Since the institution of the Ivy League Tournament in 2017, Yale has won half of the six championships, including three of the last four. (There was no championship in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID).
The Bulldogs (7-6, 0-0) look to continue the trend when they open their Ivy League season at home on Saturday against potential upstart Brown (8-5, 0-0). Yale has the second highest odds to win the Ivy League regular season title, according to BetMGM, with Princeton the favorite.
Yale didn’t have the best non-conference record, but two of the losses were by a combined 11 points at the Big 10’s Minnesota and Purdue. The Bulldogs have been idle since a 93-65 home win over Howard on New Year’s Day.
Brown also had a challenging non-conference schedule, which included consecutive 34-point losses at Kansas and at Kentucky. The Bears are coming off a 98-57 home win on Jan. 5 over Division III Johnson and Wales.
One interesting common opponent for Brown and Yale is Rhode Island. Yale lost 84-78 at Rhode Island on Dec. 2. Brown earned an 84-80 double overtime home win over Rhode Island on Dec. 10.
Yale is third in the Ivy League in both scoring (81.7 ppg.) and scoring defense (70.2). Brown is sixth in scoring (73.3 ppg.) and second in scoring defense (basically tied with Yale, 70.2).
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Brown at Yale Betting Odds
Yale is a 10.5-point college basketball betting favorite on BetMGM against Brown with the Over/Under being 141.5.
The moneyline for Yale is -450 while it is +350 for Brown.
Brown at Yale On TV
The Brown at Yale game will be televised on ESPNU
The game will begin at noon ET on Saturday, Jan. 11.
Brown at Yale Prediction
I like Brown covering the points. Yale was 2-1 last year against Brown, and all three games were highly competitive, with two being ultra close. Last year, Yale won 80-70 at Brown and then lost an 84-81 overtime decision at home to the Bears.
The two then met for the Ivy League championship at Columbia and Yale won 62-61 on a buzzer-beating two-point field goal.
This season, Yale is 4-0 at home and has beaten the four teams by an average of 30.75 points. Then again, it’s been a relatively weak non-conference schedule.
The Bulldogs can clearly win this game, but that is a lot of points to give Brown.
Yale 6-6 senior John Poulakidas is leading the Ivy League in scoring with a 20.7 average after averaging 13.4 points last year. He is fourth in three-point field goal percentage (.444). Nick Townsend, a 6-7 junior, averages 13.4 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds.
Casey Simmons, a 6-7 junior, leads the Ivy League in field goal percentage (.677).
Brown 6-0 senior Kino Lilly Jr. is third in the Ivy League in scoring (19.4 ppg) and is seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.417). Landon Lewis, a 6-7 junior, averages 14.0 points, while 6-5 senior Aaron Cooley averages 11.6 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds.
As with most games, three-point shooting will be the key. Yale leads the Ivy League in three-point percentage (.396) but Brown has the Ivy’s second-best three-point defense, holding teams to a .322 clip.
Brown shoots .343 from beyond the arc, which is sixth in the Ivy League, while Yale is seventh in the Ivy League in three-point defense, allowing teams to shoot .340.
Yale has an edge on the foul line, shooting .723 while Brown is last in the Ivy League in free throw percentage (.651).
