Big Green Head to Philly for Final Regular Season Road Game

GAME 27
Dartmouth (9-17, 5-7 Ivy League) at Penn (16-11, 8-4 Ivy League)
Date: Saturday, February 25, 2023 – 2 p.m.
Location: Philadelphia, Pa. – The Palestra
All-Time Series: Penn, 157-65
Watch (ESPN+) | Live Stats

Setting the Scene
Following a tough road weekend, the Dartmouth men's basketball team will look to bounce back on Saturday when the Big Green travel to Philadelphia to face Penn. Opening tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+. It will mark Dartmouth's final road game, and second-to-last contest, of the regular season. The Big Green are still alive for a top four seed and berth into Ivy Madness, but it would take wins over their last two and considerable out-of-town help.

Dartmouth stands 5-7 in league play, tied with Harvard and one game behind Cornell and Brown, who are tied for fourth at 6-6. The problem for the Big Green is they were swept, and don't have the tiebreaker, against both the Big Red and Bears. But should both those teams lose Saturday and Dartmouth win, the Big Green would very much be alive for a postseason berth heading into the regular season finale against Harvard.

The Big Green dropped a pair of road contests last weekend, at Cornell and Columbia. Against the Big Red, Dartmouth erased a five-point deficit with less than three minutes remaining to force overtime, but Cornell held a 15-2 edge in the extra session to wrap up the 95-82 win. In the final seconds of regulation, the Big Green forced a turnover and went up court where junior Robert McRae III found senior Dame Adelekun for a long 3-point attempt. The shot nearly fell. Moments earlier, Adelekun finished a dunk off a feed from sophomore Ryan Cornish to even the score and help force overtime.

On Saturday at Columbia, Dartmouth used a 19-6 second-half run to turn a five-point deficit into an eight-point lead, but the Big Green scored just nine points and had only two field goals over the final 12 minutes, allowing the Lions to come back and win, 71-65. After Cornish and junior Dusan Neskovic each scored a team-high 19 points on Friday, Adelekun led Dartmouth with 19 on Saturday. Other notable performances last weekend came from junior Jaren Johnson and freshman Brandon Mitchell-Day, who scored 11 points on Friday against Cornell (Johnson) and Saturday vs. Columbia (Mitchell-Day), respectively.

After 22 turnovers at Cornell Friday, the Big Green had a season-low eight turnovers on Saturday. It was also tied for the second fewest turnovers against Columbia this season, a team that had forced more than 13 per game coming in.

Dartmouth will be looking to sweep its first team this season, but it won't be easy against the preseason Ivy League favorites, who are also riding seven straight wins. Penn stands 8-4 in league play, now tied with Princeton and Yale for first place.

With a win…
- Dartmouth would win its sixth Ivy League game for a second straight season. It would mark the first time the Big Green had 6+ league wins in back-to-back seasons since 1995-96 and 1996-97.
- It would mark just the third time since 2008-09 that the Big Green had 6+ Ivy League victories.
- Dartmouth would sweep the regular season series vs. Penn for the first time since 2016-17 and just the second time since 2009.
- The Big Green would improve to 3-2 on the road in league play. The three road Ivy League victories would be their most since the 2014-15 season (when they also had three).
- If Cornell and Brown also lose (at Yale and at Columbia), Dartmouth would move into a tie for fourth place in the standings with one regular season game remaining.
- The Big Green would improve to 10-8 over their last 18 Ivy League games dating back to the end of last season.

Last Time Out
NEW YORK, N.Y. (2/18/23) — The Dartmouth men's basketball team used a 19-6 second-half run to turn a five-point deficit into an eight-point lead, but the Big Green offense struggled from that point forward in a 71-65 loss at Columbia on Saturday evening. Despite scoring just nine points over the game's final 12 minutes, and converting only two field goals in that stretch, Dartmouth was within striking distance until the very end. Senior Dame Adelekun led the offense with 19 points while adding six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal.

Scouting Penn
Penn has been red hot as of late, winners of seven straight. Last weekend, the Quakers defeated Yale 66-64 before dominating Brown, 90-69. Penn lost at Dartmouth on Jan. 14, 75-71, which was the first of three straight defeat (also home Princeton and at Yale), before a nonleague win over Hartford was the beginning of its recent streak.

Jordan Dingle stands second in the nation in scoring, averaging 23.2 points per game. He's followed by Clark Slajchert, who is averaging 13.6, which is seventh in the Ivy League. Max Martz is also averaging double figures (10.7) while Nick Spinoso comes in at 8.5. Lucas Monroe leads the Quakers in rebounding (5.8) while Spinoso's 3.2 assists per game lead the team and stand fifth in the league. As a team, Penn leads the league in free throw percentage (73.8) and stands second in assists per game (15.1), 3-point percentage (35.7) and 3-point percentage defense (32.3).

