PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Expelled Yale captain Jack Montague attended the Bulldogs' NCAA tournament-opening 79-75 win against Baylor on Thursday, cheering on his former teammates in their first trip to the event since 1962.
Montague was wearing a red baseball cap and a jacket as he sat a few rows from the floor opposite the Yale bench, surrounded by friends.
When approached by ESPN at halftime, Montague referred all comments about his situation to a statement his lawyer issued Monday.
In the statement, Boston-based attorney Max Stern disputed claims that Montague had assaulted a woman on campus, saying the sexual encounter in October 2014 was consensual. The woman said it was not.
According to the statement, Montague was expelled after a Yale University-Wide Committee determined Feb. 10 that he was culpable of the female student's charges.
When asked again by ESPN to give his side of the story, he referred to the lawyer's statement.
Montague said he didn't know if he would return to watch Yale play Saturday against Duke. He left his seat later in the second half of Thursday's game.
The senior, who was a guard, scored 16 points against Cornell on Feb. 6, his last game with the Bulldogs. Without him, Yale went 7-1 to finish the season.
The Bulldogs were criticized on campus last month for wearing Montague's No. 4 and his nickname "Gucci" on the back of warm-up T-shirts in support of the former team captain. The players later apologized.
On Wednesday, Yale players issued repeated "no comments" when asked whether Montague would attend Thursday's game. They also wouldn't answer whether his absence and the controversy over his expulsion was a distraction.