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CORNELL INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics I History
LEHIGH INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics
GAME INFORMATION
Game #7: Lehigh at Cornell
Tip off: Saturday, Dec. 3, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena at Bartels Hall (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2011-12 Records: Lehigh (5-2, 0-0 Patriot); Cornell (2-4, 0-0 Ivy)
Series Record: Cornell leads 12-9
Last Meeting: Lehigh won 60-57, Nov. 22, 2010 in Bethlehem, Pa.
Radio: HITS 103.3 FM (Barry Leonard, Eric Taylor)
TV: None
Live Stats: check availability at www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: check availability at www.CornellBigRed.com
Tickets: available by calling (607) 254-BEAR
HEAD COACH BILL COURTNEY
Cornell head coach Bill Courtney is in his second season at Cornell (12-22, .353) ... Courtney became the fifth Robert E. Gallagher '44 Coach of Men's Basketball at Cornell on April 23, 2010.
ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell will close out the fall semester and prepare for two weeks of final exams when it plays host to Lehigh on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena in Bartels Hall. The Big Red will attempt to avenge a 60-57 loss to the Mountain Hawks in 2010 in Bethlehem, Pa., one of 10 losses the team suffered by five points or less a year ago. Barry Leonard and Eric Taylor '05 will provide the call on HITS 103.3 FM and you can watch live video of the contest on RedCast.
After today's matchup with Lehigh, Cornell will have 14 days off to finish exams strong and get better on the court before facing Albany on Saturday, Dec. 17. The Big Red will be attempting to snap a two-game losing streak, losing narrow contests to Delaware and American in consecutive contests.
Senior Chris Wroblewski, a captain and candidate for the Bob Cousy Award, is averaging 9.7 points, 6.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game through six contests and runs an offense that has three players averaging double figures. Fellow senior captain Drew Ferry is posting 11.8 points, while junior forward Eitan Chemerinski and three-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week Shonn Miller are each scoring 10.2 ppg. Junior Josh Figini isn't far from double figures at 8.0 ppg. Cornell's success has also come despite missing starting forward Errick Peck, the Big Red's third-leading scorer last season.
Cornell's defense has been solid, allowing opponents to hit just 43 percent from the floor overall and 28 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. The Big Red paces the Ancient Eight in steals per game (8.7 per game).
ABOUT LEHIGH
• 2011-12 Record: 5-2 (0-0 Patriot).
• Conference: Patriot League.
• Head Coach: Brett Reed (Eckerd '95), 71-57, fifth season at Lehigh.
• Lehigh entered Thursday night's game at Fordham with a 5-2 record. After dropping its first two games, the Mountain Hawks had reeled off five straight victories.
• Junior C.J. McCollum, the 2010 Patriot League Player of the Year, leads three double figure scorers with 19.7 ppg., to go along with 5.0 rpg. and 2.4 spg.
• The Mountain Hawks won its fifth straight contest with an 86-75 victory over Quinnipiac on Monday in its home opener. It was the third time already this year that Lehigh had reached 80 points in a game.
• Both Gabe Knutson (14.0 ppg.) and Holden Greiner (11.6 ppg., 7.0 rpg.) are also averaging double figures this season.
• Lehigh has gone 4-2 entering the Fordham game away from Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa., including 2-2 in true road games.
• Lehigh was picked behind only defending Patriot League champion Bucknell in the preseason poll.
• Head coach Brett Reed is in his fifth season at Lehigh and has a 71-57 overall record. He led the Mountain Hawks to the 2010 Patriot League title.
THE SERIES: Cornell leads the all-time series against Lehigh 12-9, including winning three of the last five meetings. Lehigh won last year's meeting, 60-57, as Patriot League Player of the Year C.J. McCollum hit a 3-pointer with 1:03 remaining to provide the winning margin.
CORNELL VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE: Cornell is 136-114 all-time against current members of the Patriot League, including 12-9 against Lehigh. The Big Red has also played American (0-1), Army (20-13), Bucknell (23-23), Colgate (70-53), Holy Cross (2-3), Lafayette (7-11) and Navy (2-1).
