FAIRFIELD at YALE
Wed., Dec. 6 – 7 p.m.
John J. Lee Amphitheater
ESPN+ Video | Live Stats | Tickets | Game Notes
 
COLBY-SAWYER at YALE
Fri., Dec. 8 – 7 p.m.
John J. Lee Amphitheater
ESPN+ Video | Live Stats | Tickets
 
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – For the first time this season, the Yale men's basketball team will play back-to-back games in the friendly confines of the John J. Lee Amphitheater. First up is a visit from Fairfield on Wednesday followed by a matchup against Colby-Sawyer on Friday. Both games are 7 p.m. tips and will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
FOOD DRIVE
 
Yale Athletics is hosting a food drive at men's and women's home games through Dec. 9 to benefit  Loaves & Fishes in New Haven. Fans who bring non-perishable food items to the game will receive a free ticket to a future Yale basketball game.
 
YOUTH NIGHT
 
Friday's game against Colby-Sawyer is Youth Night at Lee Amphitheater. Children 12-and-under receive free admission.
 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
 
• Yale is 2-0 at home this season with victories over Vassar in the season opener and Stony Brook last Wednesday. Since the start of the 2014-15 season, the Bulldogs have posted an 83-16 (.838) record at Lee Amphitheater.
 
• When Yale and Fairfield met last year at Leo D. Mahoney Arena, it was the Bulldogs' first game against an in-state opponent since the 2016-17 season. Yale knocked off the Stags a year ago and has now won 12 straight games against Connecticut opponents, including a 45-44 win at UConn in 2014. The Bulldogs won't have to wait long for their next game against an in-state school. They play at Quinnipiac next Monday night.
 
• Danny Wolf and Nick Townsend were both named to the Ivy League Honor Roll on Monday. Wolf had 15 points, a career-high 16 rebounds, two blocks and a handful of altered shots in Saturday's game at Vermont. Wolf has scored in double figures in six straight games and posted a pair of double-doubles in the stretch. Townsend scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, both career highs, in last Wednesday's 79-71 win over Stony Brook.
 
• Bez Mbeng, who leads the team in scoring (15.0 ppg.), has scored 18 points in each of the last four games. Mbeng also leads the team with 27 assists and is second in rebounding (5.2 rpg.). He had a double-double (18 points, 12 rebounds) in Yale's win over Gardner-Webb.
 
• Four Bulldogs average double figures in scoring – Mbeng (15.0 ppg.), Wolf (13.1 ppg.), John Poulakidas (11.0 ppg.) and Matt Knowling (10.9 ppg.).
 
• The Bulldogs are coming off a highly successful 2022-23 season that saw them win 21 games, share the Ivy League title with Princeton and advance to the postseason National Invitation Tournament.
 
• Yale is the Ivy League favorite. The Bulldogs were selected first in the league's official preseason media poll, released in October. Yale, which had 124 points, received 14 of the 16 first-place votes. The other two first-place votes went to Princeton, which had 110 points and is projected to finish second. Cornell (80 points) is third followed by Brown (77), Penn (68), Harvard (66), Dartmouth (28) and Columbia (23).
 
• The Bulldogs are in the midst of the most successful era in the long history of the program. Over the last eight seasons, Yale has posted an 84-28 (.750) Ivy League record, won five Ivy championships, two Ivy League Tournament titles and earned three NCAA Tournament berths, including notching the first NCAA victory in school history – over Baylor in 2016. Yale also was set to appear in the NCAA Tournament in 2020 but it was canceled due to the pandemic.
 
HISTORY LESSONS
 
The Bulldogs have won each of the last two meetings with Fairfield, 77-64 last year in Fairfield and 70-57 in 2015 at Central Connecticut in the Connecticut 6 Classic. In last year's game, Yale trailed 29-24 at halftime but outscored the Stags 53-35 in the second half. Mbeng scored a then career-high 20 points, and Yussif Basa-Ama grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds. Fairfield's last trip to Lee Amphitheater was in 2005, a 60-57 Yale victory. The first meeting between the teams was in 1977. Fairfield leads the all-time series 13-11.
 
Yale and Colby-Sawyer are playing for the first time.
 
SCOUTING FAIRFIELD
 
The Stags (2-6, 1-1 Ivy) opened MAAC play last weekend, splitting games against Iona (78-67 loss) and Rider (88-81 win). Five players scored in double figures to spark the victory at MAAC preseason favorite Rider. Jalen Leach paced the scoring with 22 points, while Peyton Smith notched his first career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Leach (12.5 ppg.) and Smith (10.3 ppg.) both average double figures in scoring. Fairfield was picked to finish sixth in the MAAC preseason poll.
 
SCOUTING COLBY-SAWYER
 
Colby-Sawyer, which plays at Wesleyan on Wednesday night, has a 4-4 overall record. The Chargers have three players averaging double figures in scoring – Jaquan Mosley (12.8 ppg.), Cha'Mar Martin (11.9 ppg.) and Chaz Cullum (10.9 ppg.).