The Cornell Basketball Blog

Cornell Athletics Game Notes for Visit to Harvard

2012-01-31T14:35:00.003-05:00

Nationally Ranked Harvard First Up For Men's Hoops This Weekend
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CORNELL INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics I History

HARVARD INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics

DARTMOUTH INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics

GAME INFORMATION
Game #19: Cornell at No. --/23 Harvard
Tip off: Friday, Feb. 3, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Lavietes Pavilion (2,050), Cambridge, Mass.
2011-12 Records: Cornell (7-11, 2-2 Ivy League); Harvard (18-2, 4-0 Ivy League)
Series Record: Cornell leads 90-70
Last Meeting: Harvard won 73-60, Feb. 18, 2011 in Ithaca, N.Y.

Game #20: Cornell at Dartmouth
Tip off: Saturday, Feb. 4, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Leede Arena (2,100), Hanover, N.H.
2011-12 Records: Cornell (7-11, 2-2 Ivy League); Dartmouth (4-16, 0-4 Ivy League)
Series Record: Dartmouth leads 102-100
Last Meeting: Cornell won 96-76, Feb. 19, 2011 in Ithaca, N.Y.

Radio: HITS 103.3 FM (Barry Leonard)
TV: None
Live Stats: check availability at www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: check availability at www.CornellBigRed.com
Tickets: check availability by calling (607) 254-BEAR

HEAD COACH BILL COURTNEY
Cornell head coach Bill Courtney is in his second season at Cornell (17-29, .370) ... Courtney became the fifth Robert E. Gallagher '44 Coach of Men's Basketball at Cornell on April 23, 2010.

ITHACA, N.Y. — After evening its Ivy League record last weekend, the Cornell men's basketball team will face a pair of road challenges when it visits No. 23 Harvard and Dartmouth this weekend. The Big Red meets the Crimson on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. at Lavietes Pavilion, then vists the Big Green on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. at Leede Arena. Barry Leonard will provide the call on HITS 103.3 FM and you can listen live audio of the game on RedCast. Additionally, both Harvard and Dartmouth will provide live video on their web sites for a fee.

Cornell and Harvard have combined to win the last four Ivy League titles, with the Big Red the last Ancient Eight team to be nationally ranked before the Crimson this year (rising as high as No. 17 in 2009-10). Harvard is off to an 18-2 start and has signature wins over Florida State and Boston College. Dartmouth is rebuilding with one of the youngest teams in the Ivy League, including leading freshman rebounder Gabas Maldunas. Ten of the team's 16 losses have come by single digits.

Chris Wroblewski, a senior co-captain, became the school's 24th 1,000-point scorer earlier this season. He enters the weekend averaging 9.9 points, 5.4 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game and runs an offense that has seven players averaging 5.6 points per game or better. Senior Drew Ferry is posting a team-high 12.2 points and ranks eighth nationally in 3-pointers made per game (3.2), while Miller is scoring 9.2 ppg. and leads the team in rebounding (6.3 rpg.) and blocked shots (1.8 bpg.). Freshman Galal Cancer is averaging 7.1 ppg., 3.1 apg., 2.9 rpg. and 1.4 spg. and ranks third on the team in scoring in Ivy games (9.8 ppg.).

ABOUT HARVARD
* 2011-12 Record: 18-2 (4-0 Ivy League).
* Head Coach: Tommy Amaker (Duke '87), 84-53, fifth season at Harvard; 261-191, 15th season overall.
* Harvard brings a six-game win streak and an 18-2 overall record into Friday's conference matchup with the Big Red. Opponents haven't scored more than 61 points in a game in seven contests.
* Harvard has been one of the top defensive teams in the country and has limited opponents to 40 percent shooting from the floor and 53.4 points per game.
* Offensively, the Crimson haven't been slouches either. Harvard is shooting 47 percent from the floor as a team and 37 percent from 3-point range.
* The Crimson feature three double figure scorers (Kyle Casey - 11.0 ppg.; Laurent Rivard - 10.6 ppg.; Keith Wright - 10.6 ppg.) and three other players scoring six points per game or more. Wright, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, is also averaging 7.8 rebounds per game. As a team, the Crimson outrebound opponents by +4.4 rpg.
* Fifth-year head coach Tommy Amaker has helped the Crimson to unprecedented success, including the program's first-ever Ivy League championship in 2010-11. Harvard has made consecutive postseason tournament for the first time ever.

THE SERIES: Cornell leads the series 90-70 dating back to the first meeting between the teams in the 1901-02 season. The Big Red is 11-7 in the last 18 contests and has won five of the last eight meetings, though Harvard swept last season's contests. Cornell's last four wins in the series have come by an average of 24.8 points, though the Crimson took a pair of easy victories over the Big Red a season ago by an average of 17.0 points.

LAST TIME VS. HARVARD: Cornell turned the ball over just eight times, outrebounded Harvard and outscored the talented Harvard frontcourt 30-16 in the paint, but a 35-6 free-throw disparity in the favor of the visitors proved too much for the Big Red to overcome in a 73-60 loss at Newman Arena. Drew Ferry hit four 3-pointers for his team-high 12 points, while Max Groebe added 10 as the lone Big Red players in double figures. Chris Wroblewski chipped in with eight points and three assists, while Adam Wire had eight points, five rebounds and three assists. Mark Coury had six points and seven rebounds, including five of the team's 15 offensive boards. Cornell held a 32-29 advantage on the glass and was credited with 14 assists to just eight turnovers. Harvard got balanced scoring with five players in double figures, led by Christian Webster with 20 points and five rebounds. The player that made it all go was point guard Brandyn Curry, who stemmed off at least three Cornell runs with shots at big times en route to 18 points and five assists. Kyle Casey chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds, while Keith Wright had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Laurent Rivard scored 10 points off the bench to round out the double figure scorers. The Crimson connected on 29-of-35 shots from the free-throw line (83 percent), while Cornell was perfect in six attempts.

ABOUT DARTMOUTH
* 2011-12 Record: 4-16 (0-4 Ivy League).
* Head Coach: Paul Cormier (New Hampshire '74), 96-134, ninth season at Dartmouth; 182-245, 16th season overall.
* Dartmouth has lost three straight and nine of the last 10 to enter Friday's contest against Columbia with a 4-16 record. That mark is a bit deceiving, as 10 of those losses have come by single digits.
* Freshman Gabas Maldunas leads the team in scoring (8.8 ppg.), rebounding (7.1 rpg.) and blocked shots (20). In all, six different players are averaging between 6.7 and 8.8 points.
* The Big Green is shooting 39 percent from the floor overall and 35 percent from 3-point range while allowing opponents to connect on 41 percent of their shots and an equal 35 percent from beyond the arc.
* In his second go-round on the Dartmouth bench, Paul Cormier directed the Big Green to some of its greatest successes in the 1990s. Now, he is facing a rebuilding job with some of the top young talent in the Ancient Eight.

THE SERIES: Dartmouth leads 102-100 overall in a series that dates back to the 1900-01 campaign. Cornell has had the best of the series recently despite having its 10-game win streak in the series snapped last year. The Big Red has still captured wins in 14 of the last 16 meetings, including eight straight at Newman Arena.

LAST TIME VS. DARTMOUTH: For the second time this Ivy League season, the Cornell men's basketball hit 16 3-pointers and put six scorers in double figures, shooting 57 percent from the floor overall en route to a 96-76 win over Dartmouth at Newman Arena. Sophomore Errick Peck had a career-high 22 points, classmate Johnathan Gray posted his first career double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) and junior Chris Wroblewski narrowly missed his second of the season (19 points, nine assists) as Cornell took control early and never let its foot off the pedal in a fast-paced effort. Four different players (Wroblewski, Peck, Max Groebe and Drew Ferry) each hit at least three 3-pointers as the team connected on 16-of-29 shots from beyond the arc (.552) as a group. Both Groebe and Ferry had 14 points each, while freshman Jake Matthews scored a career-high 10 points, including eight in the first half. Dartmouth shot 54 percent from the floor and made 7-of-14 from 3-point range, but couldn't overcome its 17 turnovers or the Big Red's hot shooting. R.J. Griffin led the team with 18 points and five rebounds, while Tyler Melville and Ronnie Dixon each had 11. Jabari Trotter rounded out the Big Green's four double figure scorers with 10 points.

NOTES TO KNOW:
* Though it hasn't been able to break through on the road (0-9), Cornell has had great success at home (7-2).
* Thirteen of the team's last 14 games against Division I teams have been decided by single digits.
* Three of Cornell's games have gone to overtime, with the Big Red going 2-1. It is the ninth time Cornell has played in at least three overtime games in a single season. The school record for OT contests in a year is four, done in 1962-63, 1979-80 and 1999-2000.

CORNELL VS. RANKED OPPONENTS: Cornell enters its contest against No. 23 Harvard with a 5-66 record all-time against teams ranked in the top 25. Cornell snapped an 18-game skid against ranked teams by dispatching of No. 12/13 Temple in the NCAA first round and No. 16/19 Wisconsin in the second round of the 2009-10 tournament. The Big Red's previous win was a 74-54 triumph over then-No. 19 California, at the 1992 Seton Hall/Meadowlands Tournament. That team featured Jason Kidd (who sat out the game) and former NBA player Lamond Murray. The Big Red's other wins came against then-No. 17 Syracuse in 1957 (60-54), then-No. 3 Princeton in 1967 (62-56) and a win by forfeit against No. 15 Minnesota in a game vacated by the Gophers after using an ineligible player in 1976.

TALL IVY: Over the last six seasons, Cornell's 55-19 record is the best among Ivy League teams in conference action. Penn, who claimed the 2006-07 title, is second at 43-30, followed by Yale (42-32), and 2010-11 Ivy champions Harvard (40-34) and Princeton (37-36). Rounding out the field is Columbia (33-41), Brown (30-44) and Dartmouth (16-58).

CORNELL IN OVERTIME:
* Cornell is 2-1 this season in overtime in 2011-12.
* In two seasons under head coach Bill Courtney, the Big Red is 3-1.
* All-time, dating back to the first overtime game against Penn way back in 1922, Cornell is 37-45 in games that go an extra period.
* Cornell is 5-9 in multiple overtime games.
* The longest game for the Big Red was a five overtime contest against Princeton, won by the Tigers 66-61 on Feb. 24, 1979 at Barton Hall.
* Cornell is 28-15 in home overtime games, 2-2 in neutral contests and 8-27 in road games.

THE STREAKS
* Cornell is 88-50 in the last five seasons.
* The Big Red is 46-14 in its last 60 Ivy League contests over the last five years.
* Cornell is 53-11 over its last 64 home games, including 36-9 in the last four seasons and 48-10 in the last five years.
* In non-conference games, the Big Red is 42-36 over the last five seasons.

TEAM NOTES:
* The Big Red has limited opponents to 27 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point arc (96-of-352), with opponents making just 5.3 per game. Only twice has a team shot better than 33 percent against Cornell.
* Seven of Cornell's last nine opponents have shot under 40 percent from the floor (.389 over last nine games).
* The Big Red has been outrebounded in 15 of the team's first 18 contests.
* Cornell has made at least seven 3-pointers in 14 of its first 18 contests this season, while only allowing as many as seven five times (seven vs. Boston University, at Illinois, at Stony Brook and 10 at Penn State, vs. Penn).
* Cornell shot 43 percent from 3-point range in its first two games (18-of-42), but has connected on just 32 percent (119-of-378) in its last 16.
* Over its last four contests, the Big Red has made just 18-of-73 from 3-point range (.247).
* Cornell has at least eight steals in six straight games for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign.
* Cornell has already lost 94 player games due to injury (Asafo-Adjei - 10; D.Cherry - 4; Gatlin - 18; Groebe - 2; LaMore - 3; Matthews - 18; Peck - 18; Sahota - 18; Scelfo - 3).

MILLER CHALLENGING ROOKIE RECORDS: Freshman Shonn Miller has already set a freshman record for blocked shots in a season (33, good for 12th best in school history), breaking the previous record of 22 by Jeffrion Aubry during the 1995-96 campaign. Miller sits 16th on the school's freshman scoring chart with his 165 points scored. Next on the list is Ken Bantum with 184 points. To reach the top 10, Miller would need to average 8.0 ppg. over the remaining 10 regular season contests. His 114 rebounds is just 25 shy of Lenny Collins' school freshman record of 139 set during the 2002-03 campaign.

