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CORNELL INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics I History
COLUMBIA INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics
GAME INFORMATION
Game #15: Cornell at Columbia
Tip off: Saturday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m.
Site: Levien Gymnasium (2,700), New York, N.Y.
2013-14 Records: Cornell (1-13, 0-0 Ivy); Columbia (11-6, 0-0 Ivy)
Series Record: Columbia leads 122-98
Last Meeting: Cornell won 66-63, Jan. 26, 2013 in New York, N.Y.
Radio: HITS 103.3 FM (Barry Leonard)
TV: None
Live Stats: available at www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: 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 fourth season at Cornell (36-65, .356; 18-24 Ivy, .429) ... Courtney became the fifth Robert E. Gallagher '44 Coach of Men's Basketball at Cornell on April 23, 2010.
STORY LINES: After the first half of the season ended on a high note, the Cornell men's basketball team will attempt to bring that momentum into the Ivy League's 14-game tournament starting when the Big Red visits Columbia on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. at Levien Gymnasium. The game can be viewed live on the Ivy League Digital Network, or you can listen to Barry Leonard's radio call on HITS 103.3 FM.
Cornell has played some good basketball despite its 1-13 start, with two of the losses coming to 2013 NCAA Final Four squads (Syracuse, Louisville) and six total coming at the hands of 2013 postseason squads (Syracuse, Louisville and Notre Dame - NCAA, Stony Brook - NIT, Loyola - CIT, Western Michigan - CBI) that went a combined 161-58 a year ago. Cornell has shown glimpses of really good play despite its heavy reliance on underclassmen and inexperienced upperclassmen. Three of the team's top five scorers are freshmen or sophomores and the three top upperclassmen had made a combined 23 career starts entering the year. The Big Red led then-No. 8/7 Syracuse by 14 points in the first half and by six at the break, led a Loyola (MD) team that won 23 games a year ago by seven points with five minutes remaining and had a 19-point advantage against Binghamton with 13 minutes left and a 10-point lead with four minutes to play against Siena and led Western Michigan in the second half. Cornell went on to drop all five games.
The Big Red backcourt has been its strength, with its three starting guards all averaging double figures. Sophomore guard Nolan Cressler is off to a great start for the Big Red, averaging 16.5 points and 4.9 rebounds and freshman guard Robert Hatter is at 10.3 ppg. while chipping in 2.4 assists and 1.9 rebounds. Playmaking junior Devin Cherry rounds out the trio at 10.6 ppg. to go along with 3.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists. Senior forward Dwight Tarwater has been a double-double threat, posting 6.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per night and pacing the team and ranking among the Ivy League leaders in offensive rebounds (2.4 per game). Freshman Robert Onuorah (3.1 ppg., 3.4 rpg., 0.7 bpg.) and junior Deion Giddens (4.2 ppg., 3.3 rpg., 0.8 bpg.) are holding down the middle, while senior guard Dominick Scelfo (3.4 ppg., 1.1 apg.) and freshman guard Darryl Smith (4.1 ppg., 1.9 rpg.) are providing firepower off the bench. The Big Red is scoring 66.2 points on 42 percent shooting and has a near-neutral assist:turnover ratio (175:176). Much of Cornell's troubles have come on the defensive end, where the team is allowing 81.1 points on 48 percent shooting, including 41 percent from 3-point range.
Cornell will be tested early against a strong and confident Columbia team that brings an 11-6 non-conference record into the home-and-home set. The Lions have won four straight and six of seven heading into league play under fourth year head coach Kyle Smith. Maodo Lo (13.9 ppg., 4.4 rpg.), Alex Rosenberg (13.5 ppg., 3.6 rpg.) and Grant Mullins (12.9 ppg., 3.2 rpg., 2.6 apg.) are all averaging double figures to a Columbia team that is shooting 45 percent from the floor overall and 41 percent from the 3-point arc. Do-everything guard Isaac Cohen paced the team in rebounding (5.8 rpg.) and assists (2.6 apg.). Columbia has won four of the last six meetings between the teams, though the squads have split the home-and-home series in each of the last two seasons.
A WIN OVER COLUMBIA WOULD:
• snap a 10-game road losing streak and give Cornell its first road win since knocking off Brown 69-66 on Feb. 16, 2013.
• give Cornell a win in its Ivy League opener and move the team to 21-37 all-time in Ivy openers.
• make the Big Red 5-2 in its last seven league openers.
• cut Cornell's advantage in the series record against Columbia to 122-99.
• be the 1,211st in program history (1,210-1,339 in 114 seasons).
ABOUT COLUMBIA:
• Columbia enters Ivy League play with an 11-6 overall record and a four-game win streak.
