JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – 2019 Ivy League Champion and 14th-seeded Yale fell to No. 3 LSU in the first-round of the NCAA tournament, 79-74 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
Alex Copeland finished with a game-high 24 points and Jordan Bruner added 16 points and nine rebounds. Miye Oni, the Ivy League Player of the Year, finished with just five points on 2-for-18 shooting.
The Bulldogs battled back from an 18-point second-half deficit and were within three after a Jordan Bruner 3-pointer with 8.6 seconds left. But LSU hit nine of 10 free throws down the stretch to hold on for first-round win.
Skylar Mays led LSU with 19 points and Waters added 15 points and seven assists.
LSU got off to a 9-0 start, and it appared it would be a long day for Yale. The Bulldogs got hot, hitting three straight 3-pointers at one point, to get within two. But the Tigers outscored Yale 24-10 over the final 10 minutes of the first half en route to a 45-29 halftime lead.
Yale concludes the 2018-19 season with a 22-8 overall mark after winning its second Ivy League title in three years and its first Ivy League Men's Basketball Tournament title with a win over Harvard at John J. Lee Amphitheater. The Bulldogs have won at least 20 games in three of the last five seasons and its 22 overall wins are the most for a Yale team since the 2015-16 team won 23.