CORNELL HAS FOUR IVY LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK AWARDS:
Nov. 14 — Shonn Miller's first varsity appearance was enough to catch the eye of the league after a solid opening effort at St. Bonaventure. Miller connected on all three of his field goals, including a 3-pointer, and added a team-high four rebounds in Cornell's 79-58 loss to the Bonnies. He added a blocked shot and a steal.
Nov. 21 — Shonn Miller averaged 12.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.0 blocks and 0.7 steals in just 23.3 minutes per game in helping Cornell go 2-1. He shot 46 percent from the floor and 71 percent from the free-throw line. He reached double figures in two of the three contests. Miller opened the week with career highs of 19 points and eight rebounds to go along with a block and a steal in a win over Binghamton. He eight points and two rebounds against Buffalo and notched 10 points, six rebounds and two blocked two shots against reigning America East champion and preseason favorite Boston University.
Nov. 28 — Shonn Miller averaged 8.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.5 steals in two games for the Big Red, including earning his first career starts. He had eight points, 10 rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals against an athletic Delaware frontcourt. He answered that performance with nine points, seven rebounds, a block and a steal against American.
Dec. 19 — Galal Cancer scored 11 points, dished seven assists, snatched five rebounds and picked up four steals in an 85-82 overtime victory over the Great Danes. He made 5-of-10 field goals while collecting career highs in assists and steals. He was also just two points off his career scoring high. Cancer had four points, two rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block in the final minute of regulation for the Big Red, who overcame a 10-point deficit with nine minutes to play to force an extra session.

CORNELL BEYOND THE ARC — 600 AND COUNTING: The Big Red hit nine 3-pointers against Columbia on Jan. 28, its 645th consecutive game with a made trey. With five 3-pointers at Seton Hall on Nov. 14, 2010, Cornell extended its streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 600. The last time Cornell did not hit a 3-pointer was against Denison in the 1988-89 season opener (0-for-2). Since the 3-point shot came into effect in NCAA play during the 1986-87 season, Cornell has hit at least one shot behind the arc in 693 of 697 games, connecting on 4,339 treys, an average of 6.2 per game. Cornell has hit at least 10 3-pointers in a game 34 times in 79 games over the last three years, including an Ivy League single-game record 20 at Brown in 2009-10.

BOMBS AWAY: Cornell made 251 3-pointers in 28 contests during the 2010-11 campaign. The 9.0 3-pointers per game ranked second all-time in a season for the Big Red (behind only the 9.6 per game in 2009-10) and ranked sixth among all Division I teams a season ago. Last season, Cornell ranked first nationally in 3-point percentage (.430) and third in 3-pointers made per game in 2009-10, and ranked in the top 20 nationally in 3-point percentage in 2008-09 (fourth, .411), 2007-08 (fourth, .409) and 2006-07 (18th, .396).

STATING THE STATES: Members of the Cornell basketball team represent 16 states and one Canadian province.

BIG RED CAPTAINS: Cornell's senior backcourt of Drew Ferry and Chris Wroblewski will serve as co-captains for the 2011-12 season. Wroblewski is in his second year as team captain, becoming the 13th player to serve as captain for at least two years.

WROBLEWSKI NAMED FINALIST FOR LOWE'S SENIOR CLASS AWARD: Senior guard Chris Wroblewski has been named one of 30 finalists for the Lowe's Senior Class Award it was announced today by the committee. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. He joins Penn's senior guard Zack Rosen as the only Ivy League players on the list. Wroblewski was a third-team Capital One Academic All-American as a junior and has twice been named to the academic all-district team. The two-year team captain has been involved in numerous charitable endeavors and has been a four-year starter on the court. His teams have won two Ivy titles and he is a two-year member of the Bob Cousy Award Watch List as the nation's top point guard. A second-team All-Ivy pick as a junior, he was the conference's leader in steals and was second in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio and sixth in scoring. He has twice led the conference in 3-point field-goal percentage.

NEXT UP: Cornell returns home for a weekend set against Yale on Friday, Feb. 10, then Brown on Saturday, Feb. 11 at Newman Arena. Both games will tip at 7 p.m.

Game Preview Center: Cornell at Harvard (2.3.12) and Dartmouth (2.4.12)

2012-01-31T10:17:00.002-05:00

Get all the information you need about the Cornell Big Red's games at Harvard (February 3, 7 pm) and Dartmouth (February 4, 7 pm) right here with The Cornell Basketball Blog's Game Preview Center. As the games approaches, we will be adding relevant links to this space. Let us know your thoughts on the upcoming games by either leaving a comment to this post, sending us an email (CornellBigRedFan@gmail.com), or posting a message on The Cornell Basketball Blog's Community Forum (click here, free membership).

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News and Notes: Tuesday Edition

2012-01-31T09:15:00.006-05:00

Below, some news and notes for Tuesday...

WHRB, the student radio at Harvard, quoted Tommy Amaker back on January 23 as saying, "What Cornell did a couple of years ago and what we are doing right now and being ranked, these are the kinds of things that are going to give more credibility to our league as a whole."

Previewing the Cornell at Harvard game on Friday, SBNation of Boston writes, "Cornell (7-11, 2-2 Ivy League) @ Harvard (18-2, 4-0 Ivy League) 7 p.m. The only ranked team in New England makes it's first appearance at home in over two weeks, when they take on a Cornell program that is still rebuilding after the departure of Steve Donahue. Harvard earned a big win Friday night in blowout fashion over Yale, before putting away Brown Saturday on the road, moving them to 4-0 in the Ivy League. Cornell shouldn't pose any great threat to the Crimson, but Tommy Amaker might have a few more kind words than usual for Cornell head coach Bill Courtney, after the Big Red knocked off Princeton in their Ivy League opener. Significance: 4 of 5, Quality: 2 of 5, Overall: 6 of 10."

The Commercial Appeal of Memphis notes that a future Cornell football lineman nailed a three pointer in his coach's win No. 1000.

Vote for Jeff Foote (Cornell '10) to appear in the NBA D-League All Star game by visiting the D-League Website. Foote and his Springfield Armor are back in action on Thursday when they host the Sioux Falls Skyforce. As always, all D-League games are broadcast free online via the D-League website.

Visit The Cornell Basketball Blog's updated profiles of Cornell's four committed recruits from the classes of 2012 and 2013, Braxston Bunce (Kelowna Secondary School) Kelowna, BC, Canada, 6-11, Holt Harmon (Plano West HS), Plano, TX, 6-9, F; Nolan Cressler (Plum HS) Plum, PA, 6-4, G (class of 2012); and Tim Higgins (Paul VI HS) Fairfax, VA, 6-10, C (class of 2013). In addition, a listing of the Ivy League's committed recruits in the class of 2012 is available by clicking here.

The Kelowna Capital News writes, "It's been 30 years since the home team celebrated its first and only championship at the Interior Savings Western Canada Basketball Tournament. There may be no collection of talent better equipped to end the three-decade dry spell than the 2012 edition of the Kelowna Owls. Anchored by blue chip seniors Braxston Bunce and Mitch Goodwin—and aided by a solid supporting cast—KSS heads into this week's 39th annual tourney as the No. 1-ranked AAA team in the province. The Owls are 18-3 overall and haven't lost to a B.C. opponent in nearly two months."

Game Recaps-Below are links to our game recap sections from each of Cornell's games this season.

November 11, 2011 at St. Bonaventure L 58-79
November 14, 2011 vs. Binghamton W 76-61
November 16, 2011 at Buffalo L 59-68
November 20, 2011 vs. Boston University W 71-66
November 22, 2011 at Delaware L 68-76
November 27, 2011 vs. American L 63-65
December 3, 2011 vs. Lehigh W 81-79 (OT)

December 17, 2011 vs. Albany W 85-82 (OT)
December 19, 2011 at Illinois L 60-64
December 21, 2011 at Penn State L 67-74
December 28, 2011 at Stony Brook L 58-69 (OT)
December 31, 2011 at Bucknell L 60-63
January 3, 2012 at Maryland L 62-70
January 7, 2012 vs. Albright W 78-60
January 13, 2012 vs. Princeton W 67-59
January 14, 2012 vs. Penn L 52-64
January 21, 2012 at Columbia L 56-61
January 28, 2012 vs. Columbia W 65-60

Cornell RPI Watch: The RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. It does not consider the margin of victory, but only whether or not a team won and where the game was played (home/away/neutral court). The formula is 25% team winning percentage (WP), 50% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage (OOWP). (See: CollegeRPI.com for a further explanation of the formula.) The RPI may be the most influential factor in NCAA Tournament seeding. Cornell's RPI rank as of January 31 is No. 212 out of 344 total Division I teams. While neither the Ken Pomeroy or Jeff Sagarin rankings are used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, the KenPom.com site ranks Cornell No. 194 in the nation, while the USA Today Sagarin rankings have Cornell at No. 202 Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

Here is a look at Ivy League results and upcoming games. A full Ivy composite schedule may viewed by clicking here.

IVY LEAGUE COMPOSITE SCHEDULE

Friday, November 11
Johnson & Wales 66 Brown 86 (Box Score - Recap)
Columbia 57 Connecticut 70[ESPNU] (Box Score - Recap)
Cornell 58 St. Bonaventure 79 (Box Score - Recap)
MIT 49 Harvard 76 (Box Score - Recap)
Dartmouth 56 Rutgers 62 (Box Score - Recap)
Penn 59 Maryland-Baltimore County 45 (Box Score - Recap)
Yale 73 Central Connecticut State 69 (Box Score - Recap)

Saturday, November 12
Wagner 73 Princeton 57 (Box Score - Recap)

Monday, November 14
Albany 77 Brown 68 (NIT Tip-Off-1st Round@Syracuse, N.Y.)[ESPN3] (Box Score - Recap)
Temple 73 Penn 67 OT (Box Score - Recap)
Furman 58 Columbia 62 (Box Score - Recap)
Binghamton 61 Cornell 76 (Box Score - Recap)

Tuesday, November 15
Harvard 73 Holy Cross 64 (Box Score - Recap)
Yale 62 Quinnipiac 68 [SNY] (Box Score - Recap)
Brown 52 Manhattan 54 NIT Tip Consolation@Syracuse, N.Y. [ESPN3] (Box Score - Recap)

Wednesday, November 16
Cornell 59 Buffalo 68 (Box Score - Recap)
Vermont 65 Dartmouth 53 (Box Score - Recap)
Princeton 58 North Carolina State 60 [ESPNU] (Box Score - Recap)

Thursday, November 17
Penn 78 Rider 72 OT (Box Score - Recap)
Lyndon State 37 Yale 101 (Box Score - Recap)

Saturday, November 19
Buffalo 53 Princeton 61 (Box Score - Recap)
Hartford 52 Brown 59 (Box Score - Recap)
American 66 Columbia 58 (Box Score - Recap)
Bryant 62 Dartmouth 66 (Box Score - Recap)
Robert Morris 60 Penn 66 (Box Score - Recap)
Harvard 77 Loyola Marymount 67 (Box Score - Recap)

Sunday, November 20
Boston University 66 Cornell 71 (Box Score - Recap)

Sunday, November 20
Boston University 66 Cornell 71 (Box Score - Recap)

Monday, November 21
Brown 48 George Mason 74 (NIT Consolation Fairfax, VA) (Box Score - Recap)

Tuesday, November 22
Brown 79 Monmouth 71 (NIT Consolation Fairfax, VA) (Box Score - Recap)
Columbia 53 Stony Brook 67 (Box Score - Recap)
Cornell 64 Delaware 72 (Box Score - Recap)
Wagner 71 Penn 65 (Box Score - Recap)
Elon 56 Princeton 55 (Box Score - Recap)
Yale 62 Seton Hall 73 (Box Score - Recap)

Thursday, November 24
Dartmouth 69 San Francisco 71 (Great Alaska Shootout) (Box Score - Recap)
Harvard 75 Utah 47 [HDNet] (Battle 4 Atlantis Bahamas) (Box Score - Recap)

