Big Green Return Home to Host Yale Saturday in Ivy League Home Opener

Saturday, January 20

Hanover, N.H.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Yale

Tickets

Men's Basketball Diving to Floor Jaren Johnson

Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Big Green Return Home to Host Yale Saturday in Ivy League Home Opener

1/19/2024 10:41:00 AM | Men's Basketball

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Dartmouth stands 4-2 at home this season

By: Justin Lafleur

GAME 16
Dartmouth (4-11, 0-2 Ivy League) vs. Yale (11-6, 2-0 Ivy League)
Date: Saturday, January 20, 2024 – 2 p.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H. – Leede Arena
All-Time Series: Yale, 121-99

Setting the Scene
The Dartmouth men's basketball team returns home after more than a month on the road when the Big Green welcome Yale for their Ivy League home opener Saturday. Opening tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+. Dartmouth will look to get back on track, having lost four straight, all on the road. The Big Green also look to improve on their 4-2 home record this season.

Following Saturday's game will be a postgame shootaround for fans on the Leede Arena floor.

Last time out, Dartmouth dropped a 76-58 final at Princeton on Monday. After the Tigers jumped out to a 25-10 lead, the Big Green held a 42-36 edge over the game's next 26:34 to very much stay in the game. Senior Dusan Neskovic knocked down two 3-pointers in the span of 37 seconds to pull Dartmouth within single digits at 61-52, with 6:04 still on the clock. That's as close as the Big Green would come, however, as the Tigers ended the game on a 15-6 run.

Sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day led the Big Green with 15 points, while senior Izaiah Robinson scored a career-high 13 off the bench, and Neskovic added 12. Robinson saw increased minutes with junior Ryan Cornish out due to injury, and sophomore Jayden Williams leaving the game with an injury. Robinson seized the opportunity, also recording a career-high two blocks.

As a team, the Big Green had just 10 turnovers, but Princeton finished with only five. Dartmouth shot 41.2 percent from 3-point range (7-of-17), its second highest percentage of the season (only behind its 42.4 percent vs. New Hampshire when the Big Green were 14-of-33). Neskovic connected on 3-of-5 against Princeton while Robinson was 2-of-7. Junior Romeo Myrthil and first-year Patrick Tivnan Jr. hit the only threes they took. In two of the last three games, Neskovic has connected on 50 percent or better from three, also shooting 4-of-8 at Vanderbilt. Prior to the Vanderbilt game, he shot 50 percent or better from three just once in his first eight games.

The Big Green are hoping some home cooking can get them back on track. Dartmouth will play its next four games at home. After Yale, the Big Green host Brown next Saturday before welcoming Cornell and Columbia the first weekend of February.

Dartmouth stands 4-11 on the season, ironically the same overall record heading into its game at Yale last January. The Big Green picked up a hard-fought 81-77 road win in that contest, propelling them to four wins in six games to put themselves squarely in the Ivy League Tournament mix.

With a win...
- The Big Green would beat Yale at home for the first time since Mar. 7, 2015, a 59-58 win, which would snap a seven-game home losing streak.
- Dartmouth would beat Yale for a second time in three tries for the first time since 2014-15 when the Big Green won 69-61 on the road on Mar. 8, 2014 and 59-58 at home on Mar. 7, 2015.
- The Big Green would beat Yale for the 100th time in program history.
- Dartmouth would improve to 5-2 at home this season, its best home mark after seven games since 2018-19 when the Big Green began 7-1 at home.
- Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin would win his 250th career game as a collegiate head coach (including his time at Stonehill).

Last Time Out
PRINCETON, N.J. (1/15/24) — Hot shooting in the early going helped Princeton open a 25-10 lead, but the Dartmouth men's basketball team wouldn't quit, pulling as close as nine in the second half before falling short, 76-58 on Monday afternoon inside Jadwin Gymnasium. Two Dusan Neskovic 3-pointers in 37 seconds pulled the Big Green within single digits at 61-52 with 6:04 still remaining, but the Tigers ended the game on a 15-6 run to erase any doubt.

Scouting Yale
Yale stands 11-6 on the season and 2-0 in the Ivy League heading into Saturday's matchup at Dartmouth. The Bulldogs have won five in a row and six-of-seven, with the only loss coming at Kansas, 75-60. Yale's Ivy League wins have come at Brown (80-70) and over Columbia (89-70). The Bulldogs are 4-1 at home, 5-4 on the road and 2-1 at neutral sites.

Forward Danny Wolf has emerged as a sophomore, averaging 14.4 points and 9.5 rebounds. He was named to the Lou Henson Award Mid-Season Watch List, among the top mid-major players in Division I. Wolf is one of four Bulldogs to average double-figure points, along with Bez Mbeng (13.5), John Poulakidas (12.6) and Matt Knowling (10.5). Mbeng's 63 assists lead the team while Wolf's 27 blocks are also first. Poulakidas stands 11th in the nation in 3-point percentage (45.3).

