Big Green Remain Home on Wednesday to host Westfield State

Wednesday, November 15

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Westfield State

Tickets

Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Big Green Remain Home on Wednesday to host Westfield State

11/14/2023 3:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Wednesday marks Dartmouth’s last game before its break for final exams

By: Justin Lafleur

GAME 3
Dartmouth (0-2, 0-0 Ivy League) vs. Westfield State (2-0, 0-0 MASCAC)
Date: Wednesday, November 15, 2023 – 7 p.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H. – Leede Arena
All-Time Series: First Meeting

Setting the Scene
The Dartmouth men's basketball team eyes its first win of the season on Wednesday when the Big Green host Westfield State at 7 p.m. Dartmouth will look to bounce back from losses at No. 2 Duke and home vs. UMass Lowell to begin the season. Wednesday will mark the final game before final exams, with Dartmouth returning to action 10 days later at Saint Louis.

Dartmouth trailed 15-9 early in Friday's home opener, but the River Hawks ended the half on a 34-10 run to take a 49-19 halftime lead. The Big Green couldn't get any closer than 27 in the second half, as UMass Lowell pulled away, 81-48.

Senior Jaren Johnson led Dartmouth in points (10) and rebounds (7), marking the second time in as many games he's led the Big Green in rebounding. Johnson shot 4-of-7 from the floor as one of just three Big Green at 50 percent or better. Senior Izaiah Robinson was 2-of-3 while sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day knocked down 2-of-4. Turnovers and blocked shots hurt Dartmouth, with the Big Green committing 15 (10 in the first half) and having seven shots blocked (six in the first half).

UMass Lowell marked the first of four America East teams Dartmouth will play, all by Dec. 2. The River Hawks won 26 games last season, fell in the America East title game last season and was predicted to finish second this season. After Wednesday's Westfield State game, the Big Green will face three America East teams in a row: at defending conference champion Vermont (Nov. 29), at UAlbany (Dec. 2) and vs. New Hampshire (Dec. 6).

Friday marked Dartmouth's second straight home-opening defeat, last season's also coming against an America East squad in Bryant. Last season, after the Bryant defeat, the Big Green bounced back with a 107-52 win over MCLA, a team that's part of the MASCAC (Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference) like Westfield State.

With a win...
- Dartmouth would improve to 1-0 all-time vs. Westfield State.
- The Big Green would win at home for the third time in their last four tries dating back to last season.

Last Time Out
HANOVER, N.H. (11/10/23) — Early in the first half, senior Robert McRae III knocked down a jumper to pull the Dartmouth men's basketball team within 15-9, but UMass Lowell scored the next seven points and wouldn't look back, leading by 30 at halftime and 81-48 at the final horn to spoil the Big Green's home opener on Friday evening inside Leede Arena. Senior Jaren Johnson led Dartmouth with 10 points, while his seven rebounds led the Big Green for the second straight game.

Scouting Westfield State
Westfield State stands 2-0 early in the season with wins over William Paterson (86-66) and Ramapo (94-76). Four Owls are averaging double figures thus far in Brendon Hamilton (16.0), Lid Moreland (13.5), Angel Price-Espada (11.0) and Kuany Teng (10.5). Westfield State stands second in all of Division III in blocks per game (11.0) while it stands 33rd in rebounds per contest (47.5). Hamilton has recorded a double-double in each game and stands 16th nationally in rebounding (13.0).

Last season, Westfield State finished 12-16 and 8-4 in conference play, falling in the MASCAC Championship Game at Worcester State, 65-63.

All-Time Against The Owls
Wednesday will mark the first-ever meeting between Westfield State and Dartmouth.

McRae III and Myrthil Named Captains
Dartmouth head men's basketball coach David McLaughlin announced that senior Robert McRae III and junior Romeo Myrthil will serve as the Big Green's team captains in 2023-24. The two will look to lead an experienced group that features seven returning players who led the team in scoring at least once this past season.

McRae emerged as a junior, especially in Ivy League play when he became a regular in the Big Green rotation. After appearing in two games as a sophomore, he played in 24 as a junior, starting once and averaging 2.5 points and 1.8 rebounds. His impact on the defensive end of the floor was also strong, along with his impact on the game in intangible ways. Three games into the season, McRae scored a career-high 18 points in just 15 minutes against MCLA, shooting 5-of-7 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. He later made his first-career start at UMass and filled up the box score with nine points, seven rebounds, three steals and an assist. In Ivy League play, McRae scored nine points in a mid-February weekend — four at Cornell and five at Columbia.