Friday, November 25
Dartmouth 64 vs. Alaska-Anchorage 52(Great Alaska Shootout) (Box Score - Recap)
Harvard 46 Florida State 41 [VERSUS] (Battle 4 Atlantis Bahamas) (Box Score - Recap)
Princeton 56 Bucknell 62 (Legends Classic, Lewisberg, PA) (Box Score - Recap)
Pittsburgh 78 Penn 58 [TCN] (Box Score - Recap)

Saturday, November 26
Yale 84 Army 75 (Box Score - Recap)
Columbia 59 Manhattan 41 (Box Score - Recap)
Princeton 56 Morehead State 68 (Legends Classic, Lewisberg, PA) (Box Score - Recap)
James Madison 60 Penn 58 [TCN] (Philly Hoop Group Classic) (Box Score - Recap)
Dartmouth 48 Western Michigan 65 (Great Alaska Shootout) (Box Score - Recap)
Harvard 59 Central Florida 49 [VERSUS] (Battle 4 Atlantis Bahamas) (Box Score - Recap)

Sunday, November 27
Brown 64 Sacred Heart 77 (Box Score - Recap)
Princeton 66 West Alabama 66 (Legends Classic, Lewisberg, PA) (Box Score - Recap)
American 65 Cornell 63 (Box Score - Recap)

Monday, November 28
Swarthmore 42 Columbia 104 (Box Score - Recap)

Tuesday, November 29
Manhattan 72 Penn 75 (Box Score - Recap)
Yale 74 Hartford 69 (Box Score - Recap)

Wednesday, November 30
Dartmouth 50 New Hampshire 53 (Box Score - Recap)
Lafayette 69 Princeton 54 (Box Score - Recap)
Rhode Island 56 Brown 65 [myRITV] (Box Score - Recap)

Thursday, December 1
Harvard 55 Vermont 48 (Box Score - Recap)

Friday, December 2
Columbia 69 Loyola Marymount 61 (LA Westside Centennial Classic) (Box Score - Recap)

Saturday, December 3
Vermont 52 Yale 68 (Box Score - Recap)
Brown 54 Iowa 75 (Box Score - Recap)
Lehigh 79 Cornell 81 (OT) (Box Score - Recap)
Penn 65 Villanova 73 [ESPN3] (Box Score - Recap)
Columbia 72 North Texas 57 (Box Score - Recap) (LA Westside Centennial Classic)

Sunday, December 4
Columbia 78 La Sierra 56 (Box Score - Recap) (LA Westside Centennial Classic)
Seattle 70 Harvard 80 (Box Score - Recap)

Monday, December 5
Brown 49 Providence 80 [ESPN3/SNY] (Box Score - Recap)
Yale 73 Sacred Heart 71 (Box Score - Recap)

Tuesday, December 6
Holy Cross 45 Columbia 46 (Box Score - Recap)

Wednesday, December 7
Delaware 60 Penn 69 (Box Score - Recap)
New Hampshire 69 Brown 56 (Box Score - Recap)
Princeton 59 Rutgers 57 (Box Score - Recap)
Bryant 59 Yale 76 (Box Score - Recap)

Thursday, December 8
Harvard 53 Connecticut 67 [ESPN2] (Box Score - Recap)

Saturday, December 10
Central Connecticut State 80 Brown 90 (Box Score - Recap)
Long Island 53 Columbia 63 (Box Score - Recap)
Harvard 76 Boston University 52 (Box Score - Recap)
Princeton 60 Drexel 64 (Box Score - Recap)
Penn 73 UCLA 77 [DirecTV] (Box Score - Recap)
Dartmouth 47 Notre Dame 65 [ESPN3] (Box Score - Recap)

Tuesday, December 13
Dartmouth 51 IPFW 56 (Box Score - Recap)

Wednesday, December 14
Princeton 72 Rider 71 OT (Box Score - Recap)

Saturday, December 17
Elon 54 Dartmouth 62 (Box Score - Recap)
Albany 82 Cornell 85 OT (Box Score - Recap)

Sunday, December 18
Princeton 71 Northeastern 62 (Box Score - Recap)
Yale 68 Rhode Island 65 [COX RI] (Box Score - Recap)

Monday, December 19
Cornell 60 Illinois 64 [ESPN3] (Box Score - Recap)
Dartmouth 55 Colgate 61 OT (Box Score - Recap)

Wednesday, December 21
Dartmouth 64 Army 67 (Box Score - Recap)
Cornell 67 Penn State 74 [Big Ten Network] (Box Score - Recap)

Thursday, December 22
Florida Atlantic 51 Harvard 63 (Box Score - Recap)
Princeton 59 Siena 63 (Box Score - Recap)

Friday, December 23
Maine 71 Brown 58 (Box Score - Recap)
Dartmouth 74 Albany 82 (Box Score - Recap)
Marist 71 Penn 84 (Box Score - Recap)

Wednesday, December 28
Columbia 59 Marist 79 (Box Score - Recap)
Cornell 59 Stony Brook 68 OT [Cablevision] (Box Score - Recap)

Thursday, December 29
Brown 49 St. Francis (N.Y.) 66 (Box Score - Recap)
Harvard 67 Boston College 46 [ESPN3] (Box Score - Recap)
Penn 70 Davidson 75 (Box Score - Recap)
Yale 71 Wake Forest 72 (Box Score - Recap)

Friday, December 30
Princeton 75 Florida State 73 (3OT) [ESPN3] (Box Score - Recap)
Lafayette 67 Columbia 77 (Box Score - Recap)

Saturday, December 31
Cornell 60 Bucknell 63 (Box Score - Recap)
Holy Cross 65 Dartmouth 61 (Box Score - Recap)
Yale 70 Florida 90 [ESPNU] (Box Score - Recap)
Saint Joseph’s 69 Harvard 74 (Box Score - Recap)

Sunday, January 1
Princeton 76 Florida A&M 61 (Box Score - Recap)
Penn 55 Duke 85 [ESPNU] (Box Score - Recap)

Monday, January 2
American 70 Brown 61 (Box Score - Recap)
Fairleigh Dickinson 52 Columbia 67 (Box Score - Recap)

Tuesday, January 3
Bucknell 67 Dartmouth 59 (Box Score - Recap)
Harvard 54 Fordham 60 (Box Score - Recap)
Holy Cross 67 Yale 82 (Box Score - Recap)
Cornell 62 Maryland 70 [ESPN3] (Box Score - Recap)

Wednesday, January 4
Columbia 66 Colgate 59 (Box Score - Recap)
Penn 78 Lafayette 73 (Box Score - Recap)

Saturday, January 7
*Dartmouth 47 Harvard 63 (Box Score - Recap)
Albright 60 Cornell 78 (Box Score - Recap)

Sunday, January 8
Columbia 65 Elon 60 (Box Score - Recap)
The College of New Jersey 68 Princeton 79 (Box Score - Recap)
St. Joseph’s (N.Y.) 86 Yale 101 (Box Score)

Tuesday, January 10
Harvard 70 Monmouth 61 (Box Score - Recap)
La Salle 68 Penn 57 (Box Score - Recap)

Wednesday, January 11
Longwood 79 Brown 77 (Box Score - Recap)

Friday, January 13
*Penn 66 Columbia 64 (Box Score - Recap)
*Princeton 59 Cornell 67 (Box Score - Recap)

Saturday, January 14
*Brown 64 Yale 68 (Box Score - Recap)
Longwood 67 Dartmouth 83 (Box Score - Recap)
George Washington 48 Harvard 69 (Box Score - Recap)
*Princeton 62 Columbia 58 (Box Score - Recap)
*Penn 52 Cornell 64 (Box Score - Recap)

Saturday, January 21
*Yale 73 Brown 60 (Box Score - Recap)
*Cornell 56 Columbia 61 (Box Score - Recap)
*Harvard 54 Dartmouth 38 (Box Score - Recap)
Saint Joseph’s 80 Penn 84 (Box Score - Recap)

Monday, January 23
Brown 67 Bryant 60 (Box Score - Recap)

Friday, January 27
*Dartmouth 59 Brown 66 (Box Score - Recap)
*Harvard 65 Yale 35 (Box Score - Recap)

Saturday, January 28
*Harvard 68 Brown 59 (Box Score - Recap)
*Columbia 60 Cornell 65 (Box Score - Recap)
*Dartmouth 52 Yale 62 (Box Score - Recap)

Monday, January 30
*Princeton 67 Penn 82 (Box Score - Recap)

Friday, February 3
*Princeton at Brown, 7 pm
*Columbia at Dartmouth, 7 pm
*Cornell at Harvard, 7 pm
*Penn at Yale, 7 pm

Saturday, February 4
*Penn at Brown, 6 pm
*Columbia at Harvard, 7 pm
*Cornell at Dartmouth, 7 pm
*Princeton at Yale, 7 pm

Ivy Awards

2012-01-30T13:18:00.005-05:00

The Ivy League Office named Chris Wroblewski to the weekly honor roll for the second consecutive week and notes of his play last week:

Chris Wroblewski, Cornell, Senior, Guard (Highland Park, Ill.)
19 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists vs. Columbia

IVY LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS 2011-2012

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Week 1 November 14-Zack Rosen, Penn/Greg Mangano, Yale
Week 2 November 21-Zack Rose, Penn
Week 3 November 28-Keith Wright, Harvard
Week 4 December 5-Meiko Lyles, Columbia
Week 5 December 12-Kyle Casey, Harvard (Cornell not eligible)
Week 6 December 19-Ian Hummer, Princeton
Week 7 December 26-Tyler Bernardini, Penn
Week 8 January 2-Greg Mangano, Yale
Week 9 January 9-Greg Mangano, Yale
Week 10 January 16-Keith Wright, Harvard
Week 11 January 23-Mark Cisco, Columbia
Week 12 January 30-Andrew McCarthy, Brown

ROOKIES OF THE WEEK
Week 1 November 14-Shonn Miller, Cornell/Jvonte Brooks, Dartmouth
Week 2 November 21-Shonn Miller, Cornell/Gabas Maldunas, Dartmouth
Week 3 November 28-Shonn Miller, Cornell/Alex Rosenberg, Columbia
Week 4 December 5-Jonah Travis, Harvard
Week 5 December 12-Gabas Maldunas, Dartmouth (Cornell not eligible)
Week 6 December 19-Galal Cancer, Cornell/John Golden, Dartmouth
Week 7 December 26-Jvonte Brooks, Dartmouth
Week 8 January 2-Denton Koon, Princeton
Week 9 January 9-Gabas Maldunas, Dartmouth
Week 10 January 16-Shonn Miller, Cornell

Week 11 January 23-Corbin Miller, Harvard
Week 12 January 30-Steve Moundou-Missi, Harvard

News and Notes: Monday Edition

2012-01-30T09:30:00.009-05:00

Below, some news and notes for Monday...

The Sports Network predicted Cornell would defeat Columbia on Saturday by a score of 60-57. Cornell ultimately won the game 65-60.

Vote for Jeff Foote (Cornell '10) to appear in the NBA D-League All Star game by visiting the D-League Website. Check out our updates on Cornell alumni playing professionally, including Foote, further down in this post.

Visit The Cornell Basketball Blog's updated profiles of Cornell's four committed recruits from the classes of 2012 and 2013, Braxston Bunce (Kelowna Secondary School) Kelowna, BC, Canada, 6-11, Holt Harmon (Plano West HS), Plano, TX, 6-9, F; Nolan Cressler (Plum HS) Plum, PA, 6-4, G (class of 2012); and Tim Higgins (Paul VI HS) Fairfax, VA, 6-10, C (class of 2013). In addition, a listing of the Ivy League's committed recruits in the class of 2012 is available by clicking here.

Committed Cornell recruit, Nolan Cressler finished with 28 points on Saturday in a defeat to McKeesport. See the Pittsburgh Post Tribune for the brief recap.

Game Recaps-Below are links to our game recap sections from each of Cornell's games this season.