All-Time Against The Quakers
Dartmouth has won two of the last three against Penn, but the Quakers still lead the all-time series, 157-65. All three of the wins have come at home, with the Big Green's last win at Penn coming on Mar. 3, 2017 via a 76-74 final. That marked Dartmouth's third straight win in the series and fourth in five games. In between, the Quakers had won five in a row. The first-ever meeting between the sides came on Mar. 1, 1905, a 30-26 Penn victory. Dartmouth's first win came in the next meeting, on Jan. 17, 1907 behind a 31-15 final.

Sustained Success
Since last Feb. 17, the Big Green own the fourth best record in the league in Ivy League regular season games. Dartmouth is 9-8 in that stretch.

Princeton: 13-4
Yale: 11-6
Penn: 9-7
Dartmouth: 9-8
Cornell: 8-8
Brown: 7-9
Harvard: 7-10
Columbia: 2-14

Dame's Dominance
Senior Dame Adelekun enjoyed a performance to remember on Jan. 28 vs. Columbia.

Adelekun truly enjoyed a historic effort in Saturday's win over Columbia, posting 41 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and two assists. He also drew 14 of the Lions' 25 fouls on the afternoon while shooting 14-of-18 from the floor and 13-of-19 from the free throw line.

Here is a rundown of Adelekun's afternoon:
- Became the sixth Dartmouth player to score 40+ points in a game in program history.
- 41 points tied a Leede Arena record (which was set by Cornell's Matt Morgan in 2019).
- 41 points were the most a Dartmouth player has ever scored in Leede Arena (which opened in 1987). It broke Miles Wright's 39 points scored against LIU Brooklyn on Nov. 29, 2015.
Became the first Big Green player to score 40 points, home or away, since Jim Barton had 48 on Feb. 7, 1987 at Brown.
- Prior to Adelekun, the previous Dartmouth player to score 40 points in a home game was Paul Erland on Jan. 17, 1971 against Holy Cross (he had 44).
- Adelekun's 41 were the most points scored by an Ivy League player since Feb. 8, 2019 when Harvard's Bryce Aiken had 44 against Columbia and Cornell's Matt Morgan scored 41 at Dartmouth.
- Nationally, Adelekun has one of 22 40-point performances in NCAA Division I men's basketball this season (following this weekend's games), and one of just 15 to come in regulation.
- Became the fourth player in the nation to post a 40+ point double-double this season, and the only one to do it in a regulation game.
- One of just two players in the nation to record 40+ points, 10+ rebounds and 3+ blocks this season, and the only to do it in a regulation game.
- Adelekun's 40+ point effort came in the second fewest minutes played.
- Tied for the second fewest missed field goals in a 40-point effort this season.
- Had a second-half sequence that was the No. 4 Play of the Day on ESPN's SportsCenter (Adelekun's second #SCTop10 appearance of the season).

Balanced Scoring
Through 24 games, eight different Big Green players have led the team in scoring. Here is a rundown.

Dame Adelekun: 8 - vs. Vermont (12/6), at Boston University (12/13), at South Florida (12/16), vs. Cornell (1/1), at Brown (1/7), vs. Columbia (1/28), vs. Yale (2/4), vs. Princeton (2/11)
Ryan Cornish: 6 - at UTSA (11/27), vs. Grambling State (11/28), vs. CSU Bakersfield (12/3), vs. Penn (1/14), at Harvard (1/16), at Princeton (1/21)
Brandon Mitchell-Day: 2 - vs. Bryant (11/11), vs. Incarnate Word (11/25)
Cade Haskins: 2 - at Quinnipiac (11/15), at Central Connecticut State (12/9)
Dusan Neskovic: 2 - at Fordham (11/7), at Yale (1/6)
Jayden Williams: 2 - vs. NVU-Johnson (11/30), vs. Brown (2/3)
Jaren Johnson: 1 - at UMass (12/20)
Robert McRae III: 1 - vs. MCLA (11/12)

What A Weekend!
The Big Green had a statement weekend in mid-January when they beat preseason Ivy League favorite Penn at home on Saturday, Jan. 14 before topping Harvard on the road two days later on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Against the Quakers, the Big Green trailed by as many as 13 in the second half (52-39), but from that point forward, Dartmouth outscored the Quakers 36-19 over the final 15 minutes of action. It marked the first time the Big Green overcame a double-figure deficit since an 11-point comeback against Brown on Jan. 8, 2022. Penn was 0-of-13 from 3-point range in the second half. Offensively, sophomore Ryan Cornish scored nine of his team-high 14 points in the second half while freshman Brandon Mitchell-Day provided a spark, in the second half and all game. He finished with 10 points and a huge block with 34 seconds remaining and Dartmouth up by one, which helped seal the win. Freshman Jackson Munro nearly posted his first-career double-double, finishing with nine points and eight rebounds in just 13:34 of action.

