Category: Yale

Yale 86, Columbia 72: Sherrod Can’t Miss, Bulldog Offense Can’t Be Stopped

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – There was a time not long ago when the vaunted Yale offense was not so vaunted. In their last two games before Christmas break, the Bulldogs put up 0.94 and 0.89 points per possession in losses to Illinois and USC.

Yeah, those are BCS schools, you say? Well, in the game after finals, Yale posted 0.97 ppp against Central Connecticut, who has spent some time at No. 351 in KenPom this season and whose defense has been in the bottom five in efficiency nationally all season. The Bulldogs still won that game handily and were in the other two thanks to its defense, tops in the Ivy League last season, and by all accounts, the backbone of its Ivy challenge this season.

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Ivy League Weekly Roundup: A 3-Team Race Emerges

What Happened Last Week: The top three contenders looked the part: Columbia stayed perfect, thanks to an Alex Rosenberg buzzer-beater. Yale did the same, but not without a scare from Princeton. Cornell got a surprising road sweep, while Harvard crashed and burned. Continue reading “Ivy League Weekly Roundup: A 3-Team Race Emerges” →

Yale 79, Princeton 75: Bulldogs Show Some Flaws, But No Losses

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – So here was the scene at Lee Amphitheather with four minutes left in the highly anticipated Princeton-Yale showdown Saturday.

Brandon Sherrod, who already has a remarkable backstory involving taking a year off to travel the world singing, was 8-8 from field. Impressive enough, right? But it was Sherrod’s third straight perfect game from the field, a streak that has reached 25, one short of the NCAA all-time record. Yale had led throughout (by as much as 16 early in the second half), and Princeton’s answer to make a late comeback?

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Yale 81, Penn 58: Slow And Steady Can Still Be Efficient

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Even though it’s 2016, some people (less than you’d think, but still) don’t quite grasp the concept of being efficient, whether it be on offense or defense. So Yale, being the smart Ivy Leaguers they are, have given you a nice lesson in their first three conference games.

For instance, an 81-58 win Friday night over Penn probably stands out to you as a defensive masterpiece rather than an offensive one for the Bulldogs (12-5, 3-0), but it shouldn’t. The game was played at a plodding 63-possession pace, allowing Yale to take its time and use its size and strength to pound the young Quakers (6-10, 0-2) into submission.

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Yale 90, Brown 66: Some Week For The Sherrod Family

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Justin Sears missed a dunk and then picked up his second foul midway through the first half Friday night against Brown, which seemed to spell trouble for Yale. A couple of minutes later when Cedric Kuakumensah stepped out and hit a three, the game was tied, and visions of the only other Division I game Sears missed this season were surely dancing in many people’s head. Continue reading “Yale 90, Brown 66: Some Week For The Sherrod Family” →

Yale 77, Brown 68: No Style Points In Conference Play

NEW HAVEN, Conn. –  Conference play brings a new level of intensity, but it’s doubly so in the Ivy League, where there (for now at least) is no postseason tournament.

So it shouldn’t have been surprising that a team like Brown, which had a relatively disappointing 5-9 non-conference campaign and hasn’t had a winning Ivy season since 2007-08, would take the reset and set out to make life as difficult as possible for Ivy League favorite Yale Saturday night, especially with essentially no one else to prepare for in the past two weeks (Brown did have a game last week, but like Yale it was against Division III Daniel Webster).

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Yale 83, NJIT 65: Bulldogs Continue To Thrash Opponents

(photo courtesy: NJIT athletics)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Jack Montague finished 1-14 from the field, Justin Sears was held to just 13 points, and Brandon Sherrod was limited to just 15 minutes due to foul trouble … and Yale scored 1.30 points per possession is dismantling NJIT 83-65 at Lee Amphitheater Wednesday night.

Be afraid, Ivy League?

Yale is only 8-5, which might even be a tick behind its lofty preseason expectations, but (as Kevin Whitaker pointed out as well), when the Bulldogs find a weakness in an opponent, they are cold-hearted in their exploitation and lack of compassion.

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