Getty Azar Swain #5 of the Yale Bulldogs.
Yale (18-5, 6-1) face off in a crucial Ivy League matchup against a team desperate for a conference win in Penn (12-8, 4-3) on Saturday at Palestra in Philadelphia.
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The game (6 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on TV anywhere, but anyone in the U.S can watch it live on ESPN+:
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Once signed up for ESPN+, you can then watch Yale vs Penn live on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the ESPN app.
Yale vs Penn Preview
After dropping their first two Ivy League games of the season, Penn was rolling along until they ran into Brown on Friday. The Bears used a 46-point second half to stun the Quakers 75-63.
“Our struggles on offense in the second half were as bad as we have played in a long time. Give Brown credit, they played with great energy. I thought their depth was a factor. We just didn’t play an intelligent game on defense,” coach Steve Donahue told the Daily Pennsylvanian. “All I know is that there is a conference tournament in four weeks,” Donahue said. “Every game is so valuable. It’s the only league in the country like this. We can’t do anything about this now. We have to prepare for Yale and we have to play a good game.”
Things don’t get easier against Yale, a team that boasts the league’s best defense, giving up just 67.7 points per game. The Bulldogs finished 22-8 and made the NCAA tournament last year.
“From the beginning of the year, Yale probably surprised people because they lost four really good players,” Donahue said. “It’s almost like at this point their program is to where they just substitute guys in.”
Yale took over first place after thumping Princeton 88-64 on Friday. The Bulldogs came out on a mission, pushing their lead to as big as 31 in the contest.
“We got back to playing our brand of basketball defensively,” head coach James Jones said. “We were not as good in the last few games. Our second half against Dartmouth was good, but [our] first and second half [against Harvard] were not good, and the first half against Dartmouth wasn’t good. So we got back to playing defensively and working hard and getting stops, and when we do that, we’re really a good team.”
Guard Azar Swain has been a big piece of the Bulldogs’ success, racking up 20-plus points in four consecutive games. The latest was his 23 point outing against Princeton.
“Like I’ve preached all year, the work stays consistent,” Swain told the Yale Daily News. “I have a weekly routine and a game day routine to make sure my skills are tight and my shot is tight. I’m trying to prove myself every night. That’s kind of how I got here. Just trying to redo that and trying to make a name for myself and prove something every time I step out.”
History is on Penn’s side in the matchup. They’ve won four straight at home against Yale, dating back to 2017. Despite that, Yale is still listed as a 5.5-point road favorite.