Matt Minoff is not going to drop 25 tomorrow night at the Palestra. There will be no jaw-dropping dunks or game-changing three-pointers. He's just not that kind of player.
When people talk about the Yale senior guard, they talk about things like his defense, rebounding, leadership and intangibles. Sure, Minoff is not going to fill up the box score, but he will do a lot of the things in the game that will make his team come out on top.
Tomorrow, Minoff and his Yale teammates come to the Palestra to defend their win over Penn in New Haven. In that game, Minoff shut down Penn's Jeff Schiffner, holding the All-Ivy guard to just four points and one three-point attempt, an airball.
"Hopefully, I'll be just as successful this weekend," the Yale captain said. Minoff plans to "be on him at all times and not let him get any shots off."
Minoff's defensive skills won't come as a surprise to the Quakers this time.
"He did a great job on Schiffner," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said of Minoff. "He's just a good all-around player, he leads his team in many categories."
Though his numbers this year are not spectacular, he is leading the Elis with one block per game and is second on the team in assists and steals with 2.7 and 1.3, respectively. Last year Minoff was the only player in the Ivies in the top 10 in blocks, rebounds, steals and assists.
"I think my season has been similar to the team's this year," he said. "I think I've underachieved a little bit."
But, the senior says, he has "picked it up of late" and hopes to continue to play well down the stretch.
But it's not numbers that people notice about Matt.
"He just has a ton of intangibles," Dunphy said.
The one trait that everyone talks about with Minoff is his leadership ability.
"He's our captain," Yale coach James Jones said. "He's done a great job, we really feed off his energy. I totally expect him to have a great deal of energy this weekend and for our team to feed off of it."
Minoff agrees with his coach's assessment.
"The team feeds off my energy on the court. I'm a lead by example guy, [guard Alex Gamboa] is our emotional floor general."
"Matt is a solid basketball player," Jones said. "He has done a great job in the weight room and a great job physically to make himself a great basketball player."
Minoff thinks it's more than just his physical edge that makes him a force on the court.
"I really know the game of basketball," he said. "I have a bit of a mental edge."
Minoff learned the game in nearby Cherry Hill, N.J., and attended Cherry Hill East High School. After a relatively distinguished career at Cherry Hill East, he considered a number of schools at which to go and play basketball -- among them were both Yale and Penn.
"I think he's had a great career at Yale," Dunphy said. "He would have been a very good player here as well.''
Because of his closeness to Penn and Philadelphia, the game against the Quakers is always a big one for Matt.
"Every year it's always been a big game for me personally," the senior said. "A lot of my family and friends are going to be down at the Palestra for the game."
Jones expects Minoff to be ready, since he will be guarding both of Penn's two biggest offensive threats for most of the game.
"There will be possessions where he holds Begley and possessions where he holds Schiffner," Jones said.
That means to look for the fate of Yale to be inextricably linked to the fate of the Elis' No. 10. "I think we come in and we're going to play hard and it's going to be a close game, hopefully the ball will bounce our way," Minoff said of tomorrow night's game.
The Quakers are hoping otherwise, but Minoff's defense, rebounding and leadership will definitely play a big part in deciding whether Yale can come to the Palestra and beat the Red and Blue.
