Dartmouth Set to Host CSU Bakersfield on Youth Day Saturday

Saturday, December 3

Hanover, N.H.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

CSU Bakersfield

Tickets

Men's Basketball Connor Christensen Robert McRae III

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Dartmouth Set to Host CSU Bakersfield on Youth Day Saturday

12/2/2022 1:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Big Green are eyeing their third win in the last four games

By: Justin Lafleur

GAME 9
Dartmouth (3-5, 0-0 Ivy) vs. CSU Bakersfield (4-3, 0-0 Big West)
Date: Saturday, December 2, 2022 – 2 p.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H. – Leede Arena
All-Time Series: CSU Bakersfield, 3-0
Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats

Setting the Scene
The Dartmouth men's basketball team is set for the second game of a three-game homestand when the Big Green host Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday afternoon in Leede Arena. Opening tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+. The Big Green have won two of their last three games, an overtime win at UTSA out of Conference USA and a convincing home victory over NVU-Johnson on Wednesday.

Saturday is Youth Day, with the group rate ($4) available to purchase tickets (please click here to purchase tickets). There will also be a pom pom giveaway andn autograph session after the game for all fans.

In Wednesday's win, Dartmouth was leading 20-15 when it went on a 27-2 run bridging the end of the first half and beginning of the second. Dartmouth ended the first half with 14 consecutive points to take a 40-17 halftime lead. The Big Green lead reached as much as 60, on the way to the 99-41 victory. There were career highs all around, including five posting career highs in points – freshmen Jayden Williams (16) and Jackson Munro (13), senior Nate Ogbu (12), sophomore Connor Christensen (5) and senior Paul Hudson (3). All of Williams' and Ogbu's points came in the second half. After holding that five-point advantage with less than seven minutes left in the first half, Dartmouth outscored the Badgers, 79-26 the rest of the way.

Williams became the sixth different Big Green player to lead the team in scoring, in a season that's just eight games old. Seven different Dartmouth players are averaging between 6.0 and 13.4 points on the season. Junior Dusan Neskovic, who has been out due to injury, leads the way with 13.4, followed by sophomore Ryan Cornish with 11.9. Cornish, who was named Dartmouth's Male Athlete of the Week for his 21-point performance at UTSA, had just four (along with four assists) on Wednesday in 17:24 of action. In the end, sophomore Cade Haskins played a team-high 20:30.

The 58-point victory marked the Big Green's largest of the season, eclipsing a 55-point win earlier this month vs. MCLA. It also marked the Big Green's largest margin of victory, and fewest points allowed, since a 114-39 win over Newbury on Nov. 6, 2018. Five Dartmouth players scored double-figure points for the first time this season, as seniors Dame Adelekun and Cam Krystkowiak added 11 apiece. The Big Green's 24 assists on Wednesday marked their most since dishing 25 on Nov. 19, 2019 against Thomas (Maine).

Dartmouth is set to host CSU Bakersfield on Saturday, one season after facing the Roadrunners in California. There are two NCAA Division I men's basketball programs nicknamed the Roadrunners and ironically, Dartmouth faces them both in the same week (having played at UTSA in San Antonio on Sunday).

With a win...
- Dartmouth would win its third straight home game and improve to 3-1 at home. It would mark the first three-game winning streak at home for the Big Green since February of 2019 when they beat Columbia (65-63 on Feb. 14), Cornell (75-53 on Feb. 15) and Penn (66-59 on Feb. 21).
- The Big Green would win their first-ever game against CSU Bakersfield.
- Head coach David McLaughlin would win his 50th career game at Dartmouth.

Last Time Out
HANOVER, N.H. (11/30/22) – Leading 20-15 early on, the Dartmouth men's basketball team staged a 27-2 run spanning the end of the first half and beginning of the second, outscoring visiting NVU-Johnson 79-26 the rest of the way to pick up a convincing 99-41 win on Wednesday evening in Leede Arena. Five different Big Green players recorded career highs in points, led by freshman Jayden Williams' team-high 16 points. Classmate Jackson Munro had 13, senior Nate Ogbu recorded 12, sophomore Connor Christensen scored five and senior Paul Hudson posted three.

Scouting CSU Bakersfield
Out of the Big West, CSU Bakersfield stands 4-3 on the season, most recently beating La Sierra by a 90-49 final on Tuesday night. The Roadrunners' other wins have come against San Diego Christian (68-35), Idaho (52-43) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (73-63). Amongst their defeats was a 68-67 overtime loss at UTEP.

Kaleb Higgins leads CSU Bakersfield in scoring, averaging 12.5 points per game. Cameron Smith and Modestas Kancleris each come in at 8.7 points per contest. Kancleris' 7.9 rebounding average leads the team while Higgins' 24 assists through four games are No. 1. The Roaderunners came in at No. 8 out of 11 teams in the Big West preseason poll.

All-Time Against The Roadrunners
CSU Bakersfield leads the all-time series with Dartmouth, 3-0. The Roadrunners won last season on Dec. 21 by a 69-62 final. The teams previously played a home-and-home during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, with CSU Bakersfield winning 69-62 (at home) and 64-30 (at Dartmouth).

3-Point Prowess
Dartmouth knocked down double-figure 3-pointers in three of the first four 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. (The Big Green had nine at Quinnipiac in game four.) It marked the first time the Big Green had double-digit made threes in their first three games of the season since 2018-19.

Overall, they have reached double-figure made threes in four of eight games this season. Dartmouth's 9.9 made 3-pointers per contest stand 34th nationally and second in the Ivy League.

Balanced Scoring
Through eight games, six different Big Green players have led the team in scoring. Here is a rundown.

Brandon Mitchell-Day: 2 - vs. Bryant (11/11), vs. Incarnate Word (11/25)
Ryan Cornish: 2 - at UTSA (11/27), vs. Grambling State (11/28)
Cade Haskins: 1 - at Quinnipiac (11/15).
Robert McRae III: 1 - vs. MCLA (11/12)
Dusan Neskovic: 1 - at Fordham (11/7)
Jayden Williams: 1 - vs. NVU-Johnson (11/30)

Big Green in the Lone Star State
Dartmouth picked up a 78-77 overtime win at UTSA on Sunday, Nov. 27, marking the program's first-ever win in the state of Texas. The Big Green also played Incarnate Word in the 210 San Antonio Shootout, as the Cardinals and Roadrunners marked the fifth and sixth Texas schools Dartmouth has ever played (the others being Houston, Rice, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech). There are 24 current Division I men's basketball programs in the state. Dartmouth is now 3-5 all-time against Texas schools, also owning wins over Houston (Dec. 12, 1957 at home by an 84-64 final) and Texas A&M (Dec. 17, 1989 by a 64-51 final).

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
Saturday's game will be streamed on ESPN+, with Brett Franklin and Dave Faucher on the call, while there will also be an audio broadcast available on DartmouthSports.com, with Justin McIsaac and Bill Murphy on the call.

What's Ahead?
Following Saturday's game, the Big Green remain home for a regional matchup against Vermont on Tuesday at 7 p.m.