All-Time Against the Bulldogs
Last season, Dartmouth won at Yale, 81-77, to snap a 12-game losing streak in the series. Dusan Neskovic led the way with a career-high 24 points, shooting 7-of-10 from 3-point range, including 4-of-4 from 3-point range. Ryan Cornish added 18. The Big Green's previous win against the Bulldogs was on Mar. 7, 2015 in Hanover via a 59-58 final. The year prior, Dartmouth also picked up a 69-61 win at Yale on Mar. 8, 2014. Dartmouth won the first-ever meeting, 22-15 on Feb. 9, 1901, and the Big Green won six of the first eight meetings all-time.

Taking Down the (BU) Terriers
Dartmouth beat Boston University, 63-54, on Wednesday, Dec. 13.

- The Big Green held the Terriers to their fewest points in the all-time series since a 64-53 Dartmouth win on Jan. 27, 1962 —19 games ago.
- Junior Romeo Myrthil was the story offensively for the Big Green, scoring a career-high 18 points on just seven field goal attempts (making five). He was 3-of-4 from 3-point range, including two 3-pointers as part of Dartmouth's 9-0 run to turn a 39-39 tie into a 48-39 lead. Thursday (Dec. 14) was Myrthil's birthday, but his home country of Sweden is six hours ahead of the Eastern time zone, so Myrthil's career performance came on his birthday… in Sweden.
- Dartmouth's 54 points allowed marked a season best.
- The win snapped Dartmouth's three-game losing streak against the Terriers and marked only the Big Green's second victory in their last six tries in the series.

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).

Granite State Supremacy
On Wednesday, Dec. 6, Dartmouth took as much as a 23-point second-half lead over UNH, easily cruising past the Wildcats, 76-64. Sophomore Jayden Williams led the offense with a career-high 28 points, knocking down eight 3-pointers on just 10 attempts; it marked Dartmouth's fifth straight game with a 20-point scorer.

The win came over a UNH team that entered 6-3 and without the Big Green's top two scorers due to injury, senior Dusan Neskovic and sophomore Brandon Mitchell-Day. Williams' eight 3-pointers were just one from tying a program record and tied for the fifth most made threes in the nation this season. It was the most made triples by a Dartmouth player since Brendan Barry knocked down eight on Dec. 14, 2018 against Boston University. Williams also set career highs in rebounds (5), assists (4) and blocks (2) to help him earn Ivy League Player of the Week honors.

As a team, the Big Green knocked down a season-high 14 3-pointers. Dartmouth did not turn the ball over until 5:41 into the second half, finishing with just five, which were its fewest since also having five on Dec. 19, 2021 at Cal. UNH had just seven turnovers, as both teams took care of the basketball. The Big Green finished with 19 assists, a season high and most since last season's finale vs. Harvard.

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 non-conference 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 non-conference opponent at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium since Kevon Harris of Stephen F. Austin had 26 on Nov. 26, 2019.

Scoring Output
Seven different Big Green players have led the team in scoring this season.

Dusan Neskovic: 6 - at Duke (11/6), at Saint Louis (11/25), at Vermont (11/29), vs. UAlbany (12/2), at Sacred Heart (12/21), at Vanderbilt (tied) (12/30)
Brandon Mitchell-Day: 3 - vs. Westfield State (11/15), at Vanderbilt (tied) (12/30), at Princeton (1/15)
Jaren Johnson: 2 - vs. UMass Lowell (11/10), at Le Moyne (tied) (12/16)
Ryan Cornish: 2 - vs. Marist (12/9), at Penn (1/6)
Jayden Williams: 1 - vs. New Hampshire (12/6)
Romeo Myrthil: 1 - vs. Boston University (12/13)
Connor Christensen: 1 - vs. Thomas College (12/18)
Nikola Dimitrijevic: 1 - at Le Moyne (tied) (12/16)

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).

Sustained Success
Since Feb. 17, 2022, the Big Green own the fifth best record in the league in Ivy League games (regular season or postseason).

Princeton: 18-5
Yale: 17-6
Penn: 11-10
Cornell: 11-10
Dartmouth: 10-11
Brown: 9-11
Harvard: 7-14
Columbia: 2-18

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's game can be seen live on ESPN+, with Brett Franklin and Lori McBride on the call. An audio broadcast will also be available on DartmouthSports.com with Steve Goldberg on the call.

What's Ahead?
Dartmouth returns to action next Saturday, Jan. 20 to host Brown at 2 p.m.