As most of us are stressing about the onslaught of midterms, the Yale Basketball Team has been splitting their focus between their schoolwork and their key conference games. Our Bulldogs are current tied for 1st place in the Ivy League with Harvard after a very exciting weekend of two wins against Penn and Princeton, their best start in conference play since 2002 (according to the YDN). Her Campus sat down to chat with some members of the team after their buzzer-beater overtime victory against Princeton last Saturday!
For those of you who didn’t make it over to John J. Lee Amphitheater on Saturday night, the Bulldogs went back to the locker room at halftime behind by 30-19 before turning it around to a tie at the end of regulation forcing overtime. Unfortunately, a few minutes before the end of regulation, Yale starting Point Guard, Javier Duren (TD ’15), went down with an ankle injury and the team had to finish the game without him. On sitting out the end of such an exciting game, Duren said “Having to watch the game from the sidelines was the absolute worst feeling, but I have a great deal of confidence in my team and I’m glad we pulled out a win!” Duren is doing rehab this week and hopes to be ready to play for this weekend’s away games versus Cornell and Columbia.
But the final minutes of overtime were some of the most electric many members of the team have seen in their Yale career. Matt Townsend (DC ’15), commented on how this game compares, “I’ve played in some exciting games in my Yale career– a 20-point second-half comeback against Columbia, a buzzer-beater against Bryant, a double-overtime game against Army– but Saturday’s game against Princeton was definitely the craziest.” With 17 seconds to play, an Armani Cotton (BR ’15) drive ended up with him on the ground underneath the basket making a seemingly impossible pass through defenders to Isaiah Salafia, (BK ’14) in for injured Duren. Isaiah then passed out to Captain Jesse Pritchard (SY ’14) who pulled up and attempted the 3-point shot. The shot may have been deflected and didn’t hit the rim, but Justin Sears tells us about the final moments of the game: “The final moments of the game were really stressful… The last play happened in slow motion but I was able to catch Jesse’s shot and after being blocked initially, my second effort gave us the lead.” Sears’ put back pushed the Bulldogs ahead 66-65 with 4.4 seconds to go. Townsend describes the game: “Awesome environment, awesome fans, awesome ending.”
The team is away this weekend at Cornell and Columbia and again the following weekend for a rematch against Princeton and Penn. They close out conference play at home though, against Harvard March 7th at 7:30pm and Dartmouth March 9th at 7pm. When asked about their chances in the Ivy League this year, Duren commented, “I feel pretty good about our chances of capturing the Ivy League title, but we have another half of the season in front us to focus on.” Townsend remarked, “From top to bottom the league is competitive enough that we can’t look past anyone left on our schedule. For now, we’re just going to practice every day to get even better for the next game.”
If you haven’t been to see a game, or even if you’re a Yale Basketball regular, make sure to make your way over to John. J Lee Amphitheater if you can on March 7th or 8th. These players have been working hard to be the best and as Townsend says, “Your support makes a HUGE difference for us.” Use it as a study break, a chance to catch up with friends, and especially to support the student-athletes you see in the dining hall every day who, in spite of their midterms, take a huge chunk out of their schedule to represent our school!
Congrats to Yale Basketball and good luck with the rest of your season, from all of us at Her Campus Yale!