November 11, 2011 at St. Bonaventure L 58-79
November 14, 2011 vs. Binghamton W 76-61
November 16, 2011 at Buffalo L 59-68
November 20, 2011 vs. Boston University W 71-66
November 22, 2011 at Delaware L 68-76
November 27, 2011 vs. American L 63-65
December 3, 2011 vs. Lehigh W 81-79 (OT)

December 17, 2011 vs. Albany W 85-82 (OT)
December 19, 2011 at Illinois L 60-64
December 21, 2011 at Penn State L 67-74
December 28, 2011 at Stony Brook L 58-69 (OT)
December 31, 2011 at Bucknell L 60-63
January 3, 2012 at Maryland L 62-70
January 7, 2012 vs. Albright W 78-60
January 13, 2012 vs. Princeton W 67-59
January 14, 2012 vs. Penn L 52-64
January 21, 2012 at Columbia L 56-61
January 28, 2012 vs. Columbia W 65-60

Cornell RPI Watch: The RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. It does not consider the margin of victory, but only whether or not a team won and where the game was played (home/away/neutral court). The formula is 25% team winning percentage (WP), 50% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage (OOWP). (See: CollegeRPI.com for a further explanation of the formula.) The RPI may be the most influential factor in NCAA Tournament seeding. Cornell's RPI rank as of January 30 is No. 212 out of 344 total Division I teams. While neither the Ken Pomeroy or Jeff Sagarin rankings are used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, the KenPom.com site ranks Cornell No. 195 in the nation, while the USA Today Sagarin rankings have Cornell at No. 203 Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

Here is a look at Ivy League results and upcoming games. A full Ivy composite schedule may viewed by clicking here.

Below is an updated directory listing of some Twitter feeds associated with the Cornell basketball program. You can also follow The Cornell Basketball Blog on Twitter.

-Josh Wexler ('88)
-Steve Cobb ('05)
-Ryan Rourke ('06)
-Andrew Naeve ('07)
-Jason Canady ('08)
-Khaliq Gant ('09)
-Conor Mullen ('09)
-Brian Kreefer ('09)
-Ryan Wittman ('10)
-Pete Reynolds ('10)
-Jon Jaques ('10)
-Louis Dale ('10)
-Alex Tyler ('10)
-Geoff Reeves ('10)
-Jeff Foote ('10)
-Andre Wilkins ('10) (inactive)
-Aaron Osgood ('11)
-Adam Wire ('11)
-The Cornell Rebounders Club
-Max Groebe ()
-Chris Wroblewski ()
-Andrew Ferry ()
-Jonathan Grey ()
-Miles Asafo Adjei ()
-Peter McMillan ()
-Errick Peck ()
-Josh Figini ()
-Galal Cancer ()
-Ned Tomic ()
-Dominick Scelfo ()
-Jake Mathews ()
-Dwight Tarwater ()
-Manny Sahota ()
-Dave LaMore ()
-Shonn Miller ()
-Devin Cherry ()
-Nolan Cressler (committed recruit)
-Braxston Bunce (committed recruit)
-Holt Harmon (committed recruit)
-Tim Higgins (committed recruit)
-Assistant Coach Mike Blaine ()
-Assistant Coach Marlon Sears ()
-Assistant Coach Arlen Galloway ()
-Brian Delaney, WPIE/ESPN Radio Ithaca ()
-Ed Boulat, Ithaca Journal
-Cornell Daily Sun Sports ()
-Slope Sports ()
-WVBR Sports ()
-Former assistant coach, Jay Larranaga ()
-Former head coach, Steve Donahue ()
-Former assistant coach, Nat Graham ()
-Former assistant coach, Woody Kampmann ()
-Former Assistant Coach Ricky Yahn ()
-Former Intern Assistant Ryan Woerner ()

Throughout the year we provide periodic updates on Cornell's alumni playing professionally. Below, some updates:

-Jeff Aubry ('99) (Halcones Rojos, LNBP Mexico premier league/Arecibo Capitanes, BSN Puerto Rico premier league)-As of January 30, Aubry is averaging 6.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Halcones swept Barreteros 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the playoffs and finished the regular season 34-6 and in 1st place out of 14 teams in the Mexican LNBP. Aubry, a 6'11" center, splits his time in both the Mexican and Puerto Rican professional leagues. He is also a member of Puerto Rico's national team joining several NBA stars. A well traveled pro player, Aubry spent several seasons in the NBA D League in the early part of his career with the Fayetteville Patriots and Florida Flame and earned honorable mention all D-League in 2002. During his more than a decade of pro experience, Aubry has also played professionally in the ABA (Miami Tropics) and abroad in Puerto Rico (Arecibo, Leones de Ponce, and Santurce, BSN Puerto Rico), Spain (Tarragona, LEB Gold Spain 2nd Division), Mexico (Halcones Rojos and Chihuahua Dorados, LNBP Mexico premier league), Poland (Slask Wroclaw, PLK Poland premier league), Argentina (Libertad Sunchales, Liga A Argentina), Uruguay (Hebraica, LUB Uruguay )and Peru (Alas Peruanas, Peru).

-Cody Toppert ('05) (Ourense, LEB Silver Spain 3rd Division)-As of January 30, Toppert is averaging 6.5 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. Ourense is 8-5 (4th place out of 13 teams in the Spanish LEB Silver). During his pro career, Toppert, a 6'4" wing forward, has also played in England (Plymouth Raiders, British Basketball League), Italy (Forli, LegaDue Italy 2nd division), the CBA (Great Falls Explorers), as well as in Portugal (Barriernese, LCB Portugal premier league), Germany (Goettingen, BBK Bundesliga Germany premier league) and New Zealand (Taranaki Mountain Airs, NBL New Zealand premier league).

-Jason Hartford ('08) (Unsigned free agent)-As of January 30, Hartford is unsigned for the 2011-2012 season. He was cut during the week of October 17 by Cader Rocha, LUB Uruguay premier league and is now a free agent. He was averaging 12.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, second on the team in both categories. The 6'9" Hartford previously played professionally in Portugal (Ginasio, LCB Portugal premier league), Finland (Huima, Korisliiga Finland premier league) and Mozambique (Maxaquene, D1 Mozambique premier league).

-Louis Dale ('10) (Goettingen, BBK Bundesliga Germany premier league)-As of January 30, Dale is out for the season with a torn ACL. He was averaging 11.9 points, 2.2 assists, and 2.0 rebounds per game before the injury. Dale is in his second professional season, both seasons in Germany with Goettingen.

-Ryan Wittman ('10) (Unsigned free agent)-As of January 30, Wittman is unsigned for the 2011-2012 season after he terminated his contract on September 26 with Zastal of the PLK Poland premier league. He played the 2010-2011 season in Italy (Forli, LegaDue Italy 2nd division) and in the United States (Fort Wayne Mad Ants, NBA D-League).

-Jeff Foote ('10) (Springfield Armor, NBA D-League)-As of January 30, Foote is averaging 14.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 55% from the floor in the D-League. He participated in the Portland Trailblazers' 2011-2012 training camp. Springfield is 13-13 (2nd place out of 8 teams in the Eastern Conference). He played the 2011-2012 preseason with with Zastal of the PLK Poland premier league and the full 2010-2011 season in Spain (Melilla, LEB Gold Spain 2nd division) while on loan from Euro League powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel.

-Adam Wire ('11) (Unsigned free agent)-As of January 30, Wire is an unsigned free agent. He was waived by Vaerlose, Denmark BBK premier league during December. He was averaging 11.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 1.9 assists per game. On November 4, 2011 he was named the Eurobasket Player of the Week for Denmark. The 2011-2012 season is his rookie year.

-Aaron Osgood ('11) (Unsigned free agent)-As of January 30, Osgood is an unsigned free agent. He was waived by Vaerlose, Denmark BBK premier league during December. He was averaging 11.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. The 2011-2012 season is his rookie year.

Visit The Cornell Basketball Blog's Community Forum and Message Board to interact with other fans of Cornell and Ivy League basketball. Membership is free! You may also follow us on Twitter.

Blueprint for Success, the yearbook commemorating Cornell's memorable 2009-2010 season is on sale. Visit the Cornell Athletics website to order your copy today! Or pick up a copy sold in the Cornell Store on campus.

Fans of the basketball program in the Ithaca area should not miss the opportunity to join the Cornell Rebounders Club.

Game Recap: Cornell 65, Columbia 60

2012-01-29T20:28:00.009-05:00

Recaps from the game below...

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS (YNN/Time Warner Cable) (click here)

Cornell looking up in men's basketball
Big Red off to better start in Ivy League as Harvard looms
Ithaca Journal

CU Men's Basketball

SATURDAY: Cornell 65, Columbia 60

RECORD: 7-11 overall, 2-2 Ivy League

NEXT: Friday at Harvard (18-2, 4-0)

ITHACA -- Bill Courtney knows the results might not suggest it, but he is certain that his Cornell men's basketball team is a better squad this season than at this time last season.

Despite being four games below .500 overall and winless on the road, his team is 2-2 in the Ivy League after Saturday's 65-60 defeat of Columbia. Compared to last season's 0-5 conference start, that is real progress.

"That's a big change, and you've got to be pleased with that," Courtney said Saturday after seeing his club withstand a 20-6 Columbia run in the second half that tied the game with eight minutes left.

The Big Red (7-11 overall) went 5-for-6 from the foul line in the final two minutes and, despite two key turnovers while nursing a three-point lead, held on before an appreciative crowd of 4,103.

"I thought the schedule set up well for us to get off to a good start," he said. "We lost a home game (Jan. 14 vs. Pennsylvania), and we lost a game we could have got last week (at Columbia), so that's a disappointment, but 2-2 is obviously growth from where we were last year. I know we're a better team than we were last year, I know that for sure. We've just got to get some results that prove that out."

Saturday's result might prove to be the first of those for the Red. Senior point guard Chris Wroblewski scored eight of his game-high 19 points in a torrid first four minutes of the second half, sparking a run that put the home team ahead by 14 points with 15:13 to play.

Junior guard Johnathan Gray scored 14 points and freshman forward Shonn Miller added 10 points, seven rebounds and two spectacular blocks for the Red, which shot 41.5 percent.

Gray said Wroblewski's catching fire can ignite the rest of the team.

"He's our leader," he said. "Whenever we can, we just want to get him good looks at the basket. When he's going, it gets us going."

Columbia (12-8, 1-3 Ivy League) was led by junior point guard Brian Barbour, who scored 16 of his 19 points after intermission. He keyed the Lions' seven-minute surge through the middle of the second period that turned a 47-33 deficit into a 53-all game with 8:04 left.

"He's an incredible point guard, and all the credit to him," Wroblewski said. "I couldn't keep him in front of me, and he made some ridiculous shots."

Wroblewski was relieved his shot started falling after some early frustration this season. He finished 5-for-8, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc.

"It feels good," said Wroblewski, whose confidence might have been bolstered at the end of the first half, when he flung the ball, baseball-style, from about 70 feet away a split second after the horn sounded and drained it.

"It's tough, because I feel like I'm shooting well in practice," he said. "I've been coming in here between classes and putting in the extra work. And not having that show up in the games has been tough, you can get down on yourself. So a game like this gives me a little confidence."

A confidence-booster like Saturday's win comes at the right time for Cornell, which sets its sights on Friday in Cambridge, Mass., with a game against Harvard (18-2, 4-0). The Crimson have fallen out of the national rankings since a loss to Fordham on Jan. 3, but are still the unquestioned cream of the crop in the Ivies and coming off a weekend sweep of Yale (65-35) and Brown (68-59).

"If we play well, and play like we do in practice, then we'll have a chance," Courtney said. "We've also got to guard them, but the biggest thing is, you've got to score. You look at what they did against Yale (Friday) night, and we know you've got to put the ball in the basket."

Wroblewski, Gray Help Men's Hoops Split Series With Columbia
Cornell Athletics

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)
Photo Gallery (photos by Patrick Shanahan)

ITHACA, NY – The expectation entering the season would be that nearly every Ivy League game would be a war. In this game, a fullcourt bomb helped awaken the Big Red offense.

Cornell earned a split of the season series with Columbia with a 65-60 win at Newman Arena on Saturday evening. The Big Red improved to 7-11 (2-2 Ivy), while the Lions slipped to 12-8 (1-3 Ivy) with the loss.

