Dec. 3, 2007

Complete Release in PDF Format

at FAIRFIELD
Tue., Dec. 4, 2007 - 7 p.m.
Alumni Hall
Fairfield, Conn.
Radio: WYBC (1340 AM, wybc.com)
Pay-per-view video: fairfieldstags.com

YALE TALE
The Bulldogs (1-5) are in the midst of one of their busiest stretches of the season, playing five games in 14 days. On Tuesday night, they travel to Alumni Hall on the Fairfield campus to meet the Stags for a 7 p.m. tipoff. Yale's five losses have come against teams with a combined record of 31-7 (.816). In those five games, Yale's opponents are shooting .528 from the field. Matt Kyle returned to action on Saturday against Wagner after missing the Holy Cross game with an illness. Kyle, who leads the Ivy League in field goal percentage (.622), scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench. He leads the Bulldogs in scoring (12.8 ppg.). Ross Morin tops the team in rebounding (4.7 rpg.) Morin scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds against Wagner. Yale has played four of its six games away from home but has its next two in the friendly confines of the John J. Lee Amphitheater - Saturday against Vermont and next Tuesday against Boston University. The Bulldogs don't hit the road again until a Dec. 29 matchup against third-ranked Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse.

HISTORY LESSONS
Yale and Fairfield are playing for the first time since the 2004-05 season and the 21st time overall. Yale stopped a four-game losing streak to the Stags with a 60-57 victory on Jan. 5, 2005, at the John J. Lee Amphitheater. Fairfield leads the series 12-8.

SCOUTING FAIRFIELD
The Stags (2-5) are coming off a 61-49 loss to fifth-ranked Georgetown on Saturday. The score was tied at halftime, and Fairfield trailed by only four with three minutes remaining. The Stags commited just four turnovers in the game. Fairfield's other losses have come to Wake Forest, Holy Cross, Cincinnati and St. Francis (NY). Jonathan Han leads the team in scoring (12.6 ppg.). He is shooting 51 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from three-point range. Anthony Johnson is Fairfield's top rebounder (6.3 rpg.). The Yale game is one of two the Stags will play at Alumni Hall. The other is Jan. 21 against Saint Peter's. All other Fairfield home games are at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport.

WAGNER 71, YALE 68
Durell Vinson scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Wagner to a non-league victory at the John J. Lee Amphitheater. James Ulrich added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Seahawks. The Bulldogs had five players score in double figures, led by Ross Morin with 14 points. Caleb Holmes and Alex Zampier each scored 11, and Matt Kyle and Nick Holmes had 10 apiece. The score was tied at 64 with 2:35 remaining. Mark Porter's three-pointer put the Seahawks in front, but Morin and Kyle both made a pair of free throws to give the Bulldogs a 68-67 lead with 1:43 left. Jamal Smith then drove into the lane, scored and was fouled with 1:14 remaining. He missed the foul shot, but on Yale's ensuing possession, Kyle's jump hook from the baseline rimmed out. Porter was called for an offensive foul with 10 seconds left, but after a Yale turnover, his layup gave the Seahawks a three-point lead with two seconds remaining. Travis Pinick's desperation three-pointer from half-court missed at the buzzer. The Seahawks (5-2) made 15 of their 25 shots (60 percent) from the field in the second half and shot 54.7 percent for the game. Yale took its biggest lead of the game, 26-19, on Caleb Holmes's three-pointer with 4:52 left in the first half. The Seahawks, though, answered with a 12-2 run. The Bulldogs went back up by four on Caleb Holmes's conventional three-point play with 19 seconds remaining in the half. After Porter made three foul shots, Zampier hit a three-pointer as time expired to send Yale to the locker room with a 38-34 lead at halftime.

PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
The Bulldogs were picked to finish second in the 2007-08 Ivy League Preseason Media Poll. Yale received three first-place votes and had 104 points. Cornell is the choice from the 16 media members from the eight Ivy areas who voted. This is the first time since 1988-89 that neither Penn nor Princeton was selected to finish first.

1. Cornell, 119 points (10 first-place votes)
2. Yale, 104 (3)
3. Penn, 97 (1)
4. Columbia, 80 (1)
5. Brown, 70 (1)
6. Harvard, 43
7. Princeton, 40
8. Dartmouth, 23

JONES SERVES AS ASSISTANT COACH FOR TEAM USA
James Jones, the Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball at Yale, served as an assistant coach for the 2007 USA Basketball Men's Pan American Games team. Villanova's Jay Wright was the head coach and Jones was joined as an assistant coach by Alabama's Mark Gottfried. The team, which featured Georgetown's Roy Hibbert, Michigan State's Drew Neitzel and Indiana's D.J. White, finished fifth in the Games, held in Rio. The 2007 Pan American Games assignment was Jones' second coaching experience with USA Basketball. He previously served as a court coach for the 2006 USA Men's U18 National Team Trials.

CHALLENGING SCHEDULE ON TAP
Seven teams that reached the postseason last year, including Final Four participant UCLA, highlight the 2007-08 Yale schedule. The Bulldogs played the Bruins on Nov. 23 for only the second time and made their first appearance in Pauley Pavilion. A little over a month later, Yale visits another of college basketball's historic venues, Allen Fieldhouse, for a game against Kansas. The Jayhawks lost to UCLA in the Elite Eight last year. Other 2006-07 NCAA participants on the schedule include Stanford (Nov. 20), Holy Cross (Nov. 28) and defending Ivy League champion Penn (Feb. 16, Feb. 29). In addition, the Bulldogs play at UMass (Nov. 14) and host Vermont (Dec. 8), both of whom played in the NIT last year."Our 2007-08 schedule may be the most challenging that we've had in my tenure," said James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball.

BULLDOGS TO MAKE FOUR TV APPEARANCES
Yale is currently scheduled to make four television appearances this season, starting with the Nov. 20 game against Stanford, which was broadcast on Fox Sports Net Bay Area. The Kansas matchup on Dec. 29 is on Jayhawk TV, which is available as part of the ESPN Full Court package. Both Yale-Penn contests will be televised. The game at the Palestra is on ESPN Classic and will mark Yale's second appearance on the ESPN family of networks (the 2003-04 season opener against UConn was on ESPN2). The John J. Lee Amphitheater will host the YES Network on Feb. 29 when the Quakers visit New Haven.

FREE VIDEO STREAMS ON YALEBULLDOGS.COM
Free live video will be available for 12 of Yale's 13 home games. Fans can access the games at yalebulldogs.com by clicking on the Yale All*Access logo in the top right corner. An e-mail address and password are required to subscribe to the service. WYBC (1340 AM), the flagship station for Yale Basketball, will provide audio.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Seniors Caleb and Nick Holmes are the first set of twins in the history of Yale basketball... James Jones' younger brother Joe is the head coach at Columbia. The Jones brothers are one of only two active brother duos coaching at the Division I level. Seth and Brad Greenberg are the head coaches at Virginia Tech and Radford.

Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity