Completed Event: Men's Basketball versus Yale on February 13, 2026 , Loss , 70, to, 83
Final
Men's Basketball
vs Yale
70
83
Photo by: Doug Austin
Big Green on the Cusp of Breaking Though
8/9/2023 2:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Peak Performance
Dartmouth posted 6+ Ivy League wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1995-97
Following the 2021-22 season, the Dartmouth men's basketball team lost its top three scorers to graduation. Included were the program's all-time leader in 3-pointers (Brendan Barry), an honorable mention All-Ivy honoree (Aaryn Rai) and someone who went on to play his fifth year at the University of Minnesota (Taurus Samuels).
As things played out during the 2022-23 season, there were plenty of speed bumps, especially early on. But in the end, the Big Green found themselves back in familiar territory — competing for a berth in Ivy Madness.
Dartmouth has shown consistency as of late, finishing with 6+ Ivy League wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1995-97. The Big Green also showed an ability to compete with, and beat, the best teams in the Ivy League. Dartmouth topped Princeton and Yale, who shared the regular season title, Penn and Harvard twice.
But the Big Green are hungry for more.
"We are definitively heading in the right direction," said Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin. "What we cannot do is take our foot off the gas. We're right on the cusp. We feel we're about to break through into the top half of the league, but we're not there yet.
"It's okay to say that very clearly to our guys."
Dartmouth men's basketball features a group of guys who are learning how to win. Entering last season, it was an extremely young group featuring players who had some college seasons under their belts, but with minimal games, especially with the 2020-21 season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That inexperience changed quickly.
They had no other choice but to get up to speed.
"We were really trying to figure out who we were as a group, especially in nonleague play," said McLaughlin. "We tried a lot of different lineups early on and gave a lot of guys opportunities. We were inconsistent, but we grew and learned to be more consistent as the year went along."
The Big Green began last season 4-11, leading into a Jan. 6 game at Yale, when they stormed into New Haven and defeated the Bulldogs for the first time since 2015.
"We started to 'click' a little bit around that time," said McLaughlin. "I thought we were able to have an identity on the floor in just about every league game we played — which was playing a tough and together brand of basketball at both ends of the floor, an ability to play inside-out, and an ability to protect the paint and limit strong opportunities on the defensive end.
"When you can stick to your identity, it keeps you very competitive in league play."
The Yale win began a 4-2 stretch in Ivy League games, which also included a home win over preseason favorite Penn, a victory at Harvard and home win over Columbia. The Big Green later defeated eventual Sweet 16 team Princeton at home and topped Harvard for a second time, Dartmouth's third straight win over the Crimson.
"You're competitive to the point where you're not just in every game, but also winning games, winning games on the road and beating the top programs in the league," said McLaughlin. "There was a belief that we're talented and we're good, and we could beat anyone. We could win these games consistently, we could win on the road or at home, and could put ourselves in position to hopefully play in the postseason in this league."
Individually, Dame Adelekun was named second team All-Ivy and All-District. He was named Ivy League Player of the Week during the season after tying a Stabler Arena record with 41 points vs. Columbia. Brandon Mitchell-Day and Jackson Munro were also named Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Jan. 17 and Mar. 6, respectively.
To keep the momentum going, the Big Green know the importance of having great summers.
"Because of league rules, we couldn't have them on campus this summer, so they need to have great ownership over their process and need to be able to hold each other accountable and work hard," said McLaughlin. "We need to be in the best shape we've been in since I've been here coming back on September 14 when the fall semester starts.
"If we're in the best shape, it's going to give us a foundation to build what we want to build this coming season."
What the Big Green are building is in the works, but there's a lot of reason for excitement. They lose Adelekun, along with another starter in Cam Krystkowiak to graduation, but return 12 players who have seen significant playing time.
"Out of those 12, we had seven returning players who led us in scoring in a game last season and that's unique," said McLaughlin. "That is a factor of playing a lot of guys. If you look at our rotation of nine, we're returning seven of our top nine. That says a lot about our program."
It's nice to return so much experience, but so does the rest of the Ivy League.
"The league is returning a lot next year," said McLaughlin. "We can't be happy or content. The whole league has a chance to be that much better next year, so our work ethic is going to be incredibly important."
The Big Green do have one advantage — a longer spring term that ran into June, due to Dartmouth being on trimesters.
"You have to play to your strengths," said McLaughlin. "One of our strengths is that our guys are here a little longer, so we were still in workouts at the end of May, which is terrific. You can build foundational habits, you can talk about some offense and defensive keys and you can build skill levels to help them develop many different areas of their games."
