Get all the information you need about the Cornell Big Red's game at Maryland, today, January 3, 2012 (8 pm) with The Cornell Basketball Blog's Game Preview Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3. Below, the Sports Network's preview of the game...
The Sports Network
DATE & TIME: Tuesday, January 3rd, 8:00 p.m. (et)
FACTS & STATS: Site: Comcast Center (17,950) -- College Park, Maryland. Television: ESPN3.com. Home Record: Cornell 4-1, Maryland 7-1. Away Record: Cornell 0-7, Maryland 0-0. Neutral Record: Cornell 0-0, Maryland 2-2. Conference Record: Cornell 0-0, Maryland 0-0. Series Record: Maryland leads 1-0.
GAMES NOTES: A Maryland team that has not had trouble winning at home hosts a Cornell squad that has not had a victory on the road this season in a non- conference battle at the Comcast Center.
The season has been fine for the Big Red at home so far, with Cornell compiling a 4-1 record. It has been another story on the road where Cornell is 0-7 which includes the four-game losing streak the Big Red has coming into the game. Cornell has been competitive in the past four setbacks, losing the games by an average of 5.75 points.
Maryland will be unhappy to see December end as the Terrapins won all six games they played in the month. The streak came after a rather mediocre beginning to the season in which the Terrapins stumbled to a 3-3 start. The most recent victory was a 75-63 win at home over Samford on New Year's Eve. After Cornell, Maryland begins its ACC schedule with a road contest with North Carolina State on January eighth.
There isn't much history to this matchup with Maryland winning the only meeting between the two schools with a 92-41 romp in the 1993-1994 season.
Although they have struggled to pull games out, Cornell has still been a tough draw. Cornell has lost games that came down to the final minute with one being decided in overtime. The Big Red have been led this season by Bob Cousy Award nominee Chris Wroblewski. The senior point guard has been effective in distributing it to the Big Red's scorers with an average of 5.7 assists per game, second in the Ivy League. The scorer that Wroblewski will be looking for the most is senior guard Drew Ferry, who averages in a team high 14.2 points per game and is the only Big Red player to score in double figures. Ferry has scored 20 or more points three times this season but was held to only nine in Cornell's most recent loss to Bucknell. Cornell's lack of scoring has been matched with an inability to really stop its opponents. Cornell allows 70.1 points per game while scoring only 66.9 itself. However, the Big Red has been rather stingy with its perimeter defense allowing only 28.5 percent of shots from beyond the arc. Cornell has conversely shot well from deep with a 34.7 percent from deep with Ferry's 45.7 leading the team.
Maryland has really been pounding the boards during its six-game win streak. During the streak, the Terrapins have outrebounded opponents 241-179. Not surprisingly the Terrapins have a slew of rebounders, with five players averaging over five rebounds per game. Freshman center Alex Len is the team leader, although he has played in only two games, with 7.5 per game. Junior forward James Padgett has been the more consistent rebounder leading all players who have played in every game this season with a 6.5 rebounds per game average. Ashton Pankey (5.4 rpg), Pe'Shon Howard (5.3 rpg) and Sean Mosley (5.2 rpg) are the other potent rebounders on the team. Offensively, Maryland has not been a very effective scoring team averaging 69.3 points per game which is eighth in the ACC, despite having the conference's leading scorer in sophomore Terrell Stoglin, who averages 21.8 points per game. Stoglin is the only Terrapin who scores in double figures and has scored 20 or more points in 10 of 12 games this season.
The Comcast Center has been a cozy home for Maryland this season and although Cornell is better than its 4-8 record may indicate, the Big Red will have to wait to get that first road victory.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Maryland 76 Cornell 67
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