Dartmouth Continues Homestand vs. Brown Saturday

Photo by: Justin Lafleur

Dartmouth Continues Homestand vs. Brown Saturday

1/26/2024 2:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Big Green eyeing first Ivy League win

By: Justin Lafleur

GAME 17
Dartmouth (4-12, 0-3 Ivy League) vs. Brown (5-13, 1-2 Ivy League)
Date: Saturday, January 27, 2024 – 2 p.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H. – Leede Arena
All-Time Series: Brown, 83-82

Setting the Scene
The Dartmouth men's basketball team closes out the month of January this Saturday when the Big Green host Brown at 2 p.m. It will be Youth Cheer Day and the Big Green's Alumni Weekend with several alumni from over the years expected to be back in Hanover. Dartmouth is searching for its first Ivy League win of the season, with Saturday being just its second home game over the Ivy slate.

Last time out, Dartmouth enjoyed a strong start against Yale, taking a 12-11 lead after two Brandon Mitchell-Day free throws, but Yale responded with a 10-0 run to take a 21-12 lead. The Big Green made a late first-half surge, behind two Ben Brown 3-pointers in the span of 2:11 to pull within 32-28. However, that's the closest that Dartmouth would come as Yale went on to score 29 of the next 33 points to open a commanding second-half lead. The Big Green made a late surge, but it was too little, too late.

Senior Dusan Neskovic led the way with 11 points, the 10th time in 12 games played that Neskovic has reached double figures this season. He continues to lead the Big Green in scoring average (14.3 points per game). Brown's career-high six points came in a career-high 21 minutes of action. Mitchell-Day scored eight points, along with a career-high four steals. Eleven of the 12 Dartmouth players to see action scored. The Big Green had six blocks for the game, two from Mitchell-Day and senior Jaren Johnson, tied for the team's second most in a game this season.

The Big Green stand 0-3 in the Ivy League, but just one game out of fourth place (currently a three-way tie between Harvard, Penn and Brown). The top four teams make Ivy Madness in March. Saturday will mark the second of four straight home games for the Big Green, who stand 4-3 at Leede Arena this season. Dartmouth will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak against Brown, having lost seven of the last eight, but looking for its sixth home win against the Bears in the last six tries.

This Saturday is Youth Cheer Day at @DartmouthMBB! Everything you need to know ⤵️

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— Dartmouth Athletics (@dartmouthsports) January 22, 2024

With a win...
- The Big Green would snap a three-game losing streak against Brown and beat the Bears for the first time since Jan. 8, 2022 at home, a 58-46 victory.
- Dartmouth would improve to 3-3 over its last six home games against Brown.
- The Big Green would pull even against Brown in the all-time series, 83-83.
- Dartmouth would improve to 5-3 at home this season, marking the second straight season it was 5-3 after eight home contests.
- Dartmouth head coach David McLaughlin would win his 250th career game as a collegiate head coach (including his time at Stonehill).

Last Time Out
HANOVER, N.H. (1/20/24) — The Dartmouth men's basketball team held a 12-11 lead just over eight minutes into Saturday's game, but Yale responded with a 10-0 run to take a nine-point lead, and the Big Green couldn't recover in a 76-51 loss inside Leede Arena. Dartmouth would pull within four with 2:31 left in the first half, but the Bulldogs scored 29 of the next 33 points, bridging the end of the first half and beginning of the second, to erase any doubt.

Scouting Brown
Brown stands 5-13 on the season and 1-2 in Ivy League play. The Bears' Ivy win came over Harvard on the road by a 74-72 final, while they've lost against Yale (80-70) and Cornell (84-83). Brown owns nonleague Division I wins over Kansas City, Rhode Island and Siena.

Kino Lilly Jr. leads the team, and Ivy League, in scoring, averaging 19.3 points per game. His 37.9 minutes per contest are also tops in the league and fourth in the nation. Nana Owusu-Anane comes in at 14.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest while Kalu Anya is also averaging double-figure points (10.2) to go with 6.5 boards. Lilly Jr.'s 53 assists lead the Bears. As a team, Brown leads the Ivy League in blocks per game (4.7), free throw attempts per contest (21.6) and offensive rebounds per game (12.28).

All-Time Against the Bears
Brown's sweep of the Big Green last season gave the Bears an 83-82 lead in the all-time series. Brown has won seven of the last eight meetings, but with a win on Saturday, Dartmouth would improve to 3-3 over its last six home games against the Bears. The teams split the season series in 2021-22, with Dartmouth winning in Hanover, 58-46, and Brown victorious in Providence, 62-60. The Big Green won the first six all-time meetings (from 1902-05) and 14 of the first 16 overall.

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: 7 - 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), vs. Yale (1/20)
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: 19-5
Yale: 18-6
Cornell: 12-10
Penn: 11-11
Dartmouth: 10-12
Brown: 9-12
Harvard: 8-14
Columbia: 2-19

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 Bob Lipman 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?
Dartmouth returns to action for two home games next weekend, hosting Cornell on Friday (Feb. 2) at 7 p.m. and Columbia on Saturday (Feb. 3) at 6 p.m.