Jones Hopes Younger Bulldogs Can Mature Soon

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Early in the season, every team is a work in progress, some teams more than others. Yale would appear to be one team that has more to go than others, and they almost gave themselves a nice boost on Monday night in a tough 58-55 loss at Providence.

The Bulldogs are a younger team in their core than they have been. They only start one senior and have just one other fourth-year player who has been on the court thus far. Though they start three juniors, one of them was a bit player last season. Three freshmen have seen minutes thus far, and a fourth will join that group when Greg Kelley is healthy as he has sat the first two games with a concussion. (Kelley may suit up Thursday night when the Bulldogs play at Boston College, just down the road from where he went to high school.) And as if that’s not enough, they just got a little younger with the loss of Michael Sands, who left the program for personal reasons before the season started.

Head coach James Jones sounded like he was describing a young team when asked his impression of his team after two games and about a month of practice.

“We’ve got a lot to learn,” Jones said. “We’ve got some guys banged up that I think are going help us, and when we’re healthy and have a complete team we’ll be a little bit better.”

Despite the Bulldogs having some personnel issues, they were right there with the Friars on Monday night. In fact, with an 8-0 run they took a 49-43 lead with less than eight minutes to play after getting hot from long range early in the second half. They made five of their first seven from behind the arc to make up for an otherwise stagnant offense at times, especially where they never got junior big man Greg Mangano going all night in part due to foul trouble.

But once the Friars figured out the Bulldogs’ plays that opened up the three-point shots, the long range bombs stopped. Yale made just one of the last nine attempts from long range and scored just six points in the final 7:41. Meanwhile, the Friars ran off eight unanswered points to regain the lead and made key stops defensively in the final two minutes.

“We’re not ready to win a game like that in some ways, like making plays down the stretch,” Jones said. “We’re just not ready to do it, and we have to get ready real quick. Playing a team like Providence will help us do it. We had our chances tonight and really didn’t convert.”

The one senior starter, point guard Porter Braswell, certainly did all he could to give this team a chance to win. He scored 13 points, going 3-5 from long range including two three-pointers early in the second half to start the hot shooting. It’s not a surprise to see a senior being a leader, but the Bulldogs will need it from him given the relative youth that surrounds him.

Sands’ departure not only robs the team of experience, but also post scoring. He was an active inside player who could also rebound, but right now they’ll miss him as much offensively as defensively since Mangano is the only real post offensive threat they have. Kelley can give them some post offense as well once he gets healthy, but doesn’t figure to be the first option.

Mangano was in foul trouble much of Monday night, and he never really got untracked as he scored 11 points on 5-15 shooting. He did have nine rebounds and blocked two shots, and has grown into more of an inside presence ever since he arrived on campus. Thus far, he has had some good offensive games, but Monday night showed he’s not yet ready to be among the elite big men in the Ivy League.

“When he’s able to score against a team like this, then he will have made it,” Jones said.

As Jones alluded to, the Bulldogs have a challenging non-league slate as usual. Boston College is up next on Thursday night, a trip to Illinois beckons next week, and a trip to Stanford will come near the end of December. They have five non-league home games, all of which are winnable, so that can help the team build confidence as well. Ivy League play will begin with three of four on the road, including the Penn-Princeton trip.

The Bulldogs are no strangers to tough opponents, but this group is a little different. They’re a little less experienced overall than some of his teams, and that may have been one thing that showed up in not finishing Monday night’s game well enough to win. Jones’ hope is that they learn from the experience and improve before long.