Dartmouth Set to Clash with UMass Lowell in Home Opener Friday

Friday, November 10

Hanover, N.H.

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

UMass Lowell

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Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Dartmouth Set to Clash with UMass Lowell in Home Opener Friday

11/9/2023 2:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Big Green and River Hawks set to square off for fourth time ever

By: Justin Lafleur

GAME 2
Dartmouth (0-1, 0-0 Ivy League) vs. UMass Lowell (1-0, 0-0 America East)
Date: Friday, November 10, 2023 – 6 p.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H. – Leede Arena
All-Time Series: Dartmouth leads, 3-0

Setting the Scene
The Dartmouth men's basketball team returns home after its season opener at Duke Monday night to host a strong UMass Lowell program. Tipoff inside Leede Arena is set for 6 p.m. The Big Green hung tough until deep into the first half on Monday, pulling within 25-19 with 5:27 on the clock, but that's as close as they would come. Friday will be a good early-season test as well for Dartmouth, with the River Hawks coming off a 26-8 record in 2022-23.

The Big Green were led on Monday 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.

Junior Ryan Cornish also scored nine points, shooting 7-of-9 from the free throw line. He drew six fouls for the game, higher than anyone on either side. Duke committed 18 fouls in the contest compared to 16 for Dartmouth. Sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day added six points while classmate Jackson Munro had five with a team-high four assists. All three of the Big Green sophomores started, along with Jayden Williams, who knocked down a first-half 3-pointer and added four rebounds.

The Big Green were only outrebounded by four, 33-29, and held a 10-5 edge in offensive boards. This came against a team that finished last season fifth nationally in rebounding margin (+7.9). Duke All-American Kyle Filipowski had seven rebounds Monday, fewer than his average of 8.9 from a season ago. Last season, he had more than seven rebounds in 23 of 36 games played.

Focus now shifts to Friday's home opener where the Big Green are eyeing a home-opening win for the fifth time in their last six tries and ninth time in their last 11 opportunities. The River Hawks reached the America East Championship Game last season, finishing 17-0 at home and 9-8 on the road. Dartmouth is 3-0 all-time against UMass Lowell.

Friday will be the first of two straight home games in the span of five days, as the Big Green host Westfield State on Wednesday night before a break for final exams.

With a win...
- Dartmouth would improve to 4-0 all-time against UMass Lowell, including 2-0 at home.
- The Big Green would win their home opener for the fifth time in their last six tries and improve to 9-2 over their last 11 home openers.
- Dartmouth would win its third straight home game dating back to the end of last season. The Big Green beat Princeton (who went on to advance to the Sweet 16) on Feb. 11 then Harvard in the season finale on Mar. 4.
- The Big Green would win their final game of a season and first game of the following season for the first time since the 2014-15 and 2015-16 campaigns. Dartmouth ended its home slate in 2014-15 with a 59-58 win over Yale, then began 2015-16 at home with a 79-56 victory over LIU Brooklyn.

Last Time Out
DURHAM, N.C. (11/7/23) — The Dartmouth men's basketball team pulled within 18-14 more than midway through the first half, but the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils proved too much in the end, beating the Big Green, 92-54, in the season opener for both sides on Monday night inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. Senior Dusan Neskovic led Dartmouth with 23 points on 11-of-19 shooting, with 15 of the points coming in the second half. The 23 points are most by an opponent in Duke's home opener since Davidson's De'Mon Brooks scored 24 on Nov. 8, 2013.

Scouting UMass Lowell
UMass Lowell was picked second in the America East preseason poll after finishing 26-8 a season ago. The River Hawks were picked only behind defending America East Champion Vermont; UMass Lowell garnered three of the nine first-place votes. Last season, the River Hawks finished 11-5 in the conference, earning the No. 2 seed and beating seventh-seeded Maine and third-seeded New Hampshire to reach the championship game where they fell to the Catamounts. Among UMass Lowell's big wins last season was a win at the UMass Minutemen of the Atlantic 10.

Abdoul Karim Coulibaly is a returning graduate student and preseason All-Conference honoree (after being named to the second team last season). The forward averaged 11.4 points and 7.6 rebounds last season, shooting an America East best 57.6 percent from the floor. Ayinde Hikim also returns after averaging 10.7 points and posting a team-leading 116 assists in 31 games. Max Brooks started all 34 games and returns, averaging 8.3 points and 5.4 boards in 2022-23.

The River Hawks opened their season with a 96-51 win over Rivier.

All-Time Against The Riverhawks
Dartmouth is 3-0 all-time against UMass Lowell. The first meeting saw a 77-59 Big Green win in Hanover, 77-59. Dartmouth won at UMass Lowell in December of 2014 and November of 2019, winning the most recent meeting, 80-75 in overtime.

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).

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 Bob Lipman 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 Friday's game, the Big Green return home on Wednesday, hosting Westfield State at 7 p.m.