In a showdown for first place in the Ivy League, Yale visits Harvard on Saturday. Both teams are coming off wins on Friday night.
Yale (19-4, 7-2) won its third in a row during Friday’s 83-70 win at Dartmouth.
Harvard (14-9, 7-2) earned its fourth consecutive win with Friday’s 56-53 home victory over Brown.
Yale had a balanced scoring attack in the win over Dartmouth, with seven players scoring between nine and 17 points. Trevor Mullin, a 6-foot-1 junior, had 17 points, shooting 7-for-11 from the field, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Casey Simmons, a 6-foot-7 senior, added 14 points, shooting 2-of-3 from deep. Yale shot .554 from the field, including .467 from three-point range, but was only 14-of-22 from the foul line (.636).
The key to Harvard’s win over Brown was three-point shooting. While Harvard shot just 7-for-22 from three-point range (.318), it was lights-out compared to Brown, which was 2-for-18 (.111). Harvard 6-foot-5 sophomore Robert Hinton led the Crimson with 20 points, shooting 7-for-12 from the field while making his only three-point attempt.
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On Jan. 31, Harvard won a 67-65 decision at Yale. Harvard 6-foot-4 sophomore Tey Barbour hit a game-winning three-pointer with three seconds remaining. Hinton led Harvard with 26 points.
Yale has set the recent standard in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs have been to consecutive NCAA tournaments and have been in three in the past four years.
The Ivy League tournament consists of only the top four teams, but both Harvard and Yale appear likely to earn a berth. They hold a two-game lead over Cornell and Penn, who are tied for third, and a three-game lead over Dartmouth and Princeton, who are tied for fifth.
Yale at Harvard Odds
As of this writing, Yale is a 4.5-point college basketball betting favorite against Harvard.
The Over/Under is 141.5.
Yale at Harvard On TV
Tipoff for Yale at Harvard is expected to begin shortly after 6:30 p.m.
The game will be televised by ESPNU.
Yale at Harvard Prediction
I like Harvard at home getting the points. This will be Yale’s second road game in two nights, while Harvard was home on Friday. Harvard is 7-3 at home, but Yale is 7-2 on the road.
Still, Harvard is playing its best ball of the season. The four-game winning streak is the longest this year for the Crimson.
Yale is the second-leading scoring team in the Ivy League, averaging 83.7 PPG. Harvard is the best defensive team, allowing opponents to score 67.4 points. Yale allows 71.3 points per game, while Harvard averages 70.6.
Yale is the Ivy League’s top three-point shooting team at .418. Harvard shoots .367 from deep. Harvard is holding teams to a .316 percentage from three-point range, while Yale allows a .347 clip. These are the top two free-throw shooting teams in the Ivy League, with Harvard at .800 and Yale shooting .762. Yale has a 1.91 turnover margin compared to 0.35 from Harvard.
Yale is just sixth in the Ivy League in rebounding, averaging 35.2, while Harvard is eighth and last with a 31.4 average.
Hinton, the Ivy League Rookie of the Year last season, leads Harvard with a 17.4 scoring average. During the four-game winning streak, he is averaging 21.1 points, while shooting 27-for-50 from the field (.540), including 4-of-8 (.500) from three-point range and 29-of-34 from the foul line (.852).
Nick Townsend, a 6-foot-7 senior, leads Yale in both scoring (17.0 PPG) and rebounding (7.9).
