Men's Hoops Visits New England Looking To Separate Itself From The Pack
Cornell Athletics
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Game #24: Cornell at Yale
Tip off: Friday, Feb. 15, at 7 p.m.
Site: John J. Lee Amphitheater (2,532), New Haven, Conn.
2012-13 Records: Yale (5-14, 3-3 Ivy); Cornell (11-12, 3-3 Ivy)
Series Record: Cornell leads 109-103
Last Meeting: Yale won 71-40, Feb. 25, 2012 in New Haven, Conn.
Game #25: Cornell at Brown
Tip off: Saturday, Feb. 16, at 6 p.m.
Site: Pizzitola Sports Center (2,800), Providence, R.I.
2012-13 Records: Brown (8-12, 2-4 Ivy); Cornell (11-12, 3-3 Ivy)
Series Record: Cornell leads 72-45
Last Meeting: Cornell won 69-63, Feb. 24, 2012 in Providence, R.I.
Radio: HITS 103.3 FM (Barry Leonard, Eric Taylor)
TV: None
Live Stats: links available at www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: links available at www.CornellBigRed.com
Tickets: check availability by calling (607) 254-BEAR
HEAD COACH BILL COURTNEY
Cornell head coach Bill Courtney is in his third season at Cornell (33-46, .418; 16-18 Ivy, .471) ... Courtney became the fifth Robert E. Gallagher '44 Coach of Men's Basketball at Cornell on April 23, 2010.
STORY LINES: The Cornell men's basketball team will have an opportunity to separate itself from the pack when it heads to new England for contests at Yale and Brown. All three teams are within a game of each other in the Ivy League standings, with Cornell and Yale tied for third two games behind Ancient Eight-leading Harvard. Cornell will meet Yale on Friday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m., then meets Brown on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m.
Head coach Bill Courtney's squad brings an 11-12 record into the weekend and has won seven of its last 11 games. Cornell enters the weekend in third place in the Ancient Eight standings where it is tied with Friday's opponent, Yale. A sweep of the two road games, where Cornell has had recent success, would even Courtney's record in Ivy League play in his three seasons. Cornell is 5-1 in its last six road contests with its only loss at Princeton.
The Big Red's offense has been most dangerous when it has gotten itself easy shots from its pressure defense pressure. In Cornell's 11 wins it has scored 77.4 points per game on 49 percent shooting. In its losses - 56.2 points on 38 percent shooting. It also has a positive assist-turnover ratio and has limited opponents to 40 percent shooting in the triumphs. That has always been the case with Courtney's teams at Cornell. The pressure defense has been a constant - and when the offense is clicking, Cornell is tough to beat. It is 23-2 when scoring 70 or more points under his watch.
Senior Errick Peck and sophomore Shonn Miller were dominant forces in last weekend's home split, with Peck averaging 14.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals and Miller stuffing the stat sheet at 14.0 ppg., 5.0 blocks, 3.5 steals and 2.5 rebounds per contest. Miller, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year., leads the Big Red in scoring (10.5 ppg.), rebounding (6.7 rpg.), steals (2.0 spg.) and blocks (1.9 bpg.), while Peck ranks third in scoring (8.5 ppg.) and second in rebounding (4.8 rpg.).
Cornell has been tremendously balanced on the offensive end, with only Miller averaging in double figures, though eight other players score more than 4.3 points per game. SeniorsJohnathan Gray (9.3 ppg.) and Eitan Chemerinski (7.0 ppg.) aren't far behind, while classmate Josh Figini is averaging 7.3 ppg. in his last six contests. Also among the balanced scoring group is freshman Nolan Cressler (8.0 ppg.), a two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week, and sophomore Devin Cherry (6.3 ppg.) in the Big Red's 10-man rotation. Stalwart senior defender Miles Asafo-Adjei leads the team in assists (3.0), while sophomore Galal Cancer has flashed a strong all-court game (5.7 ppg., 2.5 rpg., 2.4 apg.). Junior guardDominick Scelfo is averaging 7.9 points over his last 10 games to raise his scoring to 5.1 ppg.
A WIN OVER YALE WOULD:
• make Cornell 12-12 overall and 4-3 in Ivy play.
• make Cornell 6-4 in 2013.
• give Cornell a 8-4 record in its last 12 games.
• make Cornell 6-1 in its last seven road contests.
• be the 1,208th in program history (1,207-1,320 in 114 seasons).
