Dartmouth Welcomes Cornell for Ivy Opener on New Year’s Day

Sunday, January 1

Hanover, N.H.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Cornell

Tickets

Big Green bench cheers men's basketball action versus Vermont

Photo by: Doug Austin

Dartmouth Welcomes Cornell for Ivy Opener on New Year’s Day

12/30/2022 3:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Big Green return to the court for the first time since Dec. 16 at South Florida

By: Justin Lafleur

GAME 15
Dartmouth (4-10, 0-0 Ivy) vs. Cornell (10-3, 0-0 Ivy League)
Date: Sunday, January 1, 2023 – 2 p.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H. – Leede Arena
All-Time Series: Cornell, 113-109
Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats

Setting the Scene
The Dartmouth men's basketball team is set to return to the court for the first time in more than two weeks when the Big Green open Ivy League play on New Year's Day, hosting Cornell at 2 p.m. in Leede Arena. Dartmouth was scheduled to face New Hampshire on Thursday, but the game was postponed due to COVID safety protocols within the UNH program.

The Big Green now turn their attention to the Ivy League opener against Cornell. It will mark the first time since 1949 that Dartmouth men's basketball plays on New Year's Day, and 11th time in program history. All of the previous 10 came between 1901 (in the program's first-ever season) and 1949. Dartmouth is 5-5 all-time on New Year's Day.

Last time out, a shorthanded Big Green team opened multiple 10-point leads at UMass last Tuesday, Dec. 20. But after Connor Christensen's second 3-pointer of the game to give Dartmouth a 45-35 lead, the Minutemen outscored the Big Green 33-12 over the game's final 13:31 for the 68-57 victory. It was a game featuring contributions from all over the roster, with all 11 players who were available seeing action and 10 of them scoring. All 11 played at least 8:52.

For a third straight game, junior Jaren Johnson set or tied a career high for points, posting a team-high 13 while adding four rebounds, two assists and two steals. He became the eighth different Big Green player to lead the team in scoring. Junior Robert McRae III scored nine points, freshman Jayden Williams had eight, senior Nate Ogbu scored seven and Christensen finished with a career-high six (and a career-high four rebounds). Senior Paul Hudson had three points (to tie a career high) and a career-high four rebounds.

The UMass game came after consecutive close calls at USF and Boston University. Against the Bulls, Dartmouth fell 59-55 in a game that saw senior Dame Adelekun have a shot at the rim in the final five seconds to tie, which wouldn't fall. The game prior, the Big Green erased a 20-point first-half deficit to take a second-half lead, but Boston University pulled away in the end.

Dartmouth stands 3-2 at home this season, including a convincing 79-54 win over CSU Bakersfield out of the Big West. The Big Green have won three of the last four meetings against Cornell, including two straight at home. Dartmouth will be eyeing its first Ivy League opening win since a home 81-63 victory over Harvard on Jan. 12, 2019.

With a win...
- Dartmouth would beat Cornell for the fourth time in its last five tries and third straight at home.
- The Big Green would pull within 113-110 in the all-time series.
- Dartmouth would improve to 6-5 all-time on New Year's Day.
- The Big Green would improve to 4-2 at home this season.
- Dartmouth would improve to 2-2 over its last four Ivy League openers (with the last win coming at home on Jan. 12, 2019 vs. Harvard via an 81-63 victory.
- Head coach David McLaughlin would improve to 2-4 in Ivy League openers.

Last Time Out
AMHERST, Mass. (12/20/22) — Playing short four starters and five rotational players, the Dartmouth men's basketball team led UMass deep into the second half, but the Minutemen outscored the Big Green, 33-12, over the game's final 13:31 to turn a 10-point Dartmouth lead into a 68-57 Minutemen victory on Tuesday night at the Mullins Center. Junior Jaren Johnson led the Big Green offense with a career-high 13 points, marking his third straight game setting or tying a career high. Ten of the 11 Big Green players who saw action scored at least one point.

Big Green on New Year's Day
Dartmouth last played on New Year's Day in 1949, a 52-49 win at Northwestern. The Big Green are 5-5 all-time on January 1, with all 10 meetings coming between 1901 (in the program's first-ever season) and 1949. Here is a rundown of Dartmouth's all-time New Year's Day games.

