the season. He also played AAU ball as a member of 1Family.

Captains Revealed
Last May, Dartmouth men's basketball head coach David McLaughlin revealed the three captains that will lead his squad during the 2022-23 season — rising seniors Dame Adelekun, Jackson Blaufeld and Cam Krystkowiak.

Adelekun, a 6-8, 220-pound power forward from Gastonia, North Carolina, emerged as a force in the frontcourt when Ivy League play began at the beginning of the calendar year. Injuries had limited him to just 15 games in his career while averaging just over one point. But in conference games last winter, he produced 10.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game over the 14 contests while shooting 63.6 percent from the floor and blocking a team-high 10 shots. Those numbers led to him earning the team's Rudy LaRusso '59 Award as the most improved player as well. A 6-4, 195-pound shooting guard from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Blaufeld may have seen limited action during his career with just 17 games under his belt, but he is one of the most positive and vocal teammates the Big Green have ever seen. His work ethic in practice is unmatched, whether he is putting in extra time to improve his own game or helping his teammates get better with his intense energy and dogged determination when matching up against them. Krystkowiak, the son of former NBA player Larry Krystkowiak, is working on making a name for himself as the third captain for the Big Green next season. The 6-9, 210-pound power forward from San Diego, California, finally got a chance to play this past winter after missing his entire freshman season due to an injury. With the skills to play in the post and on the perimeter, he showed what he could do right out of the gate with nine points in the season opener at Boston College and five more with four rebounds in the win at Georgetown, including his first 3-pointer. But it was his 20-point performance in a six-point loss at California that put all of his talent on display.

Year-End Awards
The Dartmouth men's basketball team and head coach David McLaughlin announced its end-of-year team awards last May during a team banquet with guard Brendan Barry named as the A.D. "Dolly" Stark Award winner as the Big Green's most valuable player for the second time in his career. Barry, a 6-2, 180-pound graduate student from Rumson-Fair Haven, New Jersey, was selected for the All-Ivy League Second Team this past winter, ranking seventh in the conference in scoring at 14.6 points per game while leading the Ancient Eight in 3-point field goals made (85), 3-pointers per game (3.4) and 3-point accuracy (41.1 percent), not to mention minutes on the court (35.7 per game). The sharpshooter scored in double figures in 20 of the 25 games, topping 20 on five occasions with a high of 26 in an overtime contest at Florida Gulf Coast. But Barry wasn't just a scorer, leading the team with 47 assists and 40 steals, the latter of which ranked third in the conference. He also finished his career with 244 career 3-pointers, breaking the program record — in his final game that had stood for 33 years. Barry won this award in 2018-19 as well during his junior season. The Rudy LaRusso '59 Award, given to the team's most improved player, went to junior Dame Adelekun. A 6-8, 220-pound forward out of Gastonia, North Carolina, had been limited by injuries through the end of 2021, playing in just 15 games in his career while barely averaging one point per game. But when Ivy League play began as the calendar flipped to 2022, so did his production as Adelekun produced 10.6 points and 8.2 rebounds in the 14 conference contests. Not only did he lead the team on the glass, but also in field goal percentage (.636), free throws made (37) and blocked shots (10), and he scored a season-high 19 points in a 71-59 victory over Cornell.

Two players shared the John Di Iorio '56 Award for hustle, drive and determination — senior Taurus Samuels of Oceanside, California, and freshman Romeo Myrthil of Solna, Sweden. Both guards demonstrated an all-out hustling style of play that inspired their teammates that characterized the Big Green's style of play through the campaign. Samuels started all 23 games in which he played, averaging 9.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while posting more than twice as many helpers (40) as turnovers (19). He was a key player in the early-season win at Georgetown where he scored a season-high 23 points, and he also tallied 22 more in a near-upset at Stanford. Myrthil saw his playing time increase as the season wore on, seeing action in 13 of the 14 league games, and averaged 2.4 points in his 18 games while shooting 50 percent (17-of-34) from the floor and 41.2 percent (7-of-17) from the perimeter. Finally, the Alvin F. "Doggie" Julian Award for spirit and enthusiasm was bestowed upon senior Wes Slajchert. A native of Oak Park, California, Slajchert played in all 25 games with nine starts, averaging 12.7 minutes and doing every little thing asked of him to contribute to the team, whether it be take care of the basketball, hit the boards and play lock-down defense. He finished the season producing 1.4 points and 1.1 rebounds per game with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 17-10, and saw action in all 84 games Dartmouth played since he arrived on campus as a freshman in 2018-19, scoring 177 points and dishing out 78 assists.

Follow Along
Tuesday's game will be streamed on ESPN+.

What's Ahead?
Following Tuesday's game, the Big Green break for final exams and they will return to action 10 days later, beginning a tournament at UTSA on Friday, Nov. 25 against Incarnate Word.

Schedules