FAN ATTENDANCE PROTOCOLS | GAME DAY CENTRAL
 
UMass at Yale
Friday, Nov. 12, 2021
John J. Lee Amphitheater
ESPN+ Video | International Video | Live Stats
 
Yale at Seton Hall
Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021
Prudential Center
TV: FS1 | Live Stats
 
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A busy start to the season continues for the Yale men's basketball team this weekend. The Bulldogs host New England rival UMass on Friday at 8 p.m. at Lee Amphitheater and then play their first game in the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip Off on Sunday at Seton Hall at noon in the Prudential Center in Newark. The UMass game can be seen on ESPN+, while the Seton Hall contest airs on FS1.
 
Yale opened the season on Tuesday night with an 88-42 home victory over Vassar, its first game since Mar. 7, 2020. The Bulldogs were dominant in all phases against the Brewers, shooting 53.2 percent from the field, while limiting Vassar to 30.4 percent. Azar Swain led five Bulldogs in double figures with 16 points.
 
Yale has now won nine straight games against non-conference opponents in the friendly confines of Lee Amphitheater. The last home loss to a non-Ivy opponent came against Monmouth (85-64) on Dec. 22, 2017. That is part of what has been a dominant stretch for the Bulldogs at home. Over the last eight seasons, they are 81-20 in Lee.
 
Success at home should come as no surprise. Yale is in the midst of the most successful era in the long history of the program. Over the last six seasons, the Bulldogs have a remarkable 63-21 Ivy record. During that stretch, they have won four league titles and earned three NCAA Tournament berths, including notching the first NCAA victory in school history.
 
There is every reason to believe that success will continue in 2021-22. The Bulldogs, the two-time defending Ivy League champions, are the favorite again. Yale collected 115 points and seven of 17 first-place votes in the league's preseason media poll. James Jones, the Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Yale, has a deep and talented roster that features a pair of Ivy League postseason award winners in 2019-20. Swain earned first team All-Ivy recognition after setting a single-season school record with 93 three-pointers and finishing 10^th in the nation in three-point field goals made per game. Jalen Gabbidon, the team captain, was the 2020 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year after starting all 30 games and finishing fourth in the league with 40 steals.
 
Swain enters the weekend with 951 career points, 49 shy of 1,000. His 201 career three-pointers are the third most in school history, 28 shy of Ed Petersen's all-time school record.
 
The trip to Seton Hall is the first of five straight games away from home for the Bulldogs, who play at Siena on Tuesday, at Vermont on Friday and then are in Florida for the remainder of the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off. Yale's next home game, after Friday, isn't until Nov. 28 vs. Stony Brook.
 
HISTORY LESSONS
 
UMass is making its first appearance in New Haven since 1968, an 83-69 Yale victory. The Bulldogs also won the last matchup, 83-80 in overtime in 2019 at the Mullins Center. Azar Swain scored 20 of hos 24 points in the second half and overtime as Yale rallied to win. Overall, the teams have split eight games. UMass's last win came in 2007. The first game between the schools was in 1933.
 
Yale and Seton Hall are playing for the first time since 2011 and the fifth time overall. The Pirates have won three of the four games. The first meeting came in 1925.
 
SCOUTING UMASS
 
The Minutemen opened the season with a 77-60 victory over UMBC on Tuesday. T.J. Weeks Jr. and Trent Buttrick scored 16 points apiece to lead UMass. Buttrick scored 13 consecutive points in one stretch of the second half. The Minutemen welcome in six transfer student-athletes, including five upperclassmen, to the roster for the 2021-22 season. UMass has two transfers from Power 5 schools in Buttrick (Penn State) and Rich Kelly (Boston College via Quinnipiac).
 
SCOUTING SETON HALL
 
The Pirates (1-0) opened the season with a convincing 93-49 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday. Five players scored in double figures to lead SHU, including Samuel Tyrese who had 19 points off the bench. Seton Hall has a familiar face in graduate student Bryce Aiken, who graduated from Harvard and has spent the last two seasons with the Pirates. He scored 15 points in 19 minutes in the victory over FDU. The Pirates returned four of their top six scorers from last season, added three transfers who have combined for over 1,400 career Div. I points and welcomed a top-25 rated recruiting class.