Jan. 1, 1949 — 52-49 win at Northwestern
Jan. 1, 1944 — 54-48 win at Penn
Jan. 1, 1942 — 59-46 loss at Toledo
Jan. 1, 1941 — 54-48 loss at Toledo
Jan. 1, 1940 — 42-30 loss vs. California (game played in White Plains, N.Y.)
Jan. 1, 1921 — 29-16 win vs. Western Reserve
Jan. 1, 1918 — 44-14 loss vs. C.C.N.Y.
Jan. 1, 1917 — 21-20 win vs. C.C.N.Y.
Jan. 1, 1916 — 24-19 win vs. C.C.N.Y.
Jan. 1, 1901 — 18-6 loss vs. Washington Continentals

Scouting Cornell
Cornell has enjoyed an impressive season, standing 9-3. After a season-opening 79-77 loss at Boston College, the Big Red won seven straight. Cornell dropped consecutive games at Miami (107-105) and Syracuse (78-63) before rebounding in a big way with a home win over Lehigh (96-64) and road victory at defending Patriot League Champion Colgate (91-80).

Reigning Ivy League Player of the Week Greg Dolan leads the Big Red and stands sixth in the league in scoring (13.8 points per game) while his 4.6 assists per contest are tops in the Ivy League. His 3.75 assist-to-turnover ratio stands first in the league and No. 6 in the nation. Nazir Williams stands second on Cornell in scoring (12.7) while Sean Hansen and Chris Manon are tied for third (9.7). Hansen also owns a team-leading 5.3 rebounds per contest. As a team, Cornell leads the nation in 3-point attempts per game (32.1) and stands third in assists per contest (20.5). The Big Red are third in 3-pointers per game (11.9) and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.63), effective field goal percentage (58.4) and fastbreak points (18.85).

All-Time Against The Big Red
Cornell holds a 113-109 advantage in the all-time series, but the Big Green have won three of the last four. After sweeping the season series in 2019-20, the teams split last season, with each winning on its home court. In the last meeting, Dartmouth Dame Adelekun scored a then career-high 19 points and the Big Green held the Big Red to a season-low 59 points in a 71-59 victory. Dartmouth won the first three and five of the six all-time meetings vs. Cornell. The first meeting came in the first season of Dartmouth men's basketball, a 26-12 win on Jan. 18, 1901.

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.

Dartmouth made 13 treys in consecutive games vs. NVU-Johnson and CSU Bakersfield. The 26 made threes were the most since the start of the 2021-22 season at Georgetown (16) and hosting NVU-Lyndon (14). It was also the first time with 13+ made threes consecutively since those two contests.

Overall, the Big Green have reached double-figure made threes in five of 14 games this season. Dartmouth's 8.3 made 3-pointers per contest stand fourth in the Ivy League.

Block Party
Dartmouth's 4.4 blocks per game are first in the Ivy League and 56th in the nation, owning 62 blocks in 14 games. Individually, senior Dame Adelekun's 25 blocks and 1.92 blocks per contest are tops in the league (and 33rd and 34th in the nation, respectively). He's had three or more blocks four times, including a career high in back-to-back games — four at Central Connecticut State then five at Boston University.

The four blocks marked the most for a Big Green player since Chris Knight had four on Feb. 8, 2019, at home vs. Cornell. The five at BU were the most since Jan. 17, 2015, when Gabas Maldunas had five against NJIT. In the first 5:21 of the second half, Adelekun posted nine points, four rebounds, four blocks and an assist in an incredible stretch of basketball. Going back to the first half, the Ivy League leader in blocks had all of his career-high five rejections in the span of 10:04 of game action.

Tough Schedule
Dartmouth's nonleague schedule has been challenging, with the 12 Division I opponents thus far posting a combined 84-70 record (following games Dec. 28). Every team has a .500 or better record, except four. The Big Green's first three DI opponents of the year (Fordham, Bryant and Quinnipiac) are currently a combined 31-10.

Fordham: 12-2
Bryant: 10-4
Quinnipiac: 9-4
Incarnate Word: 6-7
UTSA: 6-6
Grambling State: 6-5
CSU Bakersfield: 4-7
Vermont: 6-8
Central Connecticut State: 2-12
Boston University: 7-6
South Florida: 7-6
UMass: 9-3
Total: 84-70

Balanced Scoring
Through 14 games, eight different Big Green players have led the team in scoring. Here is a rundown.

Dame Adelekun: 3 - vs. Vermont (12/6), at Boston University (12/13), at South Florida (12/16)
Ryan Cornish: 3 - at UTSA (11/27), vs. Grambling State (11/28), vs. CSU Bakersfield (12/3)
Brandon Mitchell-Day: 2 - vs. Bryant (11/11), vs. Incarnate Word (11/25)
Cade Haskins: 2 - at Quinnipiac (11/15), at Central Connecticut State (12/9)
Jaren Johnson: 1 - at UMass (12/20)
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.

Follow Along
Sunday's game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Bob Lipman and former Dartmouth head coach Dave Faucher on the call. There will also be an audio broadcast on DartmouthSports.com with Justin McIsaac and Bill Murphy on the call.

What's Ahead?
After Sunday's game, the Big Green hit the road for a pair of Ivy League games at Yale on Friday (7 p.m.) and Brown on Saturday (6 p.m.).