On Monday at Harvard, Dartmouth got out to a 12-2 start and would never trail in a 60-59 win. Cornish again led the Big Green in scoring, this time with 16, including 3-of-4 shooting from three. In the span of 1:39 early in the second half, he completed a 4-point play then knocked down a nearly half-court shot with the shot clock winding down. Including a 3-point play not long before, he scored 10 points in the span of 2:53. Senior Dame Adelekun scored eight of Dartmouth's first 10 points, finishing with 14 — good for his seventh straight game in double figures. Mitchell-Day also scored 11 points, all coming in the first half to help the Big Green open a 34-26 halftime advantage. Mitchell-Day was honored on Tuesday with Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors, Dartmouth's first Rookie of the Week honoree since Taurus Samuels on Jan. 21, 2019. The win marked Dartmouth's second straight against Harvard for the first time since 1998-99. It's the first time since 1995-96 winning back-to-back in Cambridge. Monday was also the first Big Green win of fewer than seven points against Harvard in 18 years.

Road Win Over Defending Ivy Tournament Champs
Dartmouth won at defending Ivy League Tournament Champion Yale on Jan. 6, 81-77, for the Big Green's first victory against the Bulldogs since 2015 and first at Yale since 2014. The win snapped Dartmouth's 12-game losing streak in the series. It was also the Bulldogs' first home loss this season. Junior Dusan Neskovic led the way with a career-high 24 points. It marked the most points scored by any player at Yale this season (home or away) and second most this season overall (behind Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe, who scored 28). The 24 marked the most points by an opponent at Yale since Princeton's Tosan Evbuomwan had 26 on Feb. 19, 2022.

The effort came against a Yale defense that entered tops in the Ivy League and seventh nationally in scoring defense coming in (56.9). The Bulldogs were also seventh in scoring margin (+18.4) and eighth in rebound margin (+9.9). Dartmouth ended up outrebounding Yale, 37-36, becoming just the third team this season to outrebound the Bulldogs (along with Hawaii and Kentucky).

Da Na Na, Da Na Na
Dartmouth men's basketball has found itself on ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 three times this season.

- Most recently, Dame Adelekun's sequence vs. Columbia on Jan. 28 when he had an emphatic dunk on one end, and seconds later, even more emphatic block on the other, made No. 4.
- Adelekun's block vs. Cornell on New Year's Day made the cut at No. 10. It was an impressive play in which he essentially caught the ball as the shot was going up (rather than swatting it away).
- The first #SCTop10 play came on Dec. 13 at Boston University via a Jaren Johnson chase down block.

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.

Block Party
Dartmouth's 4.0 blocks per game are third in the Ivy League and 70th in the nation, owning 95 blocks in 23 games. Individually, senior Dame Adelekun's 48 blocks and 1.92 blocks per contest are tops in the league (and 38th and 30th in the nation, respectively). He's had three or more blocks six times, including a career high in back-to-back games — four at Central Connecticut State then five at Boston University.

The four blocks at CCSU marked the most for a Big Green player since Chris Knight had four on Feb. 8, 2019, at home vs. Cornell. The five at BU were the most since Jan. 17, 2015, when Gabas Maldunas had five against NJIT. In the first 5:21 of the second half, Adelekun posted nine points, four rebounds, four blocks and an assist in an incredible stretch of basketball. Going back to the first half, the Ivy League leader in blocks had all of his career-high five rejections in the span of 10:04 of game action.

Dominant Defense
In Dartmouth's weekend sweep of Penn and Harvard (Jan. 14 and 16), the Big Green defense impressed against some of the Ivy League's top scorers. Entering the weekend, the top three scorers were Penn's Jordan Dingle (24.2 entering Saturday), Harvard's Chris Ledlum (19.5 entering Monday's game) and Penn's Clark Slajchert (17.1 entering Saturday). Dingle's 24.2 points per game were also second nationally. The Big Green held the three to a combined 29 points — 31.8 points fewer than their scoring averages entering (which was 60.8). Dingle was held to a season-low 14 points, breaking a streak of 13 straight games scoring 20+ points. Slajchert was held to eight points while Ledlum was held to seven points (which tied a season low). Ledlum scored Harvard's first seven points of the game, but was held scoreless for the remainder of the contest. Foul trouble played a role, but even so, was held scoreless for the final 11:43 of his time on the court.

Follow Along
Saturday's game will be streamed on ESPN+.

What's Ahead?
Dartmouth returns home for its regular season finale, hosting Harvard on Saturday, Mar. 4 on Senior Day. Opening tipoff is set for 2 p.m.

Schedules