NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Yale will be without starting forward Matt Townsend for its next two games while he interviews for a Rhodes Scholarship.
The 6-foot-7 senior carries a 4.0 grade point average in molecular, cellular and developmental biology. He is one of eight Yale students selected as finalists for the prestigious scholarships to Oxford University.
Townsend will interview in New York this weekend.
The school says Townsend will miss two games the team is playing as part of the Men Against Breast Cancer Classic at Kent State. He won't play Friday against Illinois-Chicago or Saturday against Southern Illinois, but plans to rejoin the team for a Sunday game against Kent State.
Townsend averaged 7.7 points and 4 rebounds a game last season. He scored 14 points in Yale's win Monday over Newbury.
He would be the fourth Yale basketball player to earn a Rhodes Scholarship and the first since James McGuire in 1976.