Big Green to Face Boston University Wednesday on New Hampshire Night

Wednesday, December 13

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Boston University

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Photo by: Kyle Relf

Big Green to Face Boston University Wednesday on New Hampshire Night

12/12/2023 3:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Game Notes (PDF)Purchase Tickets Purchase $5 Tickets (Promo Code: NH Resident)Watch on ESPN+Listen on DartmouthSports.com Live Stats International Stream

New Hampshire residents can purchase $5 tickets in advance with promo code NH Resident

By: Justin Lafleur

GAME 9
Dartmouth (2-6, 0-0 Ivy League) vs. Boston University (4-6, 0-0 Patriot League)
Date: Wednesday, December 13, 2023 – 7 p.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H. – Leede Arena
All-Time Series: Dartmouth leads, 22-10

Setting the Scene
The Dartmouth men's basketball team closes out a three-game homestand on Wednesday night by hosting Boston University, in what has become a highly-competitive matchup over the last few seasons. Opening tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and will be televised on NESN and streamed live on ESPN+. The Big Green are coming off a 1-1 week, which featured a convincing win over New Hampshire and a defeat against Marist.

In honor of Dartmouth basketball's (men's and women's) sweep of UNH this season, Wednesday is New Hampshire night. Tickets are just $5 for New Hampshire residents, when purchased in advance, using the promo code NH Resident. Click here to purchase.

Last time out, Marist used a 14-0 first-half run to turn a 12-5 Dartmouth lead into a 19-12 advantage for the Red Foxes. They led by nine at the break before the Big Green used a 10-2 second-half run to take a one-point lead. A basket from junior Romeo Myrthil put Dartmouth in front, 49-48 with 5:33 on the clock, but Marist responded with a 14-2 run to pull away, 63-53. Josh Pascarelli paced the Red Foxes offense with 26 points, shooting 10-of-18 from the floor, including 6-of-12 from 3-point range.

Junior Ryan Cornish led the Big Green in scoring with 14 points, shooting 5-of-8 from inside the arc. It marked his second straight game with 14 points after entering the week with 15 points on the season through his first six games. Cornish finished second on the Big Green in scoring a season ago, averaging 12.5 points per game.

Sophomore Jayden Williams followed up a 28-point effort vs. UNH with 13 points on Saturday, shooting 3-of-7 from 3-point range. He has now hit 15-of-25 from three over his last four games (60 percent) and 17-of-29 over his last five (58.6 percent). Williams was named Ivy League Player of the Week, becoming the first Big Green to win the award since Dame Adelekun last January. Dartmouth's entire sophomore class has now won an Ivy League weekly award in their careers, as Brandon Mitchell-Day and Jackson Munro were named Rookie of the Week last season.

Dartmouth and Boston University will play on December 13 for the second straight year and third time in the last five meetings. Last season, the Terriers jumped out to a 21-2 lead, but the Big Green scored 40 of the next 60 points to take a 42-41 second-half lead, but BU responded and won, 67-59. Wednesday will mark the fifth straight season the teams square off, excluding 2020-21 when the Ivy League didn't have a season and the Patriot League played only conference games. Dartmouth won in 2018 at home, with the Terriers capturing the next three. Every game has been decided by 10 points or fewer.

Wednesday begins a stretch of four games in nine days heading into a break for the holidays.

With a win...
- The Big Green would snap a three-game losing streak against Boston University and beat the Terriers for the first time since Dec. 13, 2018 at home, 78-68.
- Dartmouth would take a 23-10 lead in the all-time series.
- The Big Green would win at home for the third time in their last four tries and improve to 3-2 at home for the season.
- Dartmouth would beat a member of the Patriot League for the first time since beating Boston University on Dec. 13, 2018 at home via a 78-68 final. The Big Green also won at Loyola Maryland earlier that season, 82-80.

Last Time Out
HANOVER, N.H. (12/9/23) — Romeo Myrthil hit a bucket down low to give Dartmouth a one-point lead with 5:34 to play, but visiting Marist outscored Dartmouth, 15-4, the rest of the way to take a 63-53 decision at Leede Arena on Saturday afternoon. Josh Pascarelli led the Red Foxes (6-2) with 26 points thanks to six 3-pointers, while Ryan Cornish provided 14 to pace the Big Green (2-6).

Scouting Boston University
Boston University stands 4-6 on the season, having alternated wins and losses over the past month. Most recently, the Terriers won at Wagner on Sunday, 73-59, two games after a 70-49 victory at Sacred Heart. BU's other wins have come over Bryant (95-79) and VTSU Johnson (90-49), both at home.

The Terriers don't feature a single player averaging double-figure points, but have a balanced attack with six players between seven and nine points per game. Kyrone Alexander leads the way with 9.0, followed by Otto Landrum (8.6), Ethan Okwuosa (8.3) and Miles Brewster (8.2). Brewster, who was a former classmate of Dartmouth's Dusan Neskovic at The Hotchkiss School, leads the team in assists with 31 through 10 games. Landrum's 5.7 rebounds per contest lead the way.

All-Time Against The Terriers
Dartmouth leads Boston University in the all-time series, 22-10. The teams first played on Feb. 11, 1925, with the Big Green winning 47-30. The teams reconvened in 2018 for the first time since 2002. Dartmouth won on Dec. 13, 2018, 78-68, with BU winning each of the next three meetings, all close contests — by two, three and eight. The last time the teams played at Dartmouth, the Big Green took a 62-61 lead into the final minute, but the Terriers' Jonas Harper had a steal and layup with 14 seconds remaining, which was the difference. Former Dartmouth assistant coach Mike Quinn is associate head coach for the Terriers, while Boston University 13th year head coach Joe Jones was formally head coach at Columbia from 2003-10.

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 so 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).

Block Party
The Big Green tallied nine blocks on Dec. 2 at UAlbany, their most since Dec. 21, 2013 when they also had nine against Longwood. Juniors Nikola Dimitrijevic and Romeo Myrthil each posted a career-high four blocks, while senior Jaren Johnson recorded the other.

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 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.
- Dartmouth had a 20-point scorer in five consecutive games (vs. Westfield State, at Saint Louis, at Vermont, at UAlbany and vs. New Hampshire). It marked the first time since at least the turn of the century that the Big Green have had a 20-point scorer in six of the first seven games of the season.
- Against New Hampshire (Dec. 6), Jayden Williams' 28 points marked a season high for a Dartmouth player and the most by a Big Green player since Dame Adelekun scored 41 last Jan. 28 against Columbia.

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.

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).

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

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
Wednesday's game can be seen live on NESN and ESPN+, with Brett Franklin and Dave Faucher on the call. An audio broadcast will also be available on DartmouthSports.com with Brandon Bojarsky on the call.

What's Ahead?
After Wednesday's game, the Big Green hit the road for Syracuse to face Le Moyne on Saturday at 2 p.m.