Mullin’s career day fuels Yale to 10th win

By Connor Wilson (@Conman_815)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — For years, well four to be exact, the point guard position at Yale was among the most secure in the country.

Bez Mbeng played in 120 games over his four-year career in New Haven, the second-highest number in program history. He’s second in total assists. First in total steals. The identity of Yale basketball so far this decade has been Bez Mbeng.

And that just scratches the surface. Whoever was tasked with the lead ball handling duties for James Jones has massive shoes to fill taking over for one of the program’s best.

Insert Trevor Mullin.

The now-junior guard sat behind Mbeng for his freshman year before serving as his primary backup last season. The Wellesley, Massachusetts native had appeared in 40 games, making four starts heading into this season, and has high expectations to be the lead distributor on a team looking to make its third consecutive NCAA Tournament this March.

“I lived with Bez for a summer and worked out with him every day,” Mullin said. “He was my roommate on the road my freshman year and my sophomore year. I just took little pieces from his IQ every day and, when the four-time Defensive Player of the Year is guarding you in practice, you definitely tend to get a little bit better.”

Mullin had the best game of his Bulldog career on Sunday, when Yale defeated UIC, 80-66 in John J. Lee Amphitheater, scoring 22 points and knocking down four three-pointers to fuel the victory. After just two games in double figures over his first two seasons with the Bulldogs, Mullin already has four such games this year and has shown great growth.

“I think overall (I’ve grown by) just being the point guard,” Mullin said. “Working with our bigs and learning where they want the ball, learning where they don’t want the ball, I’m kind of just understanding my teammates more.”

With the other four starters for the Bulldogs this year consisting of three returners to the lineup in Nick Townsend, Samson Aletan and Casey Simmons, as well as last year’s sixth man Isaac Celiscar, naturally, the most questions were surrounding Mullin and the point guard spot as a whole.

“I expect Trevor to have multiple games like that, he’s committed to his craft and works really hard on what he does,” Jones said.

The 9-1 start to the season in Mullin’s first as a starter is actually a better 10-game start than any of the past four years with Mbeng running the ship. Part of that could be credited to a lighter schedule so far compared to past slates with no power conference matchups yet, but it is an interesting exercise nonetheless.

Mullin controlled the tempo in the Bulldogs’ win over the Flames, picking the right time to attack and scoring in a multitude of ways. In the first half, he knocked down all four of his threes and was the main source of offense. The junior hadn’t hit more than two triples in any game in his career before this first-half explosion. It was during that stretch he knew he was going to have a big day.

“My first two shots went in, and everyone knows as a shooter, your confidence goes up from there,” Mullin said. “I was getting more shots and my teammates were finding me.”

The free throw line was where Mullin thrived in the second half, knocking down six of eight attempts from the charity stripe. It was Celiscar and Townsend who chipped in timely buckets inside. Early on in the first half, the Flames were limiting looks inside with a physical zone that forced the Bulldogs to settle from the perimeter. The second half looked completely different.

“We made it a point to try and go inside (in the second half),” Jones said. “It’s a big strength of our team, with the size of Samson and Nick and Isaac in and around the basket. It opens up so much.”

The Flames went over six minutes into the second half before scoring, and in that time, Yale built its lead to double digits for the first time. The two sides went back and forth a bit in the second stanza, but once the lead got to 10 for the Bulldogs, it never dropped lower than six. 

A technical foul on UIC head coach Robert Ehsan with three minutes to play, as well as a hard foul that got guard Ahmad Henderson ejected with 1:11 to play, combined to give Yale four extra free throws, and by that point, the game was all but decided. Led by a career night from Mullin, Yale joined Duke as the only two Division I programs to reach the 10-win mark on the still relatively young season.

“They played pretty hard,” Mullin said. “We stayed composed through that and handled it well.”

The Bulldogs are back in action on Wednesday for a matchup against Albany at the MassMutual Center as a part of the 2025 MGM Springfield Basketball Hall of Fame Classic.