The Big Green also made strides in the weight room.
"A lot of our guys hit PRs, whether it's explosive movements or things in the weight room," said McLaughlin. "You have to take advantage of it because when we come back in the fall, we start later than everyone else with only a few days until the first day of Division I practice."
One word from McLaughlin to describe the feeling among the group is competitive.
"There is a belief present," said McLaughlin. "The emergence of leadership is going to be very important. It's a group that's willing to hold each other accountable, which I appreciate."
Internally, the Big Green talk about the team as an organism.
"If one piece of that organism isn't healthy, it's going to hurt the body or the culture of the team," said McLaughlin. "We talk about when there's something on your mind, express it. Don't be afraid to hold yourself or your teammates accountable. We can talk about anything; there's not going to be any dry wood that can start fires. That must totally define us as a group."
As a group, the Big Green are focused on working towards their goal of moving up the standings into Ivy Madness.
"Everything we did this spring — all the communication that we had with our guys, everything we're doing this summer, everything we're preparing as a staff to study and evaluate our team, and all the relationship building with our guys — is putting us in a position to be top four in the league," said McLaughlin.
"That is the goal, and anything that's going to prevent us from getting there, we're going to talk about that right away and figure out how to change and counteract it so we can turn it in our favor."
Success for McLaughlin is tied to wins and losses, but he's also heavily invested in the process, the growth of the student-athletes, which is evident from this current group of Big Green.
It's a group that has grown and improved tremendously, on and off the court, during their careers.
And in the end, that continues to be a goal of McLaughlin's as well.
"When you look back in five, 10, 15 years, it's not so much about the specific games," he said. "It's about the relationship you have with the players, it's about the stories you're telling, the weddings that you're at and the children that you meet. It's the extension of how they're now active alumni in the program for the current players."
The Dartmouth men's basketball program's core values are expressed through the acronym "Be A Pro," which stands for Belief, Excellence, Accountability, Positivity, Relationships and Ownership.
As McLaughlin said, "We want guys to learn life lessons, become better because of the experience and have this experience set them up for foundational success in their lives."
As things played out during the 2022-23 season, there were plenty of speed bumps, especially early on. But in the end, the Big Green found themselves back in familiar territory — competing for a berth in Ivy Madness.
Dartmouth has shown consistency as of late, finishing with 6+ Ivy League wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1995-97. The Big Green also showed an ability to compete with, and beat, the best teams in the Ivy League. Dartmouth topped Princeton and Yale, who shared the regular season title, Penn and Harvard twice.
But the Big Green are hungry for more.
"We are definitively heading in the right direction," said Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin. "What we cannot do is take our foot off the gas. We're right on the cusp. We feel we're about to break through into the top half of the league, but we're not there yet.
"It's okay to say that very clearly to our guys."
Dartmouth men's basketball features a group of guys who are learning how to win. Entering last season, it was an extremely young group featuring players who had some college seasons under their belts, but with minimal games, especially with the 2020-21 season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That inexperience changed quickly.
They had no other choice but to get up to speed.
"We were really trying to figure out who we were as a group, especially in nonleague play," said McLaughlin. "We tried a lot of different lineups early on and gave a lot of guys opportunities. We were inconsistent, but we grew and learned to be more consistent as the year went along."
The Big Green began last season 4-11, leading into a Jan. 6 game at Yale, when they stormed into New Haven and defeated the Bulldogs for the first time since 2015.
It wasn't a fluke… It was a sign of things to come.Big Time Win 😤#TheWoods🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/Hf7WB00SeY
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) January 7, 2023
"We started to 'click' a little bit around that time," said McLaughlin. "I thought we were able to have an identity on the floor in just about every league game we played — which was playing a tough and together brand of basketball at both ends of the floor, an ability to play inside-out, and an ability to protect the paint and limit strong opportunities on the defensive end.
"When you can stick to your identity, it keeps you very competitive in league play."
The Yale win began a 4-2 stretch in Ivy League games, which also included a home win over preseason favorite Penn, a victory at Harvard and home win over Columbia. The Big Green later defeated eventual Sweet 16 team Princeton at home and topped Harvard for a second time, Dartmouth's third straight win over the Crimson.
What started to work for the Big Green?Big-time win for the Big Green on Saturday, who closed their season with an 87-82 Senior Day win over Harvard, making history on multiple fronts!
