Poulakidas emerges as Yale’s first round hero

John Poulakidas picked quite a stage to have his best performance of the year.

Poulakidas, the Yale men’s basketball junior guard led the Bulldogs with a season-high 28 points in their shocking 78-76 upset over No. 4 seed Auburn in first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at Spokane (Wash.) Veterans Memorial Arena.

The 6-foot-6 guard was 10 of 15 from the field, draining six three pointers on nine attempts, one of which put the Bulldogs up 73-72 with 2:11 left. He also added two rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.

“After I hit my first couple of shots, obviously the flood gates opened,” Poulakidas said. “But I am just so glad that we had this opportunity first and could capitalize on it today.”

It was Yale’s second ever win in the tournament in nine appearances.

Poulakidas, a native of Naperville, Illinois, had averaged 13.1 points per game entering the tournament. He had a 44.3 percent success rate from the field (ranking 24th in the Ivy League) while shooting 39.3 percent from 3point range (ninth best in the conference).

Poulakidas’ season numbers earned him a NABC AllDistrict second team selection.

On Friday he surpassed his previous season high of 26 points scored against Columbia on Jan. 15th. He shot 66.7 percent from both the field and from the 3-point line.

Poulakidas ranked second on the team in points with 405 entering the tournament, trailing sophomore forward Danny Wolf’s 430 points. He ranked 12th in points in the Ivy League. His 75 three pointers ranked second in the Ivy League behind Kino Lilly Jr. of Brown.

The lefty shooter was Neuqua Valley High School’s all-time leading scorer (scoring over 1,300 points) before coming to Yale and began his college career as a bench player during his freshman season, appearing in 20 games and earning the team’s Josh Hill Dedication Award. As a junior, he earned a starting role.

During the 2022-23 season, Poulakidas started all 30 games and finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 12 points per game. He ranked fourth in the Ivy League with 67 three pointers and ranked sixth with a 40.1 field goal percentage.

That year he set a career mark with 30 points in a Yale overtime victory over Princeton, which would go on to reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament. He was also named Yale’s Most Improved Player Award that season.

“We have a very undervalued league,” Poulakidas said. “Everybody saw what Princeton did last year and this year they had a tremendous season...For us to come into the building today against a top 10 team in the country and preform how we did, I am very proud of everybody in our locker room.”