Deep Dive Thread for Yale

Gameday Poster courtesy of AlabamaMBB

The Bulldogs are coached by James Jones, who is in his 26th season in New Haven. He brings a Yale team into Coleman that is 11-1 and has not played in 19 days, but looks to try and bolster their resume to get into the NCAA tournament again for the 4th time in 5 seasons. Alabama will be their toughest test to date, with just 1 game played against a top 100 KenPom team.

Yale is led by 6-7 senior Nick Townsend, who leads them in points, rebounds, and assists. Townsend has played 28+ minutes and scored in double figures in all but 1 game this season. Expect him to be a major factor in this game in the interior. Townsend is also elite from behind the arc, shooting 53% on the season this year on just over 2 attempts per game. Keeping him off the glass and limiting his playmaking ability has to be key in stopping the Yale offense.

Townsend has elite vision and passing ability. https://x.com/YaleMBasketball/status/1997760814808494186?s=20

Yale’s second-leading scorer is 6-6 Isaac Celiscar, a sophomore wing who loves to get downhill to finish at the rim. Celiscar is one of the only non-shooters in this starting lineup, but he is very skilled at getting downhill and either drawing the foul or finishing at the rim or from 2, where he is 67% on the season.

Celiscar will look to get downhill and draw the foul as often as possible. https://x.com/YaleMBasketball/status/1996378693820903887?s=20

Yale’s next leading scorer is a sharpshooter who comes off the bench in 6-6 Riley Fox. Fox is an elite shooter from behind the arc at 45% from deep. From inside the arc, he is also very efficient, leading to one of the more efficient players on the team.

Fox will spot up and make you pay if the defense sags off him. https://x.com/YaleMBasketball/status/1995235337870926085?s=20

Yale’s starting point guard is 6-1 Trevor Mullin. He is another player who excels at shooting from behind the arc at 39%, but also does a great job facilitating the offense and getting his teammates involved. He tries to get downhill and to the line but is not afraid to spray the ball if the defense collapses.

Mullin may be a solid passer but you can’t leave him open from behind the arc either. https://x.com/YaleMBasketball/status/1997751780013486238?s=20

Their starting center is 6-10 Samson Aleton, and he leads the team in both blocks and steals. Aleton is 9th in the entire country in offensive rating and is an elite shot blocker for his size. He is by far their best offensive rebounder, so keeping him off the offensive glass, where he finishes incredibly well, must be a key for Alabama.

Samson is an efficient finisher around the rim. https://x.com/YaleMBasketball/status/1995230201178132737?s=20

The last 2 guys in the rotation, which you should expect to see, are 6-4 Jordan Brathwaite and 6-4 Devon Arlington. Brathwaite is currently 2nd in the country in 3pt% at 61% on the season, so Alabama must stay attached. Arlington is more of a facilitator who looks to get his teammates involved in the offense.

As a team, Yale is an elite offense, which is led by their ability to shoot the 3 and make their FTs at the line. They are second in 3pt percentage and 4th in FT percentage as a team. When you combine that with the fact that they do not turn over the ball a ton and are a decent offensive rebounding team, that gets you to an offense that sits at 20th as of today.

The place where Yale struggles, and Alabama should be able to take advantage, is on defense. Yale is 218th in defensive efficiency. They struggle at running teams off the 3pt line and have allowed teams to shoot over 35% on the season from deep against them; they have struggled at defending inside the arc due to being undersized in the interior. Alabama should be able to take advantage of Yale’s defense and put together a solid offensive performance.

My player to watch is Latrell Wrightsell. Wrightsell is coming off of one of his worst 3pt shooting nights in an Alabama uniform, and he is just too good a shooter for that to continue. When you combine that with Yale’s 3pt defense, I expect Trelly to get started early and often in this game and have a great shooting night.

Yale has a great offense, which can make Alabama pay, especially from behind the arc. My concerns for them are on the defensive end, and I just do not believe they will be able to stop Alabama or score with them for 40 minutes, and for that reason, I have Alabama coming out and making a statement with a solid win tonight.

Prediction: Alabama 104 - Yale 82

I recorded an episode talking even more about this game on my YouTube channel. Subscribe for more Alabama Basketball content. https://youtu.be/-wSNZjomKtw