LOOKING BACK AT THE AMERICAN GAME: American jumped on Cornell at the beginning of both halves and the Big Red's closing spurts fell just short as the Eagles topped the Big Red 65-63 at Newman Arena in Bartels Hall. Chris Wroblewski pumped in a season-high 21 points and added six assists, four rebounds and two steals, while Josh Figini had a career-high 14 points and five rebounds. Shonn Miller chipped in nine points, while Galal Cancer notched two points, six assists and three steals. Both players shared team high of seven rebounds. The Big Red had 19 assists and had 10 steals as a collective group. Charles Hinkle scored 20 points, while Riley Grafft had 12 points and seven rebounds and Troy Brewer notched 12 to go along with four assists, three rebounds and three steals for American. It was a 12-2 run to start the game and a quick 4-0 surge to start the second that put the Big Red back on its heels. The Big Red fought back each time, using an 8-0 run to close the first half to get back within 30-28 at the break after trailing by as many as 12 points (22-10). The visitors took as lead as big as 11 (52-41) with less than five minutes remaining, and Cornell again chipped it down to two (63-61) on a Figini 3-pointer from the right corner with six seconds left. The Eagles hit 10-of-12 free throws in the final minute to hold off the hard-charging Big Red, including the final five over the last 25 seconds. It was just enough to hold onto the lead.
LAST TIME VS. LEHIGH: Patriot League Player of the Year C.J. McCollum hit his first two 3-pointers of the season in the second half, the last with 1:03 remaining on the clock for the go-ahead basket, to help defending conference champion Lehigh to a 60-57 win over Cornell at Stabler Arena. McCollum ended the night with 20 points, 13 rebounds and four steals as the only Lehigh player in double figures in scoring as the Big Red defense held the Mountain Hawks to 30 percent shooting overall and 26 percent from beyond the arc. The home team's 30-10 edge in free-throw attempts made up the difference, as Cornell hit 10 treys in the loss. Chris Wroblewski posted 14 points and four assists, while Drew Ferry notched 10 points, three assists and two steals for the Big Red. Errick Peck and Josh Figini each scored eight points, but Cornell committed a season-high 21 turnovers, including 14 in the first half alone. The Mountain Hawks also won the battle of the boards 40-36, including 16 big offensive rebounds. The Big Red defense was again suffocating, but ending possessions with a defensive rebound continued to be a struggle. Lehigh's starting backcourt shot just 2-of-15 from the floor, while McCollum was just 6-of-19.
PLAYER NOTES:
• Wroblewski is 63 points shy of becoming the school's 24th 1,000-point scorer.
• After shooting just 68 percent from the free-throw line as a freshman, Wroblewski is shooting .847 percent over the last three years (177-of-209).
• Wroblewski needs six assists to reach third all-time at Cornell, currently held by Josh Wexler '89 with 377. Chuck Rolles '56 is second on the list with 378, just seven away.
• Junior guard Miles Asafo-Adjei has 12 assists and three turnovers in his last four games and has 14 assists and five turnovers total this year.
• Junior Eitan Chemerinski's 61 points in six games has already surpassed his 36 points over his first two campaigns.
• Senior guard Drew Ferry has hit multiple 3-point field goals in all six games.
• Ferry needs one 3-pointer to become the 17th player in Big Red history to hit at least 100 in a career.
TEAM NOTES:
• The Big Red has limited opponents to 28 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point arc while making 5.2 per game.
• In its two wins, Cornell's opponents are shooting .376 from the floor and have been under 40 percent in both games. In its four losses, the Big Red's opponents have hit at a .456 clip.
• Cornell has been outrebounded in each of its first six contests.
• Cornell has averaged 10.3 steals per game in its last four contests.
• The Big Red is forcing 17.6 turnovers per game in the last five contests.
• Cornell shot 43 percent from 3-point range in its first two games (18-of-42), but has connected on just 29 percent (30-of-102) in its last four.
• Cornell has already lost 29 player games due to injury (D.Cherry - 3; Gatlin - 6; LaMore - 2; Matthews - 6; Peck - 6; Sahota - 6).
MILLER A THREE-TIME IVY LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK:
Nov. 14 — 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 — 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 — 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, a career-best 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.
WROBLEWSKI NAMED TO CAPITAL ONE ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA THIRD TEAM: Chris Wroblewski was named to the Capital One Academic All-America third-team for his performance on the court and in the classroom during the 2010-11 season. He was one of two Ivy League players to earn the honor, joining Brown's Garrett Leffelman, a second-team member. Wroblewski was the fourth Cornellian to earn a spot on the Academic All-America team and the first non-senior. Jeff Gaca was a third-team pick in 1993, Lenny Collins was a third-team member in 2006 and Graham Dow earned first-team accolades in 2007.
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 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.
