Big Green Wrap Up Road Swing at UAlbany Saturday Night

GAME 6
Dartmouth (1-4, 0-0 Ivy League) at UAlbany (4-3, 0-0 America East)
Date: Saturday, December 1, 2023 – 8 p.m.
Location: Albany, N.Y. – Broadview Center
All-Time Series: Dartmouth leads, 6-5

Setting the Scene
The Dartmouth men's basketball team plays the final of three straight road games on Saturday when the Big Green travel to New York's state capital to face the UAlbany Great Danes. Opening tipoff is set for 8 p.m. at Broadview Center. UAlbany marks Dartmouth's third America East opponent of the season (along with UMass Lowell and Vermont), with the Big Green's next game (home vs. New Hampshire) marking their fourth opponent from the conference.

Dartmouth enters December 1-4, but with a lot of promise. All four of the Big Green's losses came against teams that won 20+ games last season. Last Saturday at Saint Louis, Dartmouth outscored the Billikens by 10 in the second half and had a chance to win in the final seconds, but three final shots wouldn't fall in a one-point defeat. The Big Green then played an excellent first half at defending America East Champion Vermont on Wednesday, leading the Catamounts 31-28 after 20 minutes of play. It marked the first time Dartmouth led UVM at the half since Nov. 16, 2011 when the Big Green led 29-22 at home. On Wednesday, Dartmouth extended its lead to five in the opening minutes of the second, but one stretch of 8:03 saw Vermont go on a 15-0 run, which the Big Green couldn't overcome. Dartmouth was 0-of-8 shooting in that stretch while four of its season-low eight turnovers for the game came during that scoreless drought.

Senior Dusan Neskovic scored a game-high 17 points, all coming in the first half on 7-of-11 shooting, before being held scoreless in the second. Sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double, becoming the first Dartmouth player to do that since Chris Knight in February of 2020. Knight actually did so in three straight games, posting 27 points and 13 rebounds vs. Princeton (Feb. 22), 17 and 13 at Cornell (Feb. 28) and 19 and 10 at Columbia (Feb. 29).

Sophomore Jayden Williams provided a spark with nine points, knocking down 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Making his second straight start, senior Jaren Johnson had five points, a team-high four assists, five rebounds and a steal. Perhaps most impressively, he didn't turn the ball over in more than 36 minutes of action. Over the last two games, he has just one turnover in 68 minutes.

The last time Dartmouth and UAlbany squared off was twice in just over two weeks during the 2018-19 season, both Big Green wins. Saturday's game will mark Dartmouth's fourth road game of the season, compared to just two home contests. That will soon change, as the Big Green play their next three games at home, hosting New Hampshire (Dec. 6), Marist (Dec. 9) and Boston University (Dec. 13).

With a win...
- Dartmouth would beat UAlbany for a third straight time and improve to 7-5 all-time against the Great Danes.
- The Big Green would snap a seven-game road losing streak dating back to last season.
- Dartmouth would win a road nonleague game for the first time since winning at UTSA, 78-77 in overtime, last Nov. 27.

Last Time Out
BURLINGTON, Vt. (11/29/23) — With the Dartmouth men's basketball team leading 31-28 at the half and 41-36 a few minutes into the second, defending America East Champion Vermont answered with a vengeance, posting a 15-0 run to take a 51-41 lead, which the Big Green couldn't overcome in falling, 64-53, on Wednesday evening inside Patrick Gymnasium. Senior Dusan Neskovic paced the offense with a game-high 17 points, all coming in the first half. Sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day recorded 10 points and 10 rebounds, good for his second consecutive double-double.

Scouting UAlbany
UAlbany is 4-3 on the young season, having won three straight games — vs. Army West Point (62-59), at Siena (86-51) and against Boston University (86-72). The Great Danes' other win came at Columbia (78-75) while their losses came at UMass, Seton Hall and Quinnipiac.

Amar'e Marshall leads the Great Danes in scoring, averaging 17.4 points per game, while Sebastian Thomas isn't far behind — coming in at 16.6 along with a team-leading 30 assists through seven games. Jonathan Beagle also averages double-figure points, coming in at 11.4 and a team-leading 7.7 rebounds.

All-Time Against The Great Danes
Dartmouth leads the all-time series against UAlbany, 6-5, with the teams last playing twice during the 2018-19 season. The Big Green won 91-77 in the Belfast Classic in Northern Ireland, then won at UAlbany 15 days later, 61-52. Prior to that, the Great Danes won the previous four meetings. Dartmouth won three of the first four all-time meetings, the first coming all the way back in December of 1927 via a 43-23 final.

Double Trouble
Sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day has two double-doubles this season.

- at Vermont (Nov. 29): 10 points, 10 rebounds
- at Saint Louis (Nov. 25): 17 points, 10 rebounds

At Vermont on Nov. 29, Mitchell-Day recorded his second straight double-double, becoming the first Dartmouth player to do that since Chris Knight in February of 2020. Knight actually did so in three straight games, posting 27 points and 13 rebounds vs. Princeton (Feb. 22), 17 and 13 at Cornell (Feb. 28) and 19 and 10 at Columbia (Feb. 29).

20-Point Notables...
- Senior Dusan Neskovic became the first Big Green player with 20 points in back-to-back road games since Brendan Barry in February of 2022. Barry had 25 at Yale (Feb. 4) followed by 21 at Brown (Feb. 5).
- Prior to Neskovic, the previous time a Big Green player scored 20 in back-to-back nonconference road games since Alex Barnett in 2008. Barnett scored 28 at Providence (Nov. 18) and 32 at Vermont (Dec. 2).
- As a team, the Big Green have had a 20-point scorer in three of the first four games of the season (Neskovic 23 at Duke, sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day 20 vs. Westfield State and Neskovic 24 at Saint Louis), the first time that's happened since the 2008-09 season. That year, Barnett had all the 20-point games, posting 28 at Providence, 24 vs. Colgate and 24 against Furman.

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.

Follow Along
Saturday night's game can be seen live on ESPN+.

What's Ahead?
After Saturday's contest, the Big Green return home for three straight games, hosting New Hampshire (Dec. 6), Marist (Dec. 9) and Boston University (Dec. 13) in the span of a week. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+. To purchase tickets, head to DartmouthSports.com/tickets or call the ticket office, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 603-646-2466.

Schedules