Senior guard Chris Wroblewski paced three Big Red players in double figures with 19 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including a 4-for-6 effort from the 3-point line. Wroblewski also dished out a game-high five assists and added seven rebounds and two steals. His fullcourt, one-handed heave just after the buzzer seemed to awaken the Big Red fans and appeared to be the symbolic moment when the senior co-captain launched himself out of a season-long shooting slump.

Cornell also got 14 points from junior guard Johnathan Gray and 10 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals from freshman forward Shonn Miller. The Big Red shot 42 percent from the floor and limited the Lions to 37 percent shooting, including a miserable 4-of-22 from beyond the arc (18 percent).

Brian Barbour had a team-high 19 points and added five assists for the Lions, while Mark Cisco had his second consecutive double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Alex Rosenberg rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points.

Cornell held just a 60-59 lead with 1:49 left to play before putting the game away by shooting 5-for-6 from the foul line in the last 1:40. Gray shot 4-for-4 during that span. Following a 30-second timeout with 11 seconds to play. Columbia's Brian Barbour missed a 3-pointer that would of tied the game at 63 with three seconds left. The Big Red rebounded and Gray nailed consecutive charity shots to put the game out of reach.

Wroblewski wowed the crowd of more than 4,100 with a length of the court 3-pointer at the end of the the first half that came just after the buzzer. Cornell rode the momentum after the break to turn a 30-23 lead into a 14-point bulge with a 17-10 run to open the second half. Columbia was able to even the score at 56-56, but Cornell never trailed in the final 28 minutes.

Much like a week ago in New York City, the home team took control midway through the first, ran out to a double figure lead and looked poised to collect an easy win. Then the visitors made a run, getting right back in it, only to see the home team grab control of the momentum again in the final minutes in front of a vocal crowd to earn a hard-fought win.

Such is the history with Cornell-Columbia basketball.

The Big Red started a lineup with four guards and center Eitan Chemerinski and succeeded in neutralizing Mark Cisco, who ripped the Big Red for 18 points and 20 rebounds a week prior. Though Cisco continued to dominate the backboards with seven in the first seven minutes and nine before the break, Cornell was able to successfully speed up the Lions, who ended the half with eight turnovers while making just 29 percent of its shots (7-of-24).

The second half saw the Big Red really open it up, scoring 17 points in the first 4:47 to extend the lead to 47-33 after the last of three straight 3-pointers on consecutive possessions. Gray's two treys were sandwiched around one by Max Groebe. The Lions methodically cut into the lead and even appeared to take a lead on a made basket by Rosenberg, but the freshman was instead called for a charge with 6:42 left on the clock. A minute and a half later, John Daniels tied the game on a tip-in, but the game's sixth tie would only last for 17 seconds, long enough for Cornell's Miller to pull through, get into the lane and hit an acrobatic running layup to give the Big Red the lead it would never relinquish.

Six times in the final five minutes, the Lions attempted a shot to tie or take the lead, but missed each attempt. Cornell played brilliant defense on Barbour's game-tying attempt with less than five seconds to go and rebounded the miss to even the team's record in Ivy play.

Cornell returns to action when it heads to Harvard on Friday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass.

Red's Offense Comes Alive in Home Win Over Lions
Cornell Daily Sun

Just after the halftime buzzer sounded, senior guard and co-captain Chris Wroblewski threw the basketball from Columbia’s 3-point line, 75 feet away from the basket, toward the rim. Instead of looking away and walking off the court, he watched it swish through the net as referees, teammates and fans all cracked a smile at his incredible shot. Although the play had no tangible impact on the final score, it appeared to give Wroblewski enough confidence to play one of his best games of the season as he helped Cornell (7-11, 2-2 Ivy League) beat Columbia (12-8, 1-3), 65-60, to avenge last week’s loss in New York City.

Wroblewski had one of his strongest performances so far this season, filling the stat sheet with 19 points — including 4-of-6 shooting from downtown — seven rebounds, five assists and just two turnovers. The co-captain did most of his work at the start of the second half, right after his incredible heave at the end of the first half. He nailed two 3-pointers and added two free throws to score the Red’s first eight points, expanding the lead to 11.

“It feels good; it feels really good,” Wroblewski replied when asked about his shooting. “This is has been a frustrating year for me shooting-wise. I’ve been struggling and it’s tough because I’m shooting well in practice and I’m getting [in the gym] in between classes and putting in the extra work. Not having that show up in the game, you get down on yourself.”

“[Chris] is our leader; we really want to go to him a lot and whenever we can,” said junior guard Johnny Gray, who finished the game with 14 points and seven rebounds. “We want to give him good looks, especially since when he’s going, it gets us going. Seeing him getting into the game and knowing that he’s hot, everyone follows his lead.”

To match Wroblewski’s strong start after halftime was Columbia’s point guard Brian Barbour. He scored Columbia’s first 10 points in the second half to keep the Lions in the game, matching Wroblewski shot-for-shot. Barbour finished the game with 19 points and five assists, committing just one turnover. The guard did most of his damage in the second half of the game, scoring 16 of his 19 and dishing out three assists.

“[Barbour] is an incredible point guard — all the credit to him,” Wroblewski said. “I couldn’t keep him in front of me and he made some ridiculous shots. He’s crafty [and] he’s tough to guard.”

“Brian Barbour got it going a little bit, causing us trouble in transition and just attacking the basket and finishing and-ones,” Gray added. “We wanted to make it as difficult as possible [since] we knew that he would get going eventually but we wanted to make sure we hounded him for 40 minutes.”

The start of the game was not as exciting as the start of the second half. After losing last week at Columbia, head coach Bill Courtney experimented with the starters, using a four-guard lineup.

“The four-guard set is just one of our strengths,” Gray said. “We have a lot of guards who can handle the ball and it causes other defenses fits. They have to probably put a big out there and we get mismatches and we use our speed. We have a lot of guards out here that can get up and down the court, which causes other defenses to have to get back in transition.”

Both teams had trouble shooting the ball out of the gates, as the game was tied, 13-13, with 8:28 to go in the half. The Red’s offense suddenly came to life as shots started falling. Cornell expanded the lead to 10 at one point and entered the half leading, 30-23.

The game went back-and-forth for several minutes, with neither team pulling ahead by more than 4 points. With 1:25 left and the Red up three, 62-59, the Lions had a chance to tie the game, as they attempted three open 3-pointers in one possession after securing two offensive rebounds. Luckily for the Red, all three attempts missed the mark. Despite a late lapse, Cornell’s overall effort rebounding the ball was much improved compared to last week, where Columbia held the advantage on the glass, 45-29.

“We got dominated on the boards last week and we really wanted to make an effort to get on the boards, block out [center Mark] Cisco and [forward John] Daniels and try to get rebounds,” Gray emphasized. “They’re not really going to score a lot in their half-court offense, they were [just] getting a lot of second chance points … We just wanted to cut those out and it helped us get the win.”

The game came down to Columbia’s final possession, when freshman guard Galal Cancer covered Barbour perfectly, forcing him to throw up a desperation fade-away 3 that harmlessly bounced off the rim. Gray grabbed the rebound and was promptly fouled and hit both free throws, leading to the final score, 65-60.

This game helped the Red regain its confidence after a tough loss at Columbia last week and is now ready to take on the rest of the Ivy League, according to Wroblewski.

“This one was a must-win for us, especially [with] a big weekend coming up — going to Harvard and Dartmouth — and to get back to [2-2] in the league, but more so for our morale and confidence,” Wroblewski said. “I thought we played our tails off … I’m so proud we got the win.”

Cornell hands Light Blue third single-digit Ancient Eight loss

Facing a 14-point deficit with 15 minutes to play, the Light Blue staged a spirited comeback to pull within two with under a minute to play before losing, 65-60 Columbia Spectator

ITHACA, N.Y.—For the third time in four games, the Lions found themselves in a large hole in the middle of the second half. For the third time in four games, they managed to stage a comeback and pull within two points with less than 30 seconds to play. For the third time in four games, they came up just short, losing to Cornell 65-60 on Saturday night.

“You know it’s an Ivy League game—same deal,” head coach Kyle Smith said after the game.

“We’re just 1-3 in these situations. We had a number of shots to tie it or even go ahead.”

The fact that the men’s basketball team (12-8, 1-3 Ivy) had several chances to tie the game was surprising, given that it was trailing the Big Red (7-11, 2-2 Ivy) by 14 with 15 minutes remaining in the second half. Cornell took a seven-point lead into halftime and opened it up in the first five minutes after intermission by knocking down five consecutive threes.

Senior guard Chris Wroblewski made the first two of those treys and led his team with 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Last week at Levien, Wroblewski was just 3-of-13 from the field and 0-for-7 from beyond the arc.

“I knew he’d eventually snap out of his shooting slump, and unfortunately, it was tonight,” Smith said.

The bleeding could have been much worse if Brian Barbour had not stepped up. The junior guard had just three points in the first half, but scored Columbia’s first 10 points of the second half.

“What casual observers probably don’t recognize is that they load up so hard on him in the first half,” Smith said of Barbour. “I think they wore down a bit—they can’t guard him that way the whole time.”

Barbour finished the game with a team-high 19 points on 6-for-15 shooting. As he had in the Light Blue’s close losses to Princeton and Penn two weeks ago, Barbour put on an impressive second-half performance to put his team back in the game, only for Columbia to come up just short.

“Each one gets worse a little bit—hurts more and more,” Barbour said.

“It’s tough coming all the way up here, fighting back, and then not being able to pull it out. Having to travel back is not going to be as fun, but, you know, we’re right there, which is a positive—you got to try to look at the positives after these things. We’re so close, so we just got to keep going.”

Still, the Lions had their chances. With about 12 minutes to play, junior center Mark Cisco hit his second consecutive jumper to bring Cornell’s lead back to eight, and the Light Blue continued to chip away from there.

With 1:49 left to play, freshman guard Noah Springwater hit two free throws to cut the deficit to 60-59. Two foul shots by Cornell junior guard Johnathan Gray brought the Big Red’s lead back to three, but the Lions had three opportunities on their next possession to tie the game. However, all of those three-point attempts—by Barbour, freshman forward Alex Rosenberg, and sophomore guard Meiko Lyles—were off the mark.

Cisco, who had a career game against Cornell last weekend with 18 points and 20 rebounds, was obviously a focus of the Big Red’s defense this week. His two jumpers were his only shots of the second half.

“They were defending me really hard,” Cisco said. “Every time I got the ball, they were straight doubling me. But, you know, I was trying to kick it out to the guards—some of those fell, some of those didn’t.”

Still, Cisco recorded his third consecutive double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

“I played all right. I could do better,” Cisco said.

What was perhaps the difference in the game was Columbia’s poor shooting from three-point territory. The Lions made just four of their 22 attempts from beyond the arc (18.2 percent) and have struggled from downtown since the start of league play.

“We’re getting good shots. We just got to hit them—that’s all it comes down to,” Barbour said. “I know we’re going to, I know it’s going to come, but it’s tough when you miss a couple.”

The Light Blue will need those shots to fall when it takes on league-leading and nationally-ranked Harvard next Saturday after facing off against Dartmouth on Friday.

Unable to Complete Second-Half Comeback, Men's Basketball Falls at Cornell 65-60
Columbia Athletics

Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. - Columbia's last five games had been decided by seven points or fewer. When Cornell built a 47-33 lead with 15 minutes to play after leading by seven at halftime, it appeared that the Big Red was on its way to a rare double-digit victory.

But Columbia rallied back, on the strength of 16 second-half points by Brian Barbour and strong contributions from its bench to tie the game at 53 with eight minutes remaining. But the Lions could not complete the comeback as Cornell came away with a 65-60 win at Newman Arena on Saturday night.

Both teams did not shoot well from the field to open the game, similar to last week's defensive struggle between the Ivy League travel partners. After the Lions led 13-10 with nine minutes left, the Big Red embarked on an 18-5 run to go up by 10, 28-18 with two minutes left. Columbia cut the deficit to seven points, 30-23, at halftime.

Barbour came out of halftime on fire, scoring 10 straight points for the Lions in the first three minutes of the second half. His triple brought the Lions within five, 38-33, at the 17-minute mark.

Cornell then hit three straight three-pointers, two by Jonathan Gray, to take a 47-33 lead with 15:13 left in the game.