ABOUT YALE:
Yale enters the weekend with a 9-14 overall record and a 3-3 mark in Ivy League play after last weekend's road sweep of Penn and Princeton. The Bulldogs opened league play 1-3, but has played five of its six conference contests away from Newman Arena and has rebounded since. Now it comes home for six of its final eight contests at home, where it is 4-2 so far. Austin Morgan leads the team in scoring (11.6 ppg.), while Justin Sears (10.6 ppg., 6.3 rpg.) has been one of the conference's top rookies. Sophomore guard Javier Duren, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Week, is averaging 7.2 ppg., but averaged 12.0 points in last weekend's sweep of the Quakers and Tigers. Jeremiah Kreisberg and Matt Townsend have combined for 12.9 ppg. amd 7.1 rpg. in the post. Head coach James Jones, the longest tenured head coach in the Ivy League, is in his 14th season at Yale and is looking for his 13th consecutive finish in the top half of the Ivy League standings.
THE CORNELL-YALE SERIES:
• Cornell leads 109-103 overall in a series that dates back to the 1898-99 campaign.
• Cornell has had the best of the series recently, winning 10 of the last 14 meetings.
• The Big Red's last seven wins over the Bulldogs have come by an average of 17.3 points per game.
ABOUT BROWN:
Brown enters Friday night's game against Columbia with an 8-12 overall record (2-4 Ivy) and is looking to snap a three-game skid that started after a double overtime loss at conference leader Harvard. The Bears feature three double figure scorers, with Sean McGonagill leading the squad in scoring (14.3 ppg.), assists (4.5 apg.) and 3-pointers (47). Matt Sullivan (14.0 ppg., 4.8 rpg.) and Rafael Maia (11.1 ppg., 7.4 rpg.) are also averaging double figures, while Tucker Halpern isn't far behind (9.6 ppg.). Brown is shooting under 40 percent from the floor as a team, but have been especially tough at home (5-2), including wins over Providence, Niagara and Yale. Head coach Mike Martin, in his first season back at his alma mater, most recently spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Penn.
THE CORNELL-BROWN SERIES:
• Cornell leads the series 72-45, dating back to the first meeting between the teams in the 1949-50 season.
• The Big Red is 15-1 in the last 16 contests against the Bears and has won 12 straight.
• During Cornell's 12-game win streak, it has won by an average of 14.8 points per game.
THE STREAKS:
• Cornell is 105-67 (.610) in the last six seasons.
• The Big Red is 54-22 (.711) in its last 76 Ivy League contests over the last six years.
• Cornell is 60-18 (.769) over its last 78 home games.
• In non-conference games, the Big Red is 50-45 (.526) over the last six seasons vs. scholarship programs.
TALL IVY:
Dating back to the 2004-05 season (nine years), Cornell's 79-39 record is the best among Ivy League teams in conference action. Penn is second at 77-40, followed by Princeton (66-51) and Harvard (65-53). Rounding out the field is Yale (65-53), Columbia (45-73), Brown (44-74) and Dartmouth (30-88). Going back to the 2006-07 campaign, the Big Red is a full nine games better than anyone else in the league with its 63-27 mark. Harvard is second (53-37), followed by Penn (52-37), Yale (51-39), Princeton (50-39), Columbia (38-52), Brown (33-57) and Dartmouth (19-71).
TEAM NOTES:
• In its last 11 contests, Cornell has posted 156 assists with just 138 turnovers.
• The Big Red has a pair of contests this season with 10 or more blocked shots, including 13 in the season opener against Western Michigan. That total ranks second in a single game, while the 10 against Dartmouth is tied for third.
• Cornell's bench has outscored the opposing bench in 22 of the team's 23 games this year. It has more than doubled up the opponent in bench scoring in 15 of those games.
• For the year, the Big Red bench has outscored its opponents 738-348 so far this year (an average of 32.1-15.1), including 35-14 vs. Western Michigan, 47-8 vs. Presbyterian, 46-12 vs. Longwood, 29-2 vs. Vanderbilt, 48-24 vs. Boston University, 32-13 vs. Saint Francis (Pa.), 28-3 vs. Binghamton, 45-19 at Columbia, 27-3 at Princeton and 33-11 vs. Harvard.
• Only one player is averaging better than 25 minutes per game and no one is playing more than 29 minutes per night. Shonn Miller is playing 28.2 minutes every night.
• In its last 10 wins, Cornell has averaged 78.8 ppg., while shooting 50 percent from the floor (287-of-576).
• Cornell has turned the ball over 19 times or more five times this season, but also has six games where it has turned the ball over 10 times or less.
• Ten different players have reached double figures in scoring at least once this season.
• Cornell's 3-point season totals in the last five years represent the top five single-season marks in school history. The Big Red's 217 3-pointers a year ago ranks fifth on the chart. Prior to 2007-08, when the run began, Cornell had made more than 200 treys in a season just once.
NEXT UP:
Cornell returns to Newman Arena for consecutive home weekends beginning with contests against Penn on Friday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m., and Princeton on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.
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