Yale Athletics

PRINCETON, N.J. — Yale’s ten-game unbeaten run came to an end Saturday night in Jadwin Gymnasium.

Yale (17–7, 8–1 Ivy) fell to rival Princeton (19–3, 7–2 Ivy) 73–62, leaving them one win short of breaking the school record for most wins to begin an Ivy League season.

“It was not a great day for Yale basketball,” head coach James Jones told the News after the loss. “I thought Princeton did a great job defending us and taking things away, and we were not tough enough to run a good offense.”

The Bulldogs, already missing forward Matt Knowling ’24 to an ankle injury, looked flat offensively at times throughout the night, as star forward Danny Wolf ’26 was held scoreless on 0-8 shooting from the field. Bez Mbeng ’25 led the scoring for Yale with 18 points, while John Poulakidas ’25 added 16.

As Wolf faced constant switches and double teams in the low post, Yale seemed unable to open lanes for cutters or find space on the perimeter.

“At the basket they were switching and pushing and shoving us, and we were not patient enough to execute,” Jones said

Jones’s squad did not live up to the team motto of ‘defend, rebound, share,’ as the Elis were outrebounded 32-28 and recorded just six assists on the night.

The loss is Yale’s second straight at Princeton’s Jadwin Gymnasium. Last season, the Tigers beat Yale in the finals of the Ivy tournament, ending their NCAA tournament hopes.

Princeton’s fans packed the bleachers in their home gym, chanting “safety school” and holding up signs like “Gilmore Girls suck” and “Dick Cheney went to Yale.” As the game progressed, fans began to cheer sarcastically when Wolf, scoreless on the night, touched the ball on offense. 

Saturday night’s game was the second of a back-to-back weekend. The Bulldogs took down Penn (9–15, 1–8 Ivy) on Friday night in Philadelphia, winning 76–62. Poulakidas and Mbeng also led the scoring in that game, with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

Yale is now tied with Cornell atop the Ivy League standings. Next Friday, they’ll head to Ithaca for a crucial matchup against the Big Red. With both teams at 8–1, the winner of Friday’s matchup — with four regular season games remaining — will be strongly positioned to hold the top seed at the Ivy tournament in March, which hosts the league’s top four teams in a bracket-style tournament.

Jones said that despite the loss, “everything is still ahead of us.”

“It’s not easy to win ten straight games,” he said. “A C effort tonight isn’t good enough to get the job done against Princeton on the road, but we still have an opportunity to win a championship, still have an opportunity to get the number one seed.”

Friday’s game against Cornell will tip off at 7 p.m.