THE STREAKS
• Cornell is 84-43 in the last five seasons.
• The Big Red is 44-12 in its last 56 Ivy League contests over the last four years.
• The team is 24-20 in its last 44 games away from Newman Arena.
• Cornell is 49-10 over its last 58 home games, including 32-8 in the last four seasons and 44-9 in the last five years.
• In non-conference games, the Big Red is 40-31 over the last five seasons.
TALL IVY: Over the last five seasons, Cornell's 53-17 record is the best among Ivy League teams in conference action. Penn, who claimed the 2006-07 title, is second at 40-30, followed by Yale (39-31), and 2010-11 Ivy champions Harvard (36-34) and Princeton (36-34). Rounding out the field is Columbia (32-38), Brown (29-41) and Dartmouth (16-54).
STATING THE STATES: Members of the Cornell basketball team represent 16 states and one Canadian province.
CORNELL BEYOND THE ARC — 600 AND COUNTING: The Big Red hit eight 3-pointers vs. American on Nov. 27, its 633rd 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 682 of 686 games, connecting on 4,250 treys, an average of 6.2 per game. Cornell has set records for treys in a season in each of the previous three years, going from 228 in 2007-08 to 241 in 2008-09 and to 326 a year ago. Cornell hit at least 10 3-pointers in a game 29 times in 67 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).
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.
WHAT WAS LOST: Cornell said goodbye to three seniors last spring, as Mark Coury, Aaron Osgood and Adam Wire closed out their Big Red careers.
• Coury was one of the team's top post players in his two seasons on the court at Cornell, first as a reserve on last year's Sweet 16 squad in 2009-10, and last year as a regular in the rotation. A transfer from the University of Kentucky, Coury's biggest highlight came when he beat the shot clock to hit the game-winning basket with 35 seconds left at the Palestra to help Cornell sweep Penn a year ago.
• A team captain in 2010-11, Osgood was expected to be a major factor in the post, and was when healthy. One of the team's top scorers (7.3 ppg.) and rebounders (4.5 rpg.), Osgood played in 43 career games with eight starts, shooting 52 percent from the floor and averaging 3.0 points and 2.0 rebounds.
• Another team captain, Wire was a four-year letter winner who ranked among the top 20 all-time in steals and field goal percentage in school history. He totaled more that 100 steals and 100 assists and set career highs in scoring, rebounding and assists in his final season.
RED-WHITE SCRIMMAGE: Senior Drew Ferry scored 19 points and Chris Wroblewski finished just two rebounds shy of a triple-double to help White top Red 76-41 on Oct. 22 at Newman Arena in Bartels Hall in the annual Red-White Scrimmage. Ferry connected on five 3-pointers and had three assists and two steals without a turnover, while backcourt mate Wroblewski controlled the game with 17 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. The duo led four double figure scorers, as Dwight Tarwater chipped in with 17 points and Josh Figini notched 10. Both players also recorded five rebounds. Freshman Galal Cancer also had a strong debut with seven rebounds and five assists. The White team posted 21 assists and just six turnovers in picking up the win for assistant coach Marlon Sears. The Red team's lone double figure scorer was Johnathan Gray with 10 points. Miles Asafo-Adjei scored nine points and had five assists and four rebounds. Jake Matthews scored eight points for assistant coach Mike Blaine's squad.
HOW TO FOLLOW CORNELL
• Men's basketball games will be broadcast on HITS 103.3 FM for the 2011-12 season. Longtime voice of the Big Red Barry Leonard returns on the call with the play-by-play, while former All-Ivy center Eric Taylor'05 is on board to do color analysis. A half-hour pregame show and postgame analysis will enable Big Red fans to follow Coach Bill Courtney's team throughout the season. The audio of all games will also be available as part of the RedCast subscription service.
• The Big Red's home contests will all be broadcast live with streaming video as part of the RedCast subscription service. Visit www.CornellBigRed.com/showcase for all the latest information on Cornell broadcasts.
• Cornell will use SIDEARM Live Stats for each of the Big Red's home games in 2010-11. Visit www.CornellBigRed.com for all of the official statistics.
• You can follow the team on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Highlights, interviews and features on all 36 of Cornell's varsity sports can be found at www.youtube.com/cornellathletics, www.facebook.com/cornellathletics or www.twitter.com/cornellsports.
NEXT UP: The Big Red will take a two week break for final exams, its largest break of the season, and will continue to prepare for Ivy League play when it plays host to Albany on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. at Newman Arena.
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