Noah Springwater answered with a deep three-pointer to start Columbia's comeback. Cornell still led 53-43 after a putback by Shonn Miller but Barbour found Alex Rosenberg for a three-pointer on Columbia's next possession to cut the Cornell lead to seven.

After forcing a missed three at the defensive end, Barbour took the ball the length of the court and converted a conventional three-point play to make it a 53-49 game. Cornell then turned the ball over and on an inbounds play, Rosenberg broke free for an uncontested layup to make it a two-point game. Columbia forced another Cornell miss and Barbour found John Daniels cutting to the hoop for two, tying the game at 53 with eight minutes left.

The game remained tied at 56 after a putback by Daniels with 5:10 left to play. Miller scored at the other end to put Cornell back in front by two and after a Columbia missed three, Chris Wroblewski hit two free throws to put the Big Red ahead by four, 60-56, with four minutes left.

The Lions trailed by three, 62-59, with 1:40 remaining and had three good looks to tie the game but were unable to connect. Columbia was able to force a turnover and after Barbour hit one of two free throws, trailed 62-60 with 19 seconds remaining.

Columbia fouled Drew Ferry, who made one of two free throws to make it a three-point game again. The Lions had possession with 14 seconds left and Barbour's off-balance three-point attempt went just long with time winding down. Gray made two free throws with six-tenths of a second left for the final margin.

"We had chances to tie and we've got to execute and make those shots, " head coach Kyle Smith said after the game. "I'll take our chances on the road with those guys [shooting]."

Barbour finished with 19 points and five assists against one turnover. Mark Cisco posted his third straight double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) and his fourth of the season. Rosenberg added 10 points and four rebounds for the Lions.

"We had good energy and good momentum," Smith said of the second-half comeback. "We just couldn't get over the hump."

Wroblewski's 19 points led Cornell, which received 14 points and seven boards from Gray. Miller had 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots off the bench.

Columbia will be back to Ivy League action on the road at Dartmouth on Friday, February 3 at 7 p.m.

NOTES:

Van Green had a career-high four steals in 16 minutes off the bench for Columbia ... John Daniels finished with six points and nine rebounds ... Steve Egee scored five points in his first start of the season ... Columbia outrebounded Cornell 37-33 and 12-8 on the offensive glass ... the Lions made just four of 22 from three-point range ... both teams had 14 turnovers ... it was Newman Nation Jersey Night at Cornell and more than a thousand students came out for the promotion ... the Lions had won the previous three games with the Big Red.

Ithaca Journal Profiles Jeff Foote (Cornell '10)

2012-01-28T09:21:00.004-05:00

Well-traveled Foote still shooting for NBA
Seven-footer from Cornell, Spencer-Van Etten honing skills in D-League
The Ithaca Journal

ITHACA -- By any measure, professional basketball player Jeff Foote went through a lot during his college years.

From not being recruited out of high school, to walking on at St. Bonaventure University, to eventually transferring to Cornell and winning three Ivy League titles -- not to mention making a Sweet 16 appearance his senior year that thrust him and the Big Red into the national spotlight -- one could expect that Foote faced his fair share of obstacles along the way. And like many other college students and athletes around the country, Foote did his fair share of growing up and maturing.

But even all of that couldn't possibly have prepared the Spencer-Van Etten graduate and 7-foot, 265-pound giant for what would come following his time on East Hill. A testing journey through the ranks of international basketball took him, in barely over a year, to such faraway places as Israel, Morocco and Poland.

Forget worrying about handing a class assignment in on time, or making sure to get enough sleep before a big game. As a pro, Foote's daily challenges became making sure he got home from practice safely and figuring out how he was going to communicate with a coach or teammate who didn't speak English.

"I learned that you really get spoiled in college," said Foote, 24, who graduated from Cornell in 2010 and now plays for the Springfield Armor of the NBA Development League. "Everything is taken care of for you, whereas overseas you're really more responsible for yourself. You really have to act with your own best interest in mind, and you have to figure things out for yourself. You're not going to get a whole lot of help over there."

In June 2010, following three highly successful seasons at Cornell that saw the Big Red go 69-18 and win three straight Ivy championships, Foote signed a three-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv, a professional team in Israel and one of the most successful European clubs of the last decade.

Midway through the season, however, admittedly "more or less inexperienced in the overseas game" and after logging only four minutes with the Euroleague giants, Foote was sent to Spanish second-division team Melilla Baloncesto in November on a one-year loan.

Although technically a Spanish city, Melilla is in northern Morocco and serves as an African port city for mainland Spain. There, and despite gaining some valuable experience and averaging a solid 7.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2 blocks in 25 games, Foote would be exposed to some of the harsh realities of international pro basketball. It eventually led him back to the states.

"Maccabi Tel Aviv is a big-name team, so everything was really well-organized and well-run," said Foote, who describes his time in Israel as "by far the best" of his overseas adventures. "But Melilla was a pretty rough city. It was an awkward experience. There's a lot of poverty and drug-ridden areas. But overall, it was a good learning experience there."

His most loyal fans were particularly happy to see Foote home. His parents, Don and Wanda, had meticulously tracked their son's overseas career, albeit from half a globe away.

"As his parents, obviously our major concern was his safety and well-being," said Don Foote, who was the boys' JV basketball coach at Spencer-Van Etten while his son played for the Panthers. "With his being so far away, we really didn't get a whole lot of time to talk to him, but it was a great experience for him, to get to see the world and play basketball and do what he likes."

Big Red reunion

The following summer, Foote reconnected with three of his close friends, classmates and teammates from Cornell -- Louis Dale, Ryan Wittman and Jon Jaques. The gang all got a place together in New York, played basketball, explored their surroundings and generally caught up on lost time.

At summer's end, Foote gave the European circuit one final try, this time bringing his good friend Wittman along with him. The pair signed on with Polish club Zastal Zielona Góra of the Tauron Basket League, although the result was again a failed experiment.

"When we got there, things started off pretty well, but that's kind of the European standard and after we lost a couple of games in a row things got really rocky," said Foote. "They decided to let go of Ryan, and from there it became very uncomfortable for me, so I decided to come back, as well."

Since his stint in Poland, Wittman has landed a job with Morgan Stanley in Minneapolis, and according to Foote, "is pretty happy where he's at, and I don't blame him." Dale, on the other hand, is recovering from a torn ACL suffered while playing professionally in Germany, and after having his surgery done in Europe plans to return to his home state of Alabama in the next few months before living with Foote in New York again this summer to "figure out his next step."

Perhaps not surprisingly, considering his college experience, Foote says the biggest obstacle he faced overseas was adjusting to the difference in the attitudes of the players.

"The team game is more or less over," Foote said. "A lot of people are just looking out for themselves, looking to get what they want and advance their careers, and you can't really blame them. We had a very special thing at Cornell. We didn't really care how it got done as long as it did. That whole family aspect is more or less gone over there."

Even more worrisome, he said, are some of the structural issues he encountered, as well as the target he said he wore on his back as an American player.

"You have to learn how to deal with a lot of different things," Foote said. "They're going to be late on payments all the time, and they're going to give you a million different reasons why. And especially being an American, you're always going to kind of be the goat. If you play well and your team loses, it's going to be your fault. If you play well and your team wins, it's going to be because the national guys played well. You have to learn to take your lumps."

As if the odds weren't already stacked high enough, Foote says he was often held back by a language barrier that made communication with some of his coaches and teammates almost impossible. In Israel, where English is taught as a second language, the young center found himself under the tutelage of an American coach. But in Morocco, and especially in Poland, things were not so simple.

"In Poland, our coach spoke a bit of broken English, but after that there was literally nobody else who spoke English," Foote said. "So if you can't speak the language, good luck. If your coach mistranslates something and you go do it wrong, it's going to be your fault."

Since returning to the U.S. for the second time, a stronger and more seasoned Foote has made huge strides toward his goal of playing in the NBA. When the lockout ended, he was invited to the Portland Trail Blazers' training camp, where he rubbed shoulders with fellow big man Marcus Camby, a former Defensive Player of the Year and 14-year NBA veteran, before being one of the last players cut.

Determined to keep improving and continue pursuing his NBA dream, Foote signed last month with the Armor of the NBA D-League. In 17 games (16 starts) at center, he's averaging 15.4 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks while shooting 55 percent.

"I definitely think I'm right there, right on the cusp" Foote said. "It's just a matter of developing more and getting an opportunity."

Measuring Foote

» Career averages at Cornell: 11.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.8 blocks (87 games)

» Career record at Cornell: 69-18 (34-1 home)

» Ivy League Defensive Player of the year (08-09, 09-10)

» First-team All-Ivy selection (09-10)

» Second-team All-Ivy selection (07-08, 08-09)

Cornell All-time Rankings:

» Defensive rebounds: 1st (454)

» Blocked shots: 3rd (159)

» FG percentage, season: 2nd (.625, 09-10)

Ithaca Journal Previews Columbia at Cornell

2012-01-28T09:15:00.002-05:00

Cornell men's basketball team needs to score more
The Ithaca Journal

ITHACA -- Yogi Berra is famously quoted as saying: "Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical."

One could say the same of basketball. The physical act of putting the ball through the basket can be practiced for hours, day after day, until it becomes a case of the muscles knowing exactly what to do, and the shots falling like rain.

In practice.

Ah, but introduce the pressure of the bright lights, a few thousand onlookers and a scoreboard that is judge and jury, and the shots that touch nothing but net in practice suddenly are drawn to the iron, the glass and a waiting rebounder.

Cornell men's coach Bill Courtney has seen this phenomenon with his Big Red (6-11 overall, 1-2 Ivy League), which will try to gain a split with Ivy travel partner Columbia when the Lions invade Newman Arena Saturday night for a 7 o'clock tip.

Cornell shot just 34 percent in dropping a 61-56 decision to the Lions last Saturday night in New York. Columbia didn't shoot much better (39.6 percent) but got a big game from 6-foot-9 junior center Mark Cisco, who nearly doubled his season average with 18 points and a Levien Gym-record 20 rebounds.

Columbia won despite a sub-par performance from leading scorer, 6-foot-1 junior guard Brian Barbour, who scored 14 points on 4-for-15 shooting.

Courtney knows his players can shoot the ball well, because he sees them do it every day. But in the games, it's different: The Big Red is shooting 40.9 percent, and 32.5 percent from 3-point range, this season; both the lowest percentages in 10 years.

"It's funny because we tend to make shots all the time in practice," Courtney said Thursday. "We just need to carry it over to the game and shoot with confidence like we do in practice. It'll certainly help if we see a couple go down early in the game."

Despite its shooting woes, the Red was right there at the end of last week's game with a chance to win. With Cornell trailing by two points with 32 seconds left, Cisco nailed two free throws, then Red senior point guard Chris Wroblewski hit a jumper to pull the Red back to within a pair at 58-56, but the Lions made three foul shots in the final 15 seconds, Wroblewski missed a potential tying 3-pointer with nine seconds left, and Columbia held on.

Courtney is happy with the way his team stacks up against streaky Columbia, which started the season with four straight losses but has reeled off win streaks of seven and four games since.

"The match-ups are pretty good for us," he said, "but again the biggest thing is we have to make shots. When you hold you're opponent to 39 percent shooting and hold their best player (Barbour) to 4-for-15 shooting and force 18 turnovers, you have to win that game.

"And if you shoot just a little bit better, you do win the game," he said. "We have to take advantage of our opportunities when we get in transition and when we get open shots and when we get to the free-throw line."

Another area where Courtney wants to see improvement is rebounding, and limiting the second chances the Lions get.

"They got 13 offensive rebounds last time and that's just too much," he said. "We'll have to do a much better job of blocking out, and try to force the tempo. Columbia wouldn't mind to have the game be in the 50s, but we'll try to get in more in the 70s if we can."

To do that, the Red needs to hit those shots that have been falling in practice. Courtney is certain Barbour won't leave the door open again for the Red.

"I doubt he'll have as an ineffective a game as he did last time," the coach said. "(That was) a very good job on our end, but he's a very good player and I'm sure at some point he's going to get going."