Myrthil averaged 3.6 points and 2.0 rebounds as a junior in 25 games, starting eight times. Like McRae, Myrthil's impact came at both ends of the floor and in ways not always evident in the box score. Offensively, he reached double-figure points on three occasions, including a career-high 12 in a home win over Princeton and 11 both against CSU Bakersfield and at South Florida. For the season, Myrthil shot 42.7 percent from the floor (32-of-75) and 36.6 percent from 3-point range (15-of-41). After starting the first eight games of the season, Myrthil came off the bench in game nine and he responded with 27 points over the next three games (11 points against CSU Bakersfield followed by nine vs. Vermont and seven at CCSU).

History in Cameron Indoor Stadium
In the season opener at Duke on Monday, Nov. 6, the Big Green were led by junior Dusan Neskovic, who scored 23 points for a second straight season opener (also 23 last Nov. 7 at Fordham). He scored 15 of those points in the second half at Duke, shooting 7-of-11 over the final 20 minutes. Neskovic finished 11-of-19 for the game, which included knocking down a second-half 3-pointer.
- Neskovic's 23 points were the most scored by a Duke opponent in the Blue Devils' home opener since Davidson's De'Mon Brooks scored 24 on Nov. 8, 2013.
- It was also the most scored by any nonconference opponent at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium since Kevon Harris of Stephen F. Austin had 26 on Nov. 26, 2019.

Sustained Success
Since Feb. 17, 2022, the Big Green are tied for the third best record in the league in Ivy League games (regular season or postseason).

Princeton: 16-5
Yale: 15-6
Dartmouth: 10-9
Penn: 10-9
Cornell: 9-10
Brown: 8-10
Harvard: 7-12
Columbia: 2-16

Preseason Poll Released
The Ivy League Men's Basketball Preseason Poll was released on Tuesday, Oct. 17, which saw the Dartmouth men's basketball team come in seventh. Yale was picked as the preseason favorite with 124 points (14 first-place votes) followed closely by Princeton with 110 points (two first-place votes). Cornell came in third with 80 points followed by Brown (77), Penn (68), Harvard (66), Dartmouth (28) and Columbia (23).

Estes Promoted, McAlister Added to Staff
Head coach David McLaughlin announced staff changes this summer, which featured Braeden Estes being promoted to assistant coach, with Garvin McAlister joining the staff as director of basketball operations. Estes, who had been Dartmouth's director of operations for two seasons, fills the role left by Dan Ryan, who recently accepted a position with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg in Germany. McAlister joins the Big Green with plenty of college basketball coaching experience, most recently as associate head coach at Assumption University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

International Experience
Four members of the Big Green hail from outside of the United States — Dusan Neskovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Romeo Myrthil (Sweden), Nikola Dimitrijevic (Serbia) and Ben Brown (England). Neskovic is the first Big Green player from Banja Luka since Vedad Osmanovic '02, who scored 697 points. The four international players are tied with the 2021-22 team for the most international players on a Dartmouth men's basketball roster.

Academic Accolades from NABC
The Dartmouth men's basketball team was recognized by the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) in July for its academic success, garnering the Team Academic Award Award while Dame Adelekun, Jackson Blaufeld, Cam Krystkowiak and Dusan Neskovic were all named to the Honors Court.

Neskovic Named Academic All-District
Last season, current senior Dusan Neskovic was recognized by the College Sports Communicators as a member of the Academic All-District® Team. The team recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. Neskovic currently stands third on the Big Green in scoring, while owning an impressive cumulative grade point average of 3.63.

Neskovic joins a long list of Dartmouth honorees over the years, most recently Aaryn Rai last year, who made the five-man team for District I. The selection process has since changed and now includes more student-athletes. This year, Neskovic is one of nine men's basketball student-athletes from the Ivy League recognized.

Follow Along
Friday's game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Brett Franklin and former Dartmouth head coach Dave Faucher on the call. There will also be an audio broadcast on DartmouthSports.com with Brandon Bojarsky on the call.

What's Ahead?
After Wednesday's game, the Big Green return to the court on Saturday, Nov. 25 at Saint Louis out of the Atlantic 10. Opening tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. locally).