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) March 5, 2023
Full Coverage ⤵️
🔗: https://t.co/6GxeTtLFHj#TheWoods🌲 | #GoBigGreen pic.twitter.com/oNuFbhOKr6
"You're competitive to the point where you're not just in every game, but also winning games, winning games on the road and beating the top programs in the league," said McLaughlin. "There was a belief that we're talented and we're good, and we could beat anyone. We could win these games consistently, we could win on the road or at home, and could put ourselves in position to hopefully play in the postseason in this league."
Individually, Dame Adelekun was named second team All-Ivy and All-District. He was named Ivy League Player of the Week during the season after tying a Stabler Arena record with 41 points vs. Columbia. Brandon Mitchell-Day and Jackson Munro were also named Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Jan. 17 and Mar. 6, respectively.
To keep the momentum going, the Big Green know the importance of having great summers.
"Because of league rules, we couldn't have them on campus this summer, so they need to have great ownership over their process and need to be able to hold each other accountable and work hard," said McLaughlin. "We need to be in the best shape we've been in since I've been here coming back on September 14 when the fall semester starts.
"If we're in the best shape, it's going to give us a foundation to build what we want to build this coming season."
What the Big Green are building is in the works, but there's a lot of reason for excitement. They lose Adelekun, along with another starter in Cam Krystkowiak to graduation, but return 12 players who have seen significant playing time.
"Out of those 12, we had seven returning players who led us in scoring in a game last season and that's unique," said McLaughlin. "That is a factor of playing a lot of guys. If you look at our rotation of nine, we're returning seven of our top nine. That says a lot about our program."
It's nice to return so much experience, but so does the rest of the Ivy League.
"The league is returning a lot next year," said McLaughlin. "We can't be happy or content. The whole league has a chance to be that much better next year, so our work ethic is going to be incredibly important."
The Big Green do have one advantage — a longer spring term that ran into June, due to Dartmouth being on trimesters.
"You have to play to your strengths," said McLaughlin. "One of our strengths is that our guys are here a little longer, so we were still in workouts at the end of May, which is terrific. You can build foundational habits, you can talk about some offense and defensive keys and you can build skill levels to help them develop many different areas of their games."
The Big Green also made strides in the weight room.
"A lot of our guys hit PRs, whether it's explosive movements or things in the weight room," said McLaughlin. "You have to take advantage of it because when we come back in the fall, we start later than everyone else with only a few days until the first day of Division I practice."
As a group, Dartmouth men's basketball will in many ways look the same, but different at the same time. Some key pieces were lost, but plenty of talent is poised to fill into enhanced roles.Begin your week by taking a look back to last week's combine testing 😤💨#MondayMotivation | #TheWoods🌲 pic.twitter.com/ArGo4PhXsH
— Dartmouth Men's Basketball (@DartmouthMBB) May 22, 2023
One word from McLaughlin to describe the feeling among the group is competitive.
"There is a belief present," said McLaughlin. "The emergence of leadership is going to be very important. It's a group that's willing to hold each other accountable, which I appreciate."
Internally, the Big Green talk about the team as an organism.
"If one piece of that organism isn't healthy, it's going to hurt the body or the culture of the team," said McLaughlin. "We talk about when there's something on your mind, express it. Don't be afraid to hold yourself or your teammates accountable. We can talk about anything; there's not going to be any dry wood that can start fires. That must totally define us as a group."
As a group, the Big Green are focused on working towards their goal of moving up the standings into Ivy Madness.
"Everything we did this spring — all the communication that we had with our guys, everything we're doing this summer, everything we're preparing as a staff to study and evaluate our team, and all the relationship building with our guys — is putting us in a position to be top four in the league," said McLaughlin.
"That is the goal, and anything that's going to prevent us from getting there, we're going to talk about that right away and figure out how to change and counteract it so we can turn it in our favor."
Success for McLaughlin is tied to wins and losses, but he's also heavily invested in the process, the growth of the student-athletes, which is evident from this current group of Big Green.
It's a group that has grown and improved tremendously, on and off the court, during their careers.
And in the end, that continues to be a goal of McLaughlin's as well.
"When you look back in five, 10, 15 years, it's not so much about the specific games," he said. "It's about the relationship you have with the players, it's about the stories you're telling, the weddings that you're at and the children that you meet. It's the extension of how they're now active alumni in the program for the current players."
The Dartmouth men's basketball program's core values are expressed through the acronym "Be A Pro," which stands for Belief, Excellence, Accountability, Positivity, Relationships and Ownership.
As McLaughlin said, "We want guys to learn life lessons, become better because of the experience and have this experience set them up for foundational success in their lives."
Players Mentioned
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