The No. 3 ranked Emory men's basketball team (7-0, 0-0 UAA) opened the 2024 UAA Challenge on Saturday afternoon, taking on the No. 21 ranked Middlebury Panthers (6-1, 0-0 NESCAC). Taking advantage of 14 first half turnovers from the Panthers, the Eagles handed Middlebury its first loss of the season as Emory pulled away with a 78-65 win. The win marks Emory's fourth victory over a top-25 opponent this season. The contest was played at the Highmark Center on Carnegie Mellon's campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
 
It was once again Jair Knight leading the way for Emory on Saturday, as the junior guard went for 27 points while hauling in 10 boards for his second double-double of the year. Knight has now reached double-digit scoring in all seven of Emory's contests this season. Sophomore Ethan Fauss had his second-straight 14-point game as he knocked down three shots from beyond the arc. Sophomore AJ Harris joined his teammates in reaching double-figures in the scoring column, recording 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field.
 
The Eagles opened the game with energy, giving the Panthers fits on both ends of the floor. It was just moments after tip-off and Emory had jumped out to a 7-0 lead. It was well over three minutes into the game when Middlebury made their first field goal. Yet, the Emory offense went cold, and the Panthers went on a 7-0 run of their own to knot things up at seven points apiece with just under 15 minutes left in the opening half.
 
After trading field goals to bring the score to 9-9, Emory went on a dominant run. Over the next seven minutes, the Eagles went on an 20-4 run. Fauss kicked off the run with a shot from well beyond the arc, his first of three on the afternoon. Five different Eagles scored during the stretch of scoring, bringing the score to 29-13 with 7 minutes left in the opening half on the clock.
 
The well went dry for Emory, though, not scoring a field goal for nearly three minutes after going to timeout. Yet, the Eagles' defense never wavered, holding the Panthers' offense to just two points during the scoring drought. Knight reinvigorated the offense in the waning minutes of the half, scoring eight points over the last two minutes of the half to bring his first half total to 18.
 
Emory capitalized on Middlebury's mistakes in the opening half, forcing 14 turnovers and scoring 20 points off these miscues. Meanwhile, Emory played a much cleaner brand of basketball, turning the ball over just three times with Middlebury mustering just two points off the mistakes, playing a major role in Emory's 41-21 lead at the break.
 
The second half picked up right where the tilt had left off, with the Eagles capitalizing off a couple of Panther turnovers. The Emory offense continued to knock down shots, maintaining the cushion they'd built for themselves in the opening frame. Junior Ben Pearce and Fauss gave Emory its biggest lead of the day around the 13-minute mark, knocking down shots from beyond the arc on consecutive possessions to take a 58-32 lead.
 
It appeared the Eagles would be able to ride this one out and stash away its seventh win of the season. Middlebury's Kuba Cwalina had other plans. Over the next 11 minutes of the game, Cwalina scored 15 points on 4-5 shooting from beyond the arc to bring the Panthers withing nine with 3:30 left on the clock. Emory put water on the Middlebury comeback, though, as the Eagles offense answered the call down the stretch to pull out its seventh straight win to start the season.
 
This is Emory's best start to a season since the 2019-20 season when the Eagles ran out to a 10-0 start. The program record for wins to start a season is 12, a mark set by the 2011-12 team. Emory has a chance to extend its winning streak to eight tomorrow when they take on Bowdoin College at 1:00 PM. The game will be played at Carnegie Mellon University's Highmark Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.