Big Apple Buckets Profiles Cornell vs. Columbia

2012-01-27T13:23:00.003-05:00

SGOTW: Columbia vs. Cornell
Big Apple Buckets

Most of the Ivy League likes to get their home-and-home series between travel partners done early in the season. Thus on Saturday Cornell and Columbia will meet for the second time in as many games. This time the game is in Ithica, New York. The Big Red already beat Princeton at home, so they’re obviously dangerous and they’ll be looking to get revenge for the Lions’ 61-56 victory exactly a week ago. I asked The Cornell Basketball Blog to answer some questions about the team before the game to prepare for the epic rematch.

1. Last time these two teams met Columbia used the home court advantage to pull out the 61-56 as Mark Cisco dominated inside. How does Cornell adapt and contain him inside?

CBB: Cornell has struggled throughout the season defending the paint and rebounding. Cisco is a hard-nosed player and if the Big Red want to contain him, they will need to match his physicality and intensity. Critical will be hedging and denying him the interior entry pass and boxing out on the defensive glass.

2. Lions fans didn’t really see the best of freshman Galal Cancer in the last meeting. What does he do well?

CBB: Galal is still working on his decisions with the basketball and turnovers have been an issue. These are typical areas of needed improvement from freshmen point guards. But he excels both in transition and in the half court at getting himself into the lane and drawing contact. He is also very physical for a guard and from time to time has posted up smaller guards.

3. As the links to the 2010 Sweet 16 team graduate and the Ivy League continues to improve, how do you see Cornell fitting into the league in the near future? (I realize this is a little loaded, feel free to answer in whatever way you see fit.)

CBB: I think Cornell’s best basketball is still ahead and realistically expect this team to win a championship in the short term. The current freshmen class is loaded by Ivy standards and the incoming recruits in the class of 2012 also are each immediate impact types. The focal point of the class is Braxston Bunce, a 6’11′ 265 pound post player from Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Another big addition to the roster next season will be the return of junior Errick Peck who is sitting out this season with a knee injury. He was a member of the rotation on the Sweet 16 team.

4. Cornell is 6-11, 1-2. What would a successful finish to the season entail? Is this what you expected considering the inexperience of some of the starters?

CBB: Cornell is by far the most injured team in the Ivy League. Cornell has already lost 89 player games due to injury (Asafo-Adjei – 9; D.Cherry – 4; Gatlin – 17; Groebe – 2; LaMore – 3; Matthews – 17; Peck – 17; Sahota – 17; Scelfo – 3). When you lose so many veteran players to health and rely so heavily on inexperienced freshmen, you have to accept a roller coaster type of season.

Cornell is 1-2 in the Ivy League. I don’t think any of the players or the coaches have given up on winning the league and that still remains the primary objective.

The journey towards a league title continues for both Columbia and Cornell on Saturday night. The loser, with three losses, is probably out of the Ivy title race unless everything goes completely haywire – and even now they’ve got to be hoping for a Yale win against Harvard on Friday night – so this is obviously a big one. A big thanks to The Cornell Basketball Blog. You can follow on twitter too!

Keys to the game for Columbia:

Reestablish the post presence inside early. Sure Cornell is going to try to take away Cisco. Don’t let them. Feed him the ball. Also, Cisco has to make sure he stays out of foul trouble again. Often that’s what’s held him back from producing more than the opponents’ defense.
Understand that every possession won’t be perfect. Both of these teams are much more proficient on defense than offense. Mistakes and missed shots are going to happen. Which team is able to bounce back quickly from those mistakes and make plays consistently is going to pull out the win.
Hit some threes. I don’t know what’s up with Columbia right now, but the Lions are shooting 22.7% from three during Ivy play. That number is 34.0% for the season and the difference is a bunch of points. Meiko Lyles, Brian Barbour and Alex Rosenberg need to break the slump.

Columbia continues on the road in Ivy play next weekend, heading to Harvard and Dartmouth, so winning this one on the road would be a great step forward for the team if they intend to stay in the top half of the league this season. We’ll see if they’ve got what it takes on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

News and Notes: Friday Edition

2012-01-27T11:06:00.001-05:00

Get all the information you need about the Cornell Big Red's game vs. Columbia (Saturday, January 28, 7 pm, in Ithaca) with The Cornell Basketball Blog's Game Preview Center. Below, some news and notes for Friday...

Saturday's game in Ithaca vs. Columbia is Newman Nation Jersey Night.

In NBA D-League action last night, Jeff Foote (Cornell '10) finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Springfield Armor in a win over the Idaho Stampede. See a game recap on ESPN's Nets Are Scorching. Vote for Foote to appear in the NBA D-League All Star game by visiting the D-League Website.

The Columbia Spectator writes, "This Saturday, the Columbia men’s basketball team will travel to Ithaca to face Cornell. Yet the basketball game is hardly the first competition that comes to mind when Columbia and Cornell are mentioned in the same sentence. If the city of New York could have had its way, the most important competition between Columbia and Cornell in the past months would have been the one over the city’s backing for a new engineering campus."

Check out The Cornell Basketball Blog's updated profiles of Cornell's four committed recruits from the classes of 2012 and 2013, Braxston Bunce (Kelowna Secondary School) Kelowna, BC, Canada, 6-11, Holt Harmon (Plano West HS), Plano, TX, 6-9, F; Nolan Cressler (Plum HS) Plum, PA, 6-4, G (class of 2012); and Tim Higgins (Paul VI HS) Fairfax, VA, 6-10, C (class of 2013). In addition, a listing of the Ivy League's committed recruits in the class of 2012 is available by clicking here.

Previewing the The 39th edition of the Interior Savings Western Canada Basketball Tournament the Kelowna Capital News notes, "Inside force Braxton Bunce gives the [Kelowna] Owls a bona fide big man with skills to match his size. At 6-foot-11, Bunce averages 20 points and 15 rebounds per game and can score from inside or outside."

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette considers Nolan Cressler the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League's (WPIAL) second best player behind Penn State commit, Geno Thorpe. The Post Gazette also writes:

At Plum... the last few standout guards the school has produced have worn No. 24. It started with 2005 graduate Mike McKee, who went on to play for Kent State. When he graduated, the number went to then-freshman Andrew Cressler, who went on to score more than 1,000 points for the Mustangs.

Now, No. 24 for Plum is Nolan Cressler, Andrew's younger brother, who last week became the school's all-time leading scorer. Nolan played on the varsity with his older brother for one season, so he wore No. 34 his freshman year before switching to No. 24.

"It's been in the Plum program as kind of the guard's number," Nolan said. "Plus, 24 is just a good number. It's Kobe [that's Kobe Bryant's new number after switching from No. 8]."

Game Recaps-Below are links to our game recap sections from each of Cornell's games this season.

November 11, 2011 at St. Bonaventure L 58-79
November 14, 2011 vs. Binghamton W 76-61
November 16, 2011 at Buffalo L 59-68
November 20, 2011 vs. Boston University W 71-66
November 22, 2011 at Delaware L 68-76
November 27, 2011 vs. American L 63-65
December 3, 2011 vs. Lehigh W 81-79 (OT)

December 17, 2011 vs. Albany W 85-82 (OT)
December 19, 2011 at Illinois L 60-64
December 21, 2011 at Penn State L 67-74
December 28, 2011 at Stony Brook L 58-69 (OT)
December 31, 2011 at Bucknell L 60-63
January 3, 2012 at Maryland L 62-70
January 7, 2012 vs. Albright W 78-60
January 13, 2012 vs. Princeton W 67-59
January 14, 2012 vs. Penn L 52-64
January 21, 2012 at Columbia L 56-61

Cornell RPI Watch: The RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is a measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule. It does not consider the margin of victory, but only whether or not a team won and where the game was played (home/away/neutral court). The formula is 25% team winning percentage (WP), 50% opponents' average winning percentage (OWP), and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage (OOWP). (See: CollegeRPI.com for a further explanation of the formula.) The RPI may be the most influential factor in NCAA Tournament seeding. Cornell's RPI rank as of January 27 is No. 233 out of 344 total Division I teams. While neither the Ken Pomeroy or Jeff Sagarin rankings are used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, the KenPom.com site ranks Cornell No. 196 in the nation, while the USA Today Sagarin rankings have Cornell at No. 208 Both sites are predominantly used by fans and the media.

Here is a look at Ivy League results and upcoming games. A full Ivy composite schedule may viewed by clicking here.

Monday, January 23
Brown 67 Bryant 60 (Box Score - Recap)

Friday, January 27
*Dartmouth at Brown, 7 pm
*Harvard at Yale, 7 pm

Saturday, January 28
*Harvard at Brown, 6 pm
*Columbia at Cornell, 7 pm
*Dartmouth at Yale, 7 pm

Mastbaum: Can the Big Red Stop Cisco?

2012-01-27T08:00:00.002-05:00

Can Cornell Stop Mark Cisco?

By Jake Mastbaum (Cornell '11), Ivy Hoops Online

The first thought Columbia’s second year head coach, Kyle Smith, expressed after defeating Cornell, 61-56 Saturday night was how true to form the play was of a typical Ivy League game. The biannual matchup between Cornell and Columbia takes the classic Ivy League mold Coach Smith was referring to and brings it to the next level. Every season for two weeks, Bill Courtney and Kyle Smith have nothing to worry about except game planning against its travel partner. There is so much film and so much time, that by game day, it’s nearly impossible to surprise or sneak up on the other. So was it really a surprise that round one of the Cornell-Columbia series ended up being a three point game with just twelve seconds to play? To Kyle Smith, not at all.

We didn’t see the back-and-forth affair that Smith’s comment may have implied. In fact, from the opening tip to the final buzzer, Columbia didn’t give up the lead even once. Both Cornell and Columbia came out trying to control the pace. The Lions are a team that likes to play half-court basketball. They excel when they can set up their offense and run sets that were designed specifically for the opponent’s defense. The Red on the other hand, are more of a run-and-gun team. Cornell shines in transition and speeding up the game would take Columbia out of its comfort zone (and not allow Mark Cisco to set up shop in the paint). While early, Cornell won the battle of pace, the Big Red was as cold shooting the ball as the Ithaca winters. Mid-way through the first half, Cornell was just 2-15 from the floor. Despite failing to slow Cornell down early, Columbia was able to cling to its lead for the duration Saturday night due to its ability to execute its game plan of utilizing matchup advantages to a ‘T’.

“I think they were like -7 in rebounds, so I made myself think I was going to go in and get every rebound,” said junior center, Mark Cisco. Cisco made it clear that Cornell’s unfavorable rebounding differential this season was emphasized in the Columbia scouting report. He certainly took advantage of the Big Red’s weakness, scoring a career high 18 points, and grabbing a career high and Levien Gymnasium record 20 rebounds. Cornell only managed 26 rebounds as a team, losing the battle of the boards by 15. When you allow a guy to control the paint on both ends the way Cisco did and struggle to shoot the ball the way Cornell did, it is almost impossible to come away victorious, and Cornell didn’t. The only reason this one stayed as close as it did was because Cornell’s frantic full-court pressure forced the Lions into 18 turnovers, while the Big Red only gave the ball up 10 times.

What is important now is that Bill Courtney and his staff have a full week to prepare yet again for the Lions, this time with the hope of stopping Mark Cisco. What makes Cisco so difficult to face both offensively and defensively is that he’s not only big, but wide, and does a good job of throwing his weight around.

Courtney discussed how to limit Cisco next week in Ithaca. “We must do a better job of blocking out. We put a body on him, but he’s such a big strong player, so he kind of just knocked us out of the way. We have to be much more physical with our bigs.” That’s definitely one way to limit Cisco, but any way you slice it, Cisco will out-body and out-muscle any big Cornell throws down there.

How do you better utilize undersized bigs to defend and limit bigger, bulkier bigs? If I knew, I’d be coaching this team rather than writing about it. Maybe it’s as simple as doing a better job blocking out, as Coach Courtney mentioned. Maybe it’s giving Josh Figini a few more minutes and levering his ability to shoot the basketball on pick-and-pops to draw Cisco out of the paint. Maybe it’s something completely different. Whatever it is, Cornell needs to do something to make life difficult for Cisco. Saturday night, he just looked way too comfortable.