• The Lions have won six of seven overall, including victories over Colgate and Stony Brook, and are an impressive 8-1 at home.
• Columbia is coming off a 104-78 victory over Division III opponent Central Pennsylvania in a game that featured 18 Lion 3-pointers, two off a conference record owned by Princeton (vs. Ursinus, 2003) and the Big Red (vs. Brown, 2010).
• The Lions have been extremely balanced all season and have three in double figures and six players averaging at least five points per game.
• Leading the way are Maodo Lo (13.9 ppg., 4.4 rpg.), Alex Rosenberg (13.5 ppg., 3.6 rpg.) and Grant Mullins (12.9 ppg., 3.2 rpg., 2.6 apg.).
• Isaac Cohen (4.1 ppg., 5.8 rpg., 2.6 apg.), a 6-4 guard, leads the squad in both rebounding and assists.
• Columbia is shooting 45 percent from the floor and 41 percent from beyond the arc while outrebounding foes by nearly five per game (34.8-30.1).
• Head coach Kyle Smith, in his fourth season on the Columbia sidelines, has a 53-50 overall record. His teams have posted an impressive 39-22 non-conference record.
THE CORNELL-COLUMBIA SERIES:
• Columbia leads the all-time series between the programs 122-98, including 19-15 in Ivy League openers.
• Cornell has won 16 of the last 22 meetings between the squads.
• Columbia has won four of the last six contests, though the Big Red won the last meeting — a 66-63 triumph at Levien Gymnasium.
LAST TIME OUT
• Junior Ned Tomic posted career highs of 20 points, nine rebounds and three blocks as Cornell picked up its first win of the year by topping Oberlin College 77-55 at Newman Arena.
• Tomic scored 18 of his 20 points after halftime to surpass his previous career high of six points. The native of North Royalton, Ohio scored on an array of fakes, drop-steps and putbacks, connecting on 9-of-13 shots from the floor off the bench.
• Tomic's nine rebounds also nearly doubled his previous high of five. He entered the contest with one career block and ended the day with four.
• While Tomic did all he could to end the Big Red's drought, Nolan Cressler added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists and Devin Cherry notched 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
• The Big Red shot 51 percent from the floor overall, including a sizzling 71 percent (17-of-24) after halftime to pull away from Oberlin.
• Freshmen guards Robert Hatter and Darryl Smith each had seven points and senior Jake Matthews had six. Senior Dwight Tarwater had four points and six boards.
• Cornell dominated in points off the bench (41-24), second chance points (19-1), points off turnovers (24-9) and points in the paint (36-22) while holding a commanding advantage on the backboards (39-24).
• Oberlin had three double figure scorers, with Emmanuel Lewis leading the way with 14 points. Miles Gueno added 12, while Geoff Simpson had 10 points, six rebounds and six assists. The Yeomen shot 41 percent from the floor, but had 15 turnovers.
THE IVY OPENER:
• Cornell opens its 58th official Ivy League season (the league was formally started prior to the 1956-57 season) with a 20-37 record in conference openers.
• Cornell is 15-19 against Columbia in league openers and 5-21 on the road.
• The programs' records against opponents in Ivy openers: Brown (0-3), Dartmouth (1-4), Harvard (2-5), Penn (0-2), Princeton (1-1) and Yale (1-2).
• Going back to its Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League (a forerunner of the Ivy League), Cornell's record is 45-63 in conference openers (25-28 in the EIBL).
TALL IVY:
• Going back to the 2006-07 campaign, the Big Red is six games better than anyone else in Ivy League play with its 65-33 mark.
• Harvard is second (59-39), followed by Penn (56-42), Princeton (56-42), Yale (56-42), Columbia (40-58), Brown (38-60) and Dartmouth (22-76).
• Dating back to the 2004-05 season (nine years), Cornell's 81-45 record is tied for the best among Ivy League teams in conference action. Penn is second at 81-45, followed by Princeton (72-54) and Harvard (71-55).
• Rounding out the field is Yale (70-56), Brown (49-77), Columbia (47-79) and Dartmouth (33-93).
HOW TO FOLLOW CORNELL:
• There are numerous way to follow the Big Red through the 203-14 basketball season.
• Men's basketball games will be broadcast on HITS 103.3 FM for the 2013-14 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 IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork subscription service.
• The Big Red's home contests will all be broadcast live with streaming video as part of the IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork subscription service. Visit www.IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork.com for all the latest information on Cornell broadcasts.
• Cornell will use SIDEARM Live Stats for each of the Big Red's home games in 2013-14. 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:
• Cornell will close out its home-and-home series with travel partner Columbia when the Lions visit Newman Arena on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 12 p.m.
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