‘Guts,’ grit guided 13-seed Yale to ‘great’ win over Auburn, coach says

SPOKANE, Wash. — The more Yale coach James Jones studied Auburn this week, the more convinced he became that the Tigers — the team ranked No. 7 in the AP poll — were underranked at No. 4.

That's why, moments after Yale earned its second men's NCAA tournament victory, beating Auburn 78-76 at Spokane Arena, he was quick to make a bold proclamation about its historical significance.

“I don't know if it's the best win in Yale basketball history,” Jones said, “but I can tell you it's the best basketball team we've beaten in Yale basketball history.

“As far as I'm concerned, Auburn is one of the best teams in the country. I couldn't believe they were fourth in terms of what they were able to do with their stats.”

Most notably, Auburn was the No. 4 ranked team nationally in KenPom.com's highly respected rankings, which rely heavily on advanced statistics. The Tigers came into the game having won the SEC Tournament and having lost to just one team all season that ultimately didn't make the 64.

Despite all that, Yale showed no signs of intimidation, even after trailing by seven points at halftime and trailing by 10 with 7 minutes, 35 seconds left in the game. Every time the Tigers looked like they were on the verge of pulling away, the Bulldogs responded, often with tough shooting from John Poulakidas, who finished with a career-high 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting.

“I was trying to find a way and an avenue that we could be successful and I don’t know if we went down the path that I was thinking,” Jones said. “We didn’t make any free throws. [21 of 31] and we returned the ball [11 times]but the guys had enough courage and enough cohesion and staying together to give us a great victory.”

This is also a historic loss for Auburn. The Tigers entered the game 11-0 all-time in the round of 16, representing the most wins without a loss by any team since the field was expanded in 1985, according to ESPN Stats & Information. It was the third-longest winning streak, behind Kansas' 16 in a row and Gonzaga's 14.

“It's hard to reflect on the season when you're coming off one of the most disappointing losses of your career,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “I was in 12th place. We had some great wins. It was the biggest upset of the NCAA tournament that I think I've had.”

Yale's victory marks the second straight year an Ivy League team has defeated a Power 5 conference champion in the first round of the tournament, following Princeton's win as a No. 15 seed over Arizona Last year. The Tigers then beat Missouri to advance to the Sweet 16 – a run the rest of the Ivy League was proud of while watching from home.

“We have a very undervalued championship,” Poulakidas said. “I know everyone saw what Princeton did last year, obviously, and even this year they had a tremendous season. Cornell almost went to Ohio State and beat them. So we have a league really underrated and for us to walk into this building today against a top 10 team in the country and we played the way we did, I'm very proud of everyone in our locker room.

Yale and other Ivy League teams don't get many opportunities to play Quad 1 competition out of conference, and when they do, it's usually on the road. According to Jones, this dynamic skews the perception of the quality of the league.

“I said it before, two years ago we won the Ivy League championship and we played Purdue in the first round, but I think Princeton was the best team in our conference and we had the chance to win this championship,” Jones said. “Last year I think we were the best team in the conference and Princeton beat us in the championship game and they went to the Sweet 16.

“So in my mind we could have had two teams in the tournament good enough to win games. I'm very proud of our league and what we've done and I hope it continues to move forward in the right direction. direction.”

Yale finished tied with Cornell for second place in the regular season this year behind Princeton, which lost only three regular season games and was the No. 2 seed in the National Invitation Tournament.

“Every basketball player grows up watching March Madness the day they are old enough to know what it is,” guard August Mahoney said. “And you see Cinderella stories throughout every year and you see the underdogs winning big games. And it's a dream come true when you come to a school like Yale to not only succeed, but to win that game .”