Dropping one to Columbia at Levien is a loss that I can live with. Two middle of the pack Ivy teams playing early in the conference season is a tossup. However, being one down in the loss column to its travel partner, and sitting at 1-2 in conference play, this upcoming game is one that Cornell needs to win. Cornell must protect its home floor and pick up its first win against the Lions in the Bill Courtney era. All eyes are on Coach Courtney and his staff to see what they draw up with a week to prepare for this Lions team.

Former Cornell Assistant Settles in at B.C.

2012-01-27T07:58:00.004-05:00

Graham Happy at BC
EagleAction.com

Many people think college basketball coaches have it made. The casual college hoops fan thinks that an assistant coach's job description is to watch basketball 24/7 and get paid for it. What's better than that? While the job certainly has its perks--- especially once your reach a BCS-level school---few people ever hear about the work that's put in to try and get to a high level of coaching. Some never even break past the low-level DI jobs. BC Assistant Head Coach Nat Graham, is one of the fortunate coaches out there who worked his way up through the ranks, and eventually landed a high profile job at the Heights.

Graham played college ball himself, lettering at Penn for two years whenSteve Donahue was an assistant there, and then finishing up at the University of Western Ontario. After graduating, Graham spent two years playing ball overseas until he decided to give coaching a try.

"My wife is Canadian, so I was living up there while she was going to school. I had been coaching everything. I did high school for a while but that got frustrating because of the commitment level. It wasn't like coaching St. Benedicts or something. I started coaching college ball up in Canada and the year before I went to Cornell I was coaching at University of Toronto," explained Graham. "Steve and I stayed in touch for a long time. I made mild overtures about being an assistant coach a few times to him. He brought me down and interviewed me one or two times before he gave me the job."

Graham got the job as Donahue's third assistant at Cornell. While Graham was ecstatic to get a chance at coaching at the DI level it came with a price. In the Ivy League, the third assistant receives exactly $0.00, a price that shows which coaches really are driven to coach. Often times the third assistant in the Ivy League has to pick up a part-time job to get by, and Graham was no exception.

"I was opening a fitness center at 5:30AM, and then I'd come in to the office at noon. There were some late nights coaching so I'd be falling asleep at the desk at the health center sometimes," laughed Graham reminiscing. "Steve was always good about it though. He's very consciences' of the coaches in that situation."

Graham admits that it was a grind at times.

"My wife was finishing up school and living just outside of Toronto, so she was working part time. I was living in New York so we weren't making a lot of money and living in two different places. It was tough but I knew at that point this is what I wanted to do. I knew I was going to get paid eventually but the question was when," said Graham.

Shortly after Graham's first year at Cornell he caught a break. One of Donahue's assistants and now the Director of Basketball Ops at BC, Izzy Metz, ended up becoming a head coach for his alma mater at Hobart, and Graham got bumped up. Six years is now in his 7th year working for Donahue, and enjoys every moment.

Odds and Ends

Did you have any fear that you wouldn't come to BC with Donahue when he took the job?

Graham: I knew he was going to take me if he went somewhere. I also knew he wasn't going to leave for a lot of places and wasn't sure if he'd ever leave Cornell. Steve wants a certain type of environment and he wants to coach a certain type of kids. In a lot of ways he's not right for a school where you need a slick salesmen type and might need to recruit kids with a lot of issues. He's just not the right guy for that. He also didn't want to take the middle step up for a job that's considered a little better league, but might still be an only one bid league. We had a good thing going at Cornell

Once I heard BC got involved I had a feeling we would be going there if Steve got the job. It fit the description of what he was looking for.

How much has your job changed since getting bumped to Assistant Head Coach?

Graham: I don't know how much it has changed. There's not necessarily a hierarchy you feel when you work with coach. Being with him for so long I feel like I understand the type of kids he wants, the way he wants to defend, the way he wants to play offense, everything. In some ways I was kind of leaned on more because of that history. I think the biggest thing was Joe having been a head coach was extremely vocal in practice so I'm working on that.

Fans have noticed that you are pretty vocal during the game, even more so than many other assistants out there. Coach Donahue seems to be comfortable with you doing that

Graham: Our basketball philosophies are extremely similar. In the game situations there are rarely any times where Coach Donahue surprises me in what he's thinking because I've been with him for a few years. I might see some stuff that he's not seeing because he's so involved and so invested, or it might be a situation where he's talking to the refs and I notice something going on.

It's no secret that some of the best recruits are sitting in your backyard playing ball at local prep schools. How big of an advantage is this for you

Graham: There's absolutely an advantage if for nothing else than we can see these kids so much easier. You get 7 times to evaluate and contact and those are easy evaluations and contacts for us. That's a huge advantage. Cornell was so hard because it was like 4 hours from anything. You were spending a whole day going to a game. Here you can go to your team's practice and still get out and go to a prep game or two. Trying to get guys to your campus is a lot easier when they are right here and that's a big deal as well. There seems to be a good amount of local talent staying home and playing at the local prep schools, and that's huge as well because this is where they are from.

Cornell Daily Sun Previews Columbia and Spotlights Chemerinski, Cancer and Figini

2012-01-27T07:54:00.002-05:00

Chemerinski, Cancer, Figini Excel in Limited Play Time
Cornell Daily Sun

In the 17 games that the Red has competed in this season, the team has played an average of 12 players in each game. However, its opponents have averaged less than 10. Although consistent offensive production has been a struggle for the team this year, the Red has been able to find solace in its bench play, which has accounted for an average of 22 points per game. Three players in particular — junior forward Eitan Chemerinski, junior forward Josh Figini and freshman guard Galal Cancer — have emerged as sparks for the Red offense.

“We’re really deep,” Chemerinski said. “Everyone can make a contribution to help us win games.”

Chemerinski has played an important role in providing this depth. Although he has been a starter for 12 contests this year, he has only averaged about 16.4 minutes per game. The 6-8 forward is often used off the bench during games as a defensive threat in the paint, but he is also adding offensive strength to the Red, picking up 6.8 points per game. Chemerinski, though, does not dwell on whether his team contribution comes from off-the-bench or from a starting role.

“For me, the approach is the same,” Chemerinski said. “You always want to bring as much energy to the court as you can and it doesn’t matter when you do it.”

Chemerinski leads the team in field goal percentage at 65.8, but his big frame and formidable presence on the defensive and rebounding ends are especially important to the Red. The team has struggled with rebounding all season, being out-rebounded in 14 of its games.

“I know I have a responsibility because we’re not the biggest team,” Chemerinski said. “Rebounding has been a point of emphasis and we always have to find a way to do it even when we know we are guarding bigger and stronger guys.”

The Red has only three players taller than Chemerinski, including freshmen forward/centers Dave LaMore and Deion Giddens. Both players have gained experience on the court as the season has progressed.

Cancer is another rookie on the Cornell roster that has taken on an important role on the team. The 6-2 guard only averaged 14 minutes through the first two games of the season, but after his 7 point, 4 assist and 5 rebound performance against Boston University on Nov. 20, Cancer saw a significant increase in playing time. He now averages slightly less than 24 minutes per game and is fourth on the team in scoring with 6.9 points per game. He recently had a 17 point game in a win against Princeton on Jan. 13.

“[Cancer] has actually been starting recently,” Chemerinski said. Cancer has started four of the last five games the Red has played, and will likely continue in that role.

“He brings an offensive intensity to the team,” Chemerinski said. “He penetrates and dribble drives well and kicks it out to get our shooters open looks.”

Cancer’s ability to penetrate and kick has made him second on the team in assists, behind senior point guard and co-captain Chris Wroblewski. In the Red’s six wins so far this season, Cancer is averaging 8.2 points and 3.7 assists.

Junior forward Josh Figini has also been a source of offensive production off the bench for the Red. The tallest player on the team at 6-9, Figini has averaged 5.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and l5.8 minutes per game. He has started in only five contests thus far, but his offense has played an integral role in a few of the Red’s wins. In two straight overtime victories against Lehigh and Albany, Figini averaged 12.5 points and 6 rebounds in 28 minutes. Figini also dropped in 14 points against once-nationally-ranked Illinois while being guarded by 7-1 center Meyers Leonard.

Being juniors, Chemerinski and Figini expect even more playing time in the future. Both players saw their minutes increase dramatically from last year, a trend which will likely continue into their senior seasons. Their leadership responsibilities will also increase as they step into the graduating seniors’ footsteps.

“Next year, I think we’ll definitely have to take on a bigger leadership responsibility,” Chemerinski said. “We’ll have to help the freshman to work hard and get better.”

However, the Red is focused on the present now. Cornell will face Ancient Eight foe Columbia tomorrow night at Newman and will attempt to avenge last weekend’s 61-56 loss at the hands of the Lions.

Columbia Spectator Previews Trip to Cornell

2012-01-27T07:51:00.004-05:00

Two-game sweep of Big Red in sight for Columbia
Looking for a repeat of last weekend's 61-56 victory over Cornell, the men's basketball team travels to Ithaca on Saturday in hopes of taking down the Big Red once again
Columbia Spectator

One week after knocking off Cornell 61-56 last Saturday in Levien Gymnasium, Columbia will make the return trip to Ithaca in an attempt to sweep the Big Red for the second year in a row.

In a league where the schedule most often features back-to-back Friday and Saturday games, the format of these two games—the only contests for both teams in a two-week stretch—is a little bit of an oddity.

What does the extended rest mean for this Saturday? According to head coach Kyle Smith, a lot of defense and not a lot of points.

“It’s tough because both teams will be scouted so well,” Smith said. “A lot of thought goes into every possession.”

When the Light Blue does score, expect that production to come in large part from junior point guard Brian Barbour and his classmate, center Mark Cisco. Barbour has averaged 21.3 points per game, and Cisco is the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week after contributing 18 points and 20 rebounds in Saturday’s win. Cisco’s 20 rebounds set a single-game record for Levien.

On the other end of the court, Columbia has reason to feel confident. Defense will likely be the story this weekend, as it has been all year for Columbia. The Lions are ranked 18th nationally in scoring defense this season (out of 345 Division I schools), allowing 59 points per game on 39.3 percent shooting from the field. Last Saturday they held the Big Red to just 33.9 percent shooting.

For Cornell, its threats from beyond the arc will likely lead the charge. Seniors Drew Ferry and Chris Wroblewski lead the Big Red with 12.6 and 9.4 points per game, respectively, while four-time Ivy Rookie of the Week honoree Shonn Miller averages 9.1 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds. How Columbia matches up with the speed of players like Ferry and Wroblewski, though, may be the key to Saturday’s game.

“I think they’re going to try to spread the ball and go after us a little bit,” Smith said.

Cornell will try to use the speed of its backcourt on defense, too.

“They’re so small and quick and want to press,” Smith said. Breaking that press late in the first matchup when Columbia was fighting to keep the lead proved to be a tall order for the Lions. The Light Blue had 18 turnovers on the night.

“It’s been an Achilles heel for us,” Smith said. “It’s a good thing to have a lead, but we get a little tentative. We have to be more aggressive. I expect them to be more aggressive. At home they’re good, so we’re expecting to see a lot of that. They get you playing a little faster than you want.”

Saturday, Cornell primarily employed the press in the second half, but Smith doesn’t expect the Big Red to wait that long at home, where it’s 6-2 this year, compared to 0-9 on the road.

“I was a little surprised they didn’t come in here and press us at home,” Smith said. “But they played us pretty straight. At home they’re usually a team that gets pretty aggressive on defense. They like to get the pace of the game in their favor and control the tempo by making it chaotic.”

That means that the Lions will have to rely on a fleet of ball handlers to break that press and maintain a slower tempo more suited to Columbia’s low-scoring style. Cornell will likely make it difficult for Barbour to get the ball, meaning guards like junior Meiko Lyles, freshman Noah Springwater, senior Steve Egee, and junior Dean Kowalski will all be called upon to bring the ball up the court.
Freshman Alex Rosenberg, a 6-feet-9-inch forward who can put the ball on the floor, may also need to help break Cornell’s press.

If this cadre of ball handlers succeeds in getting the ball upcourt, Columbia’s size may prove decisive. Cisco’s 20 boards last Saturday highlighted a dominant team effort in which the Lions outrebounded Cornell 45-29.

Tipoff against the Big Red is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Ithaca.