Big Green Opens 2016-17 Home Season Against Fairfield

DARTMOUTH (0-1) vs.
FAIRFIELD(1-0)

TUESDAY, NOV. 15 • 7 P.M.
LEEDE ARENA (2,100), HANOVER, N.H.
Video: Ivy League Digital Network
Audio: KOOL 93.9 (93.9, 96.3 FM)
Announcers: Brett Franklin (play-by-play), Jill Glessner (analyst)
Live Stats: DartmouthSports.com
All-Time Series vs. Fairfield: Rams lead 3-0
Last Meeting vs. Stags: Jan. 4, 2016 — Fairfield 97, Dartmouth 85

Home Opener
• Dartmouth, in search of its first win of the 2016-17 campaign, hosts Fairfield in the Big Green's home opener.
• This is the 30th season for Leede Arena, having opened for the 1987-88 season, and the 116th for the Dartmouth basketball program.
• The Big Green are 16-13 in home openers at Leede and have won their last four — defeating Lyndon State in 2012, Maine the following season, IPFW in 2014 on a three-pointer at the buzzer, and LIU Brooklyn handily last year, 79-56.
• Last Friday, the Big Green drew back the curtain on the 2016-17 campaign with an 84-61 loss at 23rd-ranked Rhode Island, its third straight defeat in season openers to fall to 76-40 all-time.
• First-year head coach David McLaughlin, the 28th in Big Green history, suffered the loss, giving new head coaches a record of 19-9 in their debut games.
• Sophomore Evan Boudreaux led Dartmouth with his 11th career double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds).
• Senior Ike Ngwudo made his first career start and tallied nine points, more than he had scored in any season for the Big Green.
• Rhode Island was Dartmouth's first ranked opponent in nearly five years (Harvard in January of 2012).
• The Big Green are 3-54 all-time against teams ranked in the Associated Press weekly poll with the last win a 61-59 overtime triumph over West Virginia in the first round of the 1956 NCAA Tournament.

Series vs. Fairfield
• Dartmouth has never beaten the Stags in three previous meetings, losing last year on the road, 97-85, and twice in 1985 — once in January, the other in December.
• Connor Boehm led the Green against Fairfield last year by matching a career high with 24 points, including the only dunk of his career. Boudreaux (18), Miles Wright (12) and Guilien Smith (11) also scored in double figures.
• Fairfield had three players with at least 20 points, two of whom are back this season — Jerry Johnson Jr. and Tyler Nelson.

Scouting the Stags
• Fairfield, picked to finish fifth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, beat Sacred Heart in its season opener, 85-63.
• Last year the Stags enjoyed a 12-win gain on the previous year, posting 19 victories to play in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
• The 85 points in the opener were provided by just six players — the five starters and one reserve.
Guard Curtis Cobb led Fairfield with 26 points by knocking down 11-of-13 shots, including 4-of-5 from long range.
• Point guard Jerome Segura had a double-double with 17 points and 10 assists, plus six rebounds.
Preseason All-MAAC Second Team guard Tyler Nelson, who averaged 16 points a game last year, pitched in a dozen with a pair of triples.
• As a team, the Stags drained 11-of-25 threes, but was outrebounded, 40-38, with forward Jonathan Kasibabu grabbing a team-high eight boards.
• Fairfield has five players on its roster from outside of the United States, including two from Serbia (Matija Milin and Nemanja Zubec).
• Fairfield head coach Sydney Johnson should be familiar to Ivy League fans as he guided Princeton for four years, reaching the NCAA Tournament in his final season (2010-11). This is his sixth season at Fairfield with a record of 75-94 and is 141-147 overall.

Year 4 of Ivy League Digital Network
All home games and every Ivy League contest — a total of 19 games — will be streamed live in high-definition this season through the Ivy League Digital Network. Six of the conference games will be simulcast on ESPN3 as well. Visit ildn.tv for information on how to subscribe to the ILDN and watch the action on your computer, tablet or phone.

Rams Tough
Dartmouth suffered an 84-61 season-opening loss at No. 23 Rhode Island on Nov. 11. The Rams forced 20 turnovers — a total unsurpassed by the Big Green since January of 2013 — blocked 11 shots (most by an opponent since January of 2014) and stole the ball a dozen times. The last team to hit double digits in blocks and steals in a game was Harvard on Jan. 9, 2010 in a 76-47 Dartmouth defeat.

Ranked Opponents
For the 57th time in Dartmouth history, the Big Green squared off against a team that was ranked in the Associated Press poll when they traveled to 23rd-ranked Rhode Island. Unfortunately, Dartmouth lost, 84-61, to fall to 3-54 against ranked opponents since the debut of the AP poll in 1949. The last 43 games have all been losses with the last Big Green victory a 61-59, overtime triumph over West Virginia in the first round of the 1956 NCAA Tournament. The other two wins came against Holy Cross, one in 1953, the other just a few weeks before the NCAA victory.

Boudreaux Boudreaux Golly
Yes, I used this note last year, but when Evan Boudreaux picks right up where he left off last year with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds in the season opener, I had to bring it back. The sophomore had 10 double-doubles last year, the most by a Dartmouth player in 23 years, and he's already added to his career total. The most in a career over the last 25 years is 21 by Ian McGinnis '01.

I Like Ike
Nothing like an old campaign slogan in an election year. For the majority of his first three seasons at Dartmouth, Ike Ngwudo was generally either injured or relegated to the bench. But he got a new lease on his career and earned a starting role out of the gate. He took full advantage of his new status and scored nine points on 4-of-5 shooting, including the team's first three-pointer of the year, against No. 23 Rhode Island. Those nine points top his scoring total in any of his first three seasons.

First Taste of the College Game
Dartmouth has six freshmen on its roster, all of whom are chomping at the bit to get that first game experience under their belts. Two rookies got the chance to get rid of the butterflies, taking the court at No. 23 Rhode Island in the season opener — Ian Sistare and Brendan Barry. Sistare actually played the third-most minutes on the squad, logging 29 minutes off the bench with six points, two rebounds, an assist and a pair of steals. Barry, on the other hand, played the final two minutes, yet still found time to grab a rebound and dish out an assist.

Toeing the Line
If the season opener is any indication, Dartmouth can flourish at the foul line this season. As a team, the Big Green took 23 free throws and made 19 for an 82.6 percentage. Only three times in the past two seasons combined had Dartmouth been more precise.

Schedules