No. 14 YALE vs. No. 3 LSU When: Thursday, 12:40 p.m. Where: VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Fla. Records: Yale 22-7, LSU 26-6 TV: TruTV Radio: Westwood One KEEP AN EYE ON SIZE MATTERS: Yale doesn’t play any team with the size and athleticism of LSU during the Ivy League season, but that doesn’t mean the Bulldogs haven’t faced similar competition. James Jones always lines up a challenging non-league slate, and that was no different this season. Yale beat Cal (in China) and Miami (in Miami), lost at Memphis in double-overtime and at Duke for the second year in a row. The previous season, Yale won at Washington and, three years ago, beat Baylor in an NCAA tourney first-round game in Providence before losing a close one to Duke. “Over the course of the seniors’ and juniors’ career, add all those teams together and they’ve played a lot of games against teams like this that we’re gonna go out and play (Thursday),” Jones said. “That experience certainly helps us. I think we know what to expect.” “We’ve prepared ourselves well,” junior Jordan Bruner added. “We had a challenging non-conference schedule. They’re just another team, another five set of guys like we are. We’re just gonna come out, play hard and see what we can do.” Jones said he watched the first half of that Baylor game on his laptop on Tuesday night and took some notes. “We played them straight-up, man-to-man, did what we do, and we were able to be successful,” the coach noted. “I’m hoping we can do the same thing (Thursday).” TROUBLE IN THE BAYOU: LSU, of course, has been rocked by the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball. Head coach Will Wade and freshman guard Javonte Smart were suspended a couple of weeks ago after Wade was heard on an FBI wiretap allegedly bragging about an offer he made to Smart as a recruit. Wade is still suspended (the team is being coached by Tony Benford), though Smart has been re-instated. “Everything’s fine,” LSU guard Tremont Waters insisted. “We don’t like to let things from the outside affect what we do in our locker room or when it’s time to play basketball. Everything’s been fine. We’ve been laughing and joking. It’s a totally new season.” Jones doesn’t believe the Tigers will be adversely affected by the controversy. “I would suspect that those kids on that team, once they get into the game and once they get on the court, all that stuff goes out the window,” he said. “As a matter of fact, it might be somewhat of a relief to them to not have to worry about answering a question or think about anything other than trying to play basketball.” HISTORY LESSON: Yale and LSU have met just once before — a 97-94 Bulldog victory over Pete Maravich & Co. at the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii on Dec. 30, 1969. This is LSU’s 22nd NCAA tournament berth and first since 2015. The Tigers earned their 11th regular-season SEC championship this year and first since 2009. It’s Yale’s fifth trip to the Big Dance and second in the last four years. PROBABLE STARTERS YALE Player Pos. PPG Alex Copeland G 13.8 Trey Phills G 7.1 Jordan Bruner F 10.2 Miye Oni G 17.6 Blake Reynolds F 11.4 LSU Player Pos. PPG Naz Reid F 13.7 Tremont Waters G 15.1 Skylar Mays G 13.4 Kavell Bigby-Williams F 7.9 Marlon Taylor G 7.0 — David Borges<doc-sep>Joey Kamm Yale launched 17 three-pointers in the first half. Only three found the bottom of the net. The Bulldogs (22–7, 10–4 Ivy) shot an uncharacteristic 10 of 34 from the field in the first half of their first round NCAA tournament match with No. 3 LSU (26–6, 16–2 SEC). Despite regaining composure after a scoreless start and eight points each from guards Alex Copeland ’19 and Azar Swain ’21, LSU’s size around the rim forced Yale beyond the arc and led the Tigers to a sizable advantage at the break. Five Tigers have scored more than five points, including 13 from guard Tremont Waters and eight from senior forward Kavell Bigby-Williams. In spite of sizable support in a fan section across the court from the Bulldog bench, Yale and its start lacked in comparison to the Tigers’. Copeland, not guard Trey Phills ’19, defended Waters to start, and the Bayou Bengals raced to an early lead behind two early triples from Waters and freshman forward Naz Reid. Head coach James Jones called a timeout with 17:17 to play in the half and the Tigers leading 9–0. Early on, Yale seemed slightly timid driving to a rim protected chiefly by 6-foot-10, 250-pound Reid. The top-20 projected NBA draft prospect finished with five in the half, at one point slamming home a vicious one-handed dunk on the fast break. Checking in at the scorer’s table about a minute earlier than usual, guard Azar Swain ’21 and forward Paul Atkinson ’21 entered the game with 15:37 to play. Swain quickly offered key points for the Elis, knocking down two three-pointers from about the same spot on the floor to keep Yale within single digits and drawing a foul on another attempt from deep. Several Eli shots, including many attempts from behind the arc, just barely rimmed out in the first half, but Yale kept the Tiger lead below single digits for much of the half. The Bulldogs finished the frame shooting 29 percent, while their three-seed opponents converted 18 of 30 shots from the field. Although Yale outrebounded LSU on the offensive boards in the first half, thanks to four rebounds from forward Jordan Bruner ’20, the Tigers dominated the defensive glass, collecting 17 compared to Yale’s nine. William McCormack | william.mccormack@yale.edu Cristofer Zillo | cris.zillo@yale.edu WILLIAM MCCORMACK William McCormack currently serves as a Sports and Digital Editor for the Yale Daily News. He previously covered men’s basketball and the athletic administration as a staff reporter. Originally from Boston, he is a junior in Timothy Dwight College.<doc-sep>
Despite a tumultuous past few weeks for LSU Basketball, the Tigers did enough to secure a three seed in the East Region and will take on the No. 14 seed Yale Bulldogs on Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Yale has been a trendy upset pick thus far. With Will Wade not expected to be reinstated by Thursday’s game due to an ongoing FBI investigation, people think the Tigers can be upset. However, even without their head coach I expect LSU Basketball to win on Thursday and here are three reasons why. 1. Yale’s style favors LSU If your preconceived notion of Yale was that they are a team that likes to slow the game down and run their sets like several Ivy League teams do, then you would be incorrect. Yale, the highest scoring team in the Ivy League, actually likes to get out in transition and push tempo. They play at an even faster pace than LSU. This style of play worked against slower Ivy League teams but, it won’t be as successful when matched with a more athletic LSU team. The key to beating the Tigers, as Florida demonstrated last week, is to make them play in the half court. But Yale gives up the second most points per game in their conference and does not play enough defense to stop the Tigers. LSU is terrific in transition with multiple ball handlers that can push the tempo and big men like Naz Reid, Kavell Bigby-Williams, and Emmitt Williams that love to run the floor and dunk. If Yale tries to get in a track meet with this Tigers team, they will be in trouble.