“How does Yale out-rebound Baylor?”. Makai Mason stepped into a starring role in his first appearance at the big dance, scoring 31 points thanks in part to an 11-of-11 performance at the free throw line.
Advertisement
Yale (23-6) earned its first NCAA Tournament victory. He added that the problem is not limited to Yale, and that multiple other universities, including some whose men’s basketball teams are in the NCAA Tournament, are facing similar cases at their schools. No. 12 seed Yale defeated heavily favored Baylor in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday setting up Saturday’s Duke-Yale matchup. It came in its first appearance since 1962.
“We got in the locker room, and we said, ‘We have 20 more minutes to make a statement, ‘” said Sears, who scored all 12 of his points in his final collegiate game in the second half.
“It’s obviously great, right?” Now our guys will digest this and think and go, gosh, if we would have played a better first half, maybe we would have had a better opportunity.
But his role as stopper/helper/rebounder has been one of the big reasons the Bulldogs won their first outright Ivy League crown in 54 years this season. Stopping in front a cheering throng of Yale fans, he slammed both hands down on the scorer’s table before again lifting his arms high. No team from the Ivy League has reached the Sweet 16 since Cornell did so in 2010….
The West Region’s No. 4 seed, Duke led by as many as 27 points in the battle of the brainy schools before seeing that dwindle to just three points with less than a minute to play. The Bulldogs advance to face fourth-seeded Duke on Saturday. Grayson Allen and Marshall Plumlee were too much to handle with 23 points apiece with a combined 18 rebounds.
Brandon Sherrod led the 12th-seeded Bulldogs with 22 points.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever had to guard somebody who shoots 43 threes”, Lady Bears head coach Kim Mulkey said. I hope the ball deflates and water gets on the court and they call the game on account of rain. “We knew that she was going come out and she was going to be on her A-game”.
“It’s easy for him to move on, which I definitely understand”, Mason said.
“I told them how proud I was of them because, especially in this tournament, teams lose those games”, said Coach K. “I mean, we see it. The tournament is only three days old”. “Luckily, I was able to knock it down”. Baylor was able to make it close in the second half, cutting actually taking a 40-39 lead out of the break.
On November 25th of this year, just three days after a brutal one point loss to SMU in Dallas, Yale visited the Duke Blue Devils to play a game in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Johnathan Motley finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. With role players Phills, Blake Reynolds and Sam Downey combining to go 5-for-8 for 13 points, it required just about the entire roster.
Yale played a chunk of the second half without Sears and Brandon Sherrod after both picked up their fourth fouls.
The Bulldogs led by as many as 13 points in the second half before having its lead cut to 1 point.
They had to be smiling in Eugene watching Duke struggle with Yale’s press because Oregon’s trapping defense is top 50 in the nation in turnover percentage and features more speed and athleticism than the Bulldogs could throw at the Blue Devils. As the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports, it is UALR’s “second NCAA Tournament victory and first in 30 years”. He slipped on his way to the basket, turning it over. In order to help students get to the game – 109 miles from campus – Yale athletics offered subsidized tickets and transportation to the venue. Only seven players saw action in Thursday’s game.
Advertisement
Among those who watched the win in person: expelled captain Jack Montague, who was dismissed last month because of a sexual assault allegation. Yale is one of the best rebounding teams in the country and has the potential to exploit one of Duke’s biggest weaknesses. From 2008-2014, number 12 seeds have a winning record against 5 seeds in the tournament winning 15 of 28 matchups.
