By Connor Wilson (@Conman_815)
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — If I were to have told you last spring that Yale, a program fresh off advancing in the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in school history, would be a better team the following year after losing Danny Wolf, Matt Knowling and August Mahoney, would you have believed me?
You probably shouldn’t have. I personally wouldn’t have believed it myself.
Well, here we are.
After trailing by as many as 15 in the first half, Yale marched back and defeated Cornell, 92-88, to stay a perfect 10-0 in Ivy League play and clinch the program’s first outright regular season title since 2019-20.
“It felt like all season long that we had a chance to be special,” head coach James Jones said. “This team right now is good enough to be undefeated. We’ve lost six games, but any of the six, I think we could have won.”
Clinching a regular season title after just 10 games is also a record for Yale, being the fastest the program has hoisted the Ivy trophy.
A common theme all season for Yale has been players stepping up in big games and big moments who didn’t have much of an opportunity to do so a year ago. On Friday, it was two players: Nick Townsend and Casey Simmons.
Townsend scored 24 points and hit a career-high four threes, setting the tempo for the Bulldogs’ second half comeback. He also grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out five assists, leaving his fingerprints on every single possession on both ends of the floor.
“I thought we didn’t bring enough physicality in the first half, so that was a big focus,” Townsend said. “I don’t play a pretty style of basketball. I’ll take the grit and grind for sure.”
“Nick’s presence in the paint and on both ends of the floor with his ability to make shots, sometimes I’m sure you all are wondering how the hell they go in the basket,” Jones said. “Just his toughness and skill. Having a double-double and also having five assists, just a brilliant game.”
Playing Cornell is a welcome sight for Townsend, as earlier this month, he scored a career-best 25 against the Big Red in Ithaca.
“I try to approach each game the same and take what they give me,” Townsend said. “If it’s scoring, it’s scoring.”
Simmons, on the other hand, registered arguably the best performance of his college basketball career. The two-way wing scored a career-high 21 points with some timely buckets, but more importantly, was able to limit Cornell’s Cooper Noard on the offensive end. Noard scored 28 points in the Big Red’s loss to Yale last time the teams played, but was held to just two points and no field goals Friday.
“I was very keen on not letting Cooper Noard score a lot of points,” Simmons said. “That was my main focus tonight, so I was happy about that.”
In the first half, the Big Red jumped out to a quick double-digit lead thanks to some lights-out scoring from Jake Fiegen early on. The Cornell sophomore scored a career-high 23 points, including 19 in the early portion of the first half. AK Okereke also had a career day, scoring 30 points and giving the Bulldogs fits both inside and out.
The lead hit 15 right before the 4-minute media timeout at 40-25, but Yale quickly went on a 12-2 run to make it just a five-point game at the half. On a night where senior leaders John Poulakidas and Bez Mbeng struggled to score the ball, it was important for the Bulldogs to make that late first-half push to make things more competitive going into the second half.
“What’s great about our team is if John goes 2-for-11 (from three), then he goes 8-for-11 (the next game), it’s scary how good we are,” Jones said. “You’re not gonna get a great night by everyone every single night, it just doesn’t happen.”
Yale poured in 55 points in the second half and was able to end up on top at the end after some clutch shot making from Poulakidas and Townsend. The crowd at Payne Whitney Gymnasium was as loud as it’s been all season during a sequence in which Simmons blocked a shot off the glass and ran in transition with Mbeng to throw down a slam on the other end to increase the Bulldog lead late.
On the surface, it's clear that the win means the rest of the regular season doesn’t matter too much for the Bulldogs. Even if they were to lose the rest of their games, they’d still be the No. 1 seed in Ivy Madness in Providence. But Jones and his players realize something more is at stake: A chance to be the first Yale team in history to go undefeated in conference play.
“It’s a great night tonight, but we all agree we have a bigger goal,” Townsend said. “We want to win the (Ivy) tournament, keep going undefeated, then do some damage in the NCAA Tournament. We know we have a lot of work to do. We’re not satisfied yet.”
“There’s never been a Yale basketball team that’s been undefeated,” Jones added. “We have another opportunity tomorrow to continue this run.”
As Jones said, the Bulldogs are right back in action Saturday night, when they host Columbia looking to continue their push at history. Tip is set for 7 p.m. in New Haven.
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