The Bulldogs hadn’t played in the Big Dance since 1962, and had never won a game in tournament history.
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Yale kept chipping away and a tip-in by Sears off a missed free throw by Sherrod made it 67-64 with just 39 seconds to play.
Playing in front of what amounted to a home crowd – and the ex-captain whose dismissal from school threw their season into chaos – the No. 12 seed Yale Bulldogs beat No. 5 Baylor 79-75 in the first round of the NCAA tournament at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center Thursday. “I’m not going to live and die by the three”. Victor’s likely to be matched up against freshman Brandon Ingram, who if it weren’t for LSU’s Ben Simmons would likely be the consensus top National Basketball Association pick in June.
The talent of Ingram and Allen were too much for UNC Wilmington, and the future pros could ruin Yale’s run. “And every time that it gets tight, someone steps up to get something done, so I have great confidence in my team”. Last month, the team showed support for Montague by putting his nickname, “Gucci”, on T-shirts they wore before a nationally televised game against Harvard. No players in that conference have athletic scholarships. Eventually, they came back.
One game does not a champion make, but Baylor certainly looked like a legitimate contender in dominating a 16th-seeded Idaho team that was coming off a Big Sky Tournament title. Mason also added six rebounds and four assists to his stats against the Bears.
The top-seeded Cavaliers beat 16th-seeded Hampton 81-45 on Thursday in the first round of the Midwest Regional after Bennett collapsed in the final seconds of the first half.
“I kind of just felt in the zone, I guess”, Mason said.
With 27 assists, Baylor set a program record for helpers in an NCAA tournament game.
A lot has changed from the first game in November, but a lot has stayed the same as well. “To have a strong mindset is important, necessary, really”. Mason scored a career-high 31 points on 9-18 from the field, including going a ideal 11-of-11 from the charity stripe to send Yale to the Round of 32. They certainly seemed loosed in that game and gave Duke an early scare.
“It’s a great opportunity for us, and we look forward to it”, Jones said of facing the Blue Devils again.
In the teams’ regular season meeting, Yale was only down two at the half before things spun out of control. “It seems like it was a really long time ago”. I remember our one senior walking off the court saying “I just got schooled by an 8th grader” after Mason hit him with a crossover leading to an easy lay up in the game’s closing minutes.
Mason ultimately bought into Jones’ vision, but Besser-with an opportunity to walk on at Duke and trips to Ivy League camps and talks with Yale coaches also under his belt-chose to be a Blue Devil.
For the No. 12 Yale Bulldogs, the game is a chance for yet another upset victory. The only negative for Duke is that they can not go very deep in their bench.
“He’s been doing this for us all year”, Jones said. “We knew from the start that we could do this”. For a number of them, it’s their first time.
Yale played a chunk of the second half without Sears and Brandon Sherrod after both picked up their fourth fouls. “This was bigger than us, and we wanted to do it for all the Yale faithful out there, and we’re happy just to pull off the W”.
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He continued on to say that he hopes the focus on the team can move back to basketball, noting that the players have had to struggle through adversity in the past several weeks.
