Kansas Jayhawks vs. Yale Bulldogs Pick & Prediction DECEMBER 22nd 2023

No. 2 Kansas returns to the friendly environment of Allen Fieldhouse on Friday night for a matchup with Yale in Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas (10-1) is coming off a big second-half comeback at Indiana in its last game. The Jayhawks trailed the Hoosiers by 13 points midway through the second half before Kansas started surging.

Dajuan Harris hit a 3-pointer with 7:10 left to cut the deficit to 59-58. When Hunter Dickinson hit a jump hook in the lane with 4:53 left, Kansas had its first lead of the game at 62-61. Indiana tied it at 64-64 before Kansas pulled away.

Kevin McCullar had 13 of his team-high 21 points in the second half. The Jayhawks also got 17 points from Dickinson, 14 from KJ Adams and 12 from Harris. Dickinson also had 14 rebounds.

Kansas used three freshmen more than in any game so far this season and the youngsters came through. Elmarko Jackson had the best stat line of the three. He scored five points with three assists, two steals, one rebound and one turnover in 25 minutes.

“It feels great coming into an arena like this, similar to Allen Fieldhouse with a lot of history behind it and great fans,” Jackson said. “This is probably the greatest win we’ve had as a team.”

It was the first time in four tries that Kansas has won in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. Kansas coach Bill Self felt better about Saturday’s result.

“The thing I remember most is I got a chance to meet John Mellencamp,” Self said of his last trip to Bloomington when he was the head coach at Illinois. “That’s probably my fondest memory of this place until today. This place reminds me of KU: great tradition, people respect (basketball).

“That’s two true blue bloods out there playing. You can kind of sense it’s different here from most places where you kind of have to manufacture the atmosphere. Here you don’t and you don’t have to at Kansas either. It felt a little different that way.”

Kansas is led by its front line. Dickinson leads the way with 19.2 points and 12.7 rebounds per game. McCullar also is averaging 19.2 points per game. KJ Adams adds 13.0 points per game.

Yale (7-5) is returning to the court after a 10-day absence for finals. The Bulldogs last played Dec. 11 when they defeated Quinnipiac 73-66.

Danny Wolf was named the Ivy League Player of the Week after posting his third double-double (career-high 22 points, 12 rebounds) of the season in the win. Wolf, who has scored in double figures in nine straight games, is second in the lvy League in rebounding (9.0 per game) and blocked shots (16) and fourth in field-goal percentage (.500).

“We were able to fight through some adversity,” head coach James Jones said following the game. “We haven’t done a lot of that, so hopefully we can build on it. I thought we did a great job in the second half of guarding them and being tough and did a better job of getting to our spots on offense.”

The Bulldogs have four players averaging in double-figures. Bez Mbeng leads with 13.6 points per game, followed by Wolf (13.4), Matt Knowling (11.5) and John Poulakidas (11.0).

–Field Level Media