Dartmouth Begins Four-Game Road Swing at CCSU Friday Night

GAME 11
Dartmouth (4-6, 0-0 Ivy) vs. Central Connecticut State (0-9, 0-0 NEC)
Date: Friday, December 9, 2022 – 7 p.m.
Location: New Britain, Conn. – Detrick Gymnasium
All-Time Series: Dartmouth, 5-2
Watch (NEC Front Row) | Live Stats

Setting the Scene
In the final stretch before Ivy League play, the Dartmouth men's basketball team begins a four-game road swing on Friday night when the Big Green travel to Central Connecticut State. Opening tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on NEC Front Row. Dartmouth will be looking to bounce back from a 68-52 defeat against Vermont on Tuesday night, in a game which saw the Catamounts go into halftime on a 13-0 run, as they wouldn't look back on the way to their 14th straight win in the all-time series.

Ironically, the last three games in Leede Arena saw a team post a big run heading into halftime. Prior to Tuesday, Dartmouth posted a 14-0 run against NVU-Johnson then a 13-0 run to end the first half vs. CSU Bakersfield. A tight start against the Catamounts saw senior Dame Adelekun make his presence felt early on. He scored eight of the Big Green's first 12 points and finished with 17 on 7-of-14 shooting. Sophomore Romeo Myrthil enjoyed his second straight strong offensive game, scoring nine points on 4-of-4 shooting, while grabbing a career-high six rebounds. Sophomore Ryan Cornish scored seven points. Freshmen Jackson Munro and Jayden Williams each scored five, with Williams' five coming in just 4:51 of action.

For all of Adelekun's production this season, Friday was actually the first time he led Dartmouth in scoring in 2022-23. He became the seventh different Big Green player to lead the team. Over Adelekun's last three games, he is averaging nearly a double-double (14.0 points and 9.0 rebounds). A balanced offense sees three Dartmouth players averaging double-digit points, with junior Dusan Neskovic (12.3), Cornish (12.0) and Adelekun (10.3).

Following Friday's game, the Big Green continue on the road with games at Boston University (Dec. 13), South Florida (Dec. 16) and UMass (Dec. 20) before the Christmas holiday. Dartmouth has one nonleague game vs. New Hampshire on Dec. 29 before the Ivy League opener at home on New Year's Day vs. Cornell at 2 p.m.

With a win...
- The Big Green would win their second straight against CCSU and improve to 6-2 all-time against the Blue Devils, including 2-2 on the road.
- Dartmouth would improve to 2-2 in true road games this season (two of the Big Green's defeats away from home were neutral-site contests). It would mark the third straight season the Big Green own a .500 or better record after four road contests.

Last Time Out
HANOVER, N.H. (12/6/22) – Visiting Vermont ended the first half on a 13-0 run to take a commanding 41-21 halftime lead and wouldn't look back, downing the Dartmouth men's basketball team 68-52 on Tuesday evening in Leede Arena. With the win, the Catamounts improve to 5-7 while the Big Green fall to 4-6. Senior Dame Adelekun led Dartmouth with a team-high 17 points, as the only Big Green player in double figures. Following three consecutive home games, Dartmouth now hits the road for four straight, beginning on Friday night at Central Connecticut State.

Scouting Central Connecticut State
Central Connecticut State stands 0-9 on the season, but has had a number of close calls. Last time out, the Blue Devils dropped a 63-57 final at Holy Cross. They also have a pair of two-point losses (72-70 against Quinnipiac and 78-76 at UMBC) while dropping single-digit finals against Maine (66-58) and Brown (59-51). Kellen Amos leads CCSU in scoring, averaging 13.2 points per game. Nigel Scantlebury is also in double figures at 10.2 while Andre Snoddy is averaging 9.8. Snoddy also leads the team in rebounding (7.0) while Scantlebury's 23 assists through nine games are tops on the Blue Devils.

Last season, CCSU finished 8-24, including 5-3 in the NEC. In this year's preseason NEC poll, the Blue Devils finished tied for sixth out of nine teams,, with Scantlebury as one of five preseason All-NEC Team honorees.

All-Time Against The Blue Devils
Dartmouth leads the all-time series with Central Connecticut State, 5-2, most recently beating the Blue Devils at home, 76-60 on Dec. 18, 2019. The previous meeting before that was a 63-61 defeat on Nov. 20, 1999. The Big Green are 4-0 at home in the all-time series, but just 1-2 on the road. The road victory came on Nov. 28, 1994 via an 81-75 final in overtime.

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 10 games this season. Dartmouth's 9.6 made 3-pointers per contest stand 30th nationally and second in the Ivy League.

Tough Schedule
Dartmouth's nonleague schedule has been challenging, with the seven Division I opponents thus far posting a combined 48-30 record (following games Dec. 7). Every team has a .500 or better record, except two. The Big Green's first three DI opponents of the year (Fordham, Bryant and Quinnipiac) are currently a combined 24-6.

Fordham: 9-1
Bryant: 7-3
Quinnipiac: 8-2
Incarnate Word: 5-5
UTSA: 5-3
Grambling State: 5-3
CSU Bakersfield: 4-5
Vermont: 5-7
Total: 48-30

Balanced Scoring
Through 10 games, seven different Big Green players have led the team in scoring. Here is a rundown.

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)
Dame Adelekun: 1 - vs. Vermont (12/6)
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.

Follow Along
Friday's game will be streamed via NEC Front Row.

What's Ahead?
Following Friday's contest, the Big Green return to action at Boston University on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m.

Schedules