By Connor Wilson (@Conman_815)
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Everyone remembers Yale’s historic season a year ago in which the Bulldogs advanced in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history after defeating Auburn. It’s also hard to forget the game winner that Matt Knowling hit in the Ivy League championship game against Brown.
Even in a season you’ll never forget, you still have to move on. That’s the Bulldogs’ exact mindset heading into the 2024-25 season.
“Our season last year is, honestly, entirely behind us,” John Poulakidas said. “We’re going into this season with a completely new mindset knowing there’s a target on our backs.”
Poulakidas and the rest of this year’s rendition of Yale did just that on opening night, defeating crosstown rival Quinnipiac, 88-62, on Monday in New Haven.
“Really good win for our program,” Yale head coach James Jones said. “It’s hard a lot of the time to know what you’re gonna be like at the start of the year."
A major reason for the wide margin of victory was the hot starts the Bulldogs got off to in each half. In the first half, Yale led 16-5 before the first media timeout and in the second half, went on a 10-2 run to push a 12-point lead up to 20 quickly.
“I was very impressed with the way we started the game,” Jones said. “It’s a great compliment to you as a team when the other team has to switch to zone because they can’t guard you man-to-man.”
The Bulldogs may have lost a lot of talent, such as August Mahoney to graduation and a pair of transfers in the aforementioned Knowling to USC and star big man Danny Wolf to Michigan. Nonetheless, Jones once again seems to have a group that will be competitive for an Ivy title.
“We lost a lot of guys from last year’s team,” Jones said.
“We lose a large chunk of our production scoring-wise, but we have a lot of guys ready to step it up,” Poulakidas added.
One player that stepped it up and will end up becoming a household name rather quickly for Yale fans is freshman Isaac Celiscar. The Winter Haven, Florida native made an instant impact in the opener, scoring 18 points off the bench and finishing with a team high eight rebounds.
Celiscar played a lot of small-ball four for Jones, bringing great physicality both down low and on the glass. At one point early in the second half, he flushed down a jam to cap off a massive Bulldog run that forced Quinnipiac head coach Tom Pecora to call timeout.
“I was hyped of course,” Celiscar said after his dunk. “I love dunking the ball.”
“I remember watching him play and thinking, ‘that kid’s pretty good, not sure if we can get him here,’” Jones said. “Fortunately, we did. He’s one of the most competitive people I’ve ever met.”
Not many freshmen come into Yale and play 25 minutes in their first game. Jones usually goes with smaller rotations, especially once Ivy League play arrives. After his performance on Monday, it’s a safe bet Celiscar will be one to have his name called.
“He’s not Matt Knowling, he’s different,” Jones said. “He’s extremely effective as Matt was, but just in a different way. I saw him as the guy playing the four that is a really difficult guard.”
Celiscar was one of four Bulldogs in double figures. Poulakidas had 19, Nick Townsend had 14 and Bez Mbeng finished with 17.
“Bez and I have assumed the leadership roles as the two seniors who have been starters for the past few years,” Poulakidas said.
From the opening tip, it just felt like Yale wanted it more than Quinnipiac did. They outrebounded the Bobcats, 49-27, and continuously did the little things at the right time.
“We knew they were going to come after us,” Townsend said. “We worked on getting them out of (the paint) and I feel like we were able to execute pretty well.”
It helped the Bulldogs that Quinnipiac struggled offensively for most of the game early on. The Bobcats seemed to be searching for answers every possession, most of which ended in an Amarri Monroe shot attempt. Monroe went 9-for-22 from the field and 1-of-9 from deep, many of those threes late in the shot clock.
At the end of the day, one last jolt from the starters led Yale to its first win of the year.
“We did a great job defensively tonight,” Jones said. “I thought our guys rotated well. They talked, they communicated well. That connectivity we had tonight was really good.”
Despite making easy work with a talented Quinnipiac team, the schedule doesn’t lighten up for Yale at all over the next week. The Bulldogs travel to Chicago for a Poulakidas homecoming game against UIC on Friday before taking on Purdue at Mackey Arena on Monday.
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