Game notes vs. Loyola-Chicago

GAME INFORMATION
Game #5: Cornell vs. Loyola-Chicago
Tip off: Monday, Nov. 24, at 5:45 p.m.
Site: Carnesecca Arena (6,008), Jamaica, N.Y.
2008-09 Records: Cornell (2-2, 0-0 Ivy); Loyola-Chicago (2-2, 0-0 Horizon)
Series Records: Loyola-Chicago leads 2-0
Last Meeting: Loyola-Chicago won 94-58, Jan. 4, 1978 in Chicago, Ill.
Radio: 1160 ESPN Radio, WPIE (Barry Leonard)
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 STEVE DONAHUE
Cornell head coach Steve Donahue is in his ninth season at Cornell (98-125, .439) ... Donahue became the fourth Robert E. Gallagher '44 Coach of Men's Basketball at Cornell on Sept. 6, 2000.

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ITHACA, N.Y. — The Big Red men's basketball team (2-2) will look to get back on the winning track when it meets Loyola-Chicago on Monday, Nov. 24 at 5:45 p.m. at Carnesecca Arena on the campus of St. John's in the consolation rounds of the NIT Preseason Tip-Off tournament. Barry Leonard will provide the call on 1160 ESPN Radio, while live audio of the game will be available on the RedCast subscription service. 

Cornell is coming off a 74-56 loss at defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion Siena on Saturday night. Siena had four starters in double figures to overshadow a 14-point, nine-rebound affort from senior center Jeff Foote. The Big Red shot just 35 percent overall in the contest and 29 percent from beyond the arc.

In the first round of the preseason NIT, Foote was dominant in the two contests, averaging 19.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.0 blocks per game, while Ryan Wittman was also outstanding in averaging 24.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals. The Big Red opened with an 86-75 loss to St. John's before responding with an 82-72 victory over Loyola (MD) the following day in games played at Boston College.

Cornell, one of the best shooting teams in the country a season ago, has struggled from the floor in its first four contests, hitting just .417 from the floor and .366 from beyond the 3-point arc, well below last season's averages of .485 and .409. The Big Red will attempt to get its stroke back against a Rambler team that has had its own problems from the field, hitting on .382 of its field goals and .271 from beyond the 3-point arc in its 2-2 start. Loyola-Chicago is coming off a 54-51 win in a defensive struggle against Western Michigan on Saturday night. 

ABOUT LOYOLA-CHICAGO: Loyola-Chicago brings a 2-2 record into the contest in a season that already includes a loss to Division II Rockhurst (86-79) and a 21-point win over Georgia. J.R. Blount enters the contest as the team's leading scorer at 19.5 points per game, including a 42-point effort in the loss to Rockhurst. He has gotten to the line 34 times in four games and has made 82 percent of his free-throws. Justin Cerasoli is the other double figure scorer at 10.0 ppg., while Andy Polka averages a team-best 7.8 rebounds to go along with his 8.8 points. The Ramblers, under fifth-season head coach Jim Whitesell, are coming off a 12-19 season that saw them finish eighth in the Horizon League with a 6.12 mark. Four starters and nine letter winners return to the table. Loyola-Chicago leads the all-time series 2-0, though the teams havent met since the 1977-78 season, a 94-58 Rambler win in Chicago.

CORNELL VS. THE HORIZON LEAGUE: The Big Red holds a 3-2 all-time record against current members of the Horizon League with both losses coming to Loyola-Chicago. The Big Red is undefeated against Butler (1-0) and Cleveland State (2-0), but has never played Detroit, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Illinois-Chicago, Valparaiso, Wright State or Yougnstown State. This is the only scheduled game this season for Cornell against a team from the Horizon League. 

A WIN OVER LOYOLA-CHICAGO WOULD ...
• improve Cornell's record to 3-2.
• make the Big Red 2-1 in NIT Preseason Tip-Off games this season.
• continue its alternating streak of wins-losses to seven games.
• give the Big Red 21 wins in its last 25 games.
• be the first against the Ramblers after two losses to start the series.
• give Cornell two wins in the span of a week against teams named Loyola.
• be the 1,127th in school history.

ALL ABOUT THE 2007-08 BIG RED:
• The 2007-08 Ivy League champion (automatic NCAA bid).
• Posted 13th undefeated season in conference history (14-0).
• First title in 20 years, and first non-Penn or Princeton Ivy representative at the NCAA tournament since Cornell in 1987-88.
• School record 22 wins (22-6).
• Posted a school-record 16-game win streak.
• Made third NCAA tournament appearance in school history.
• Head coach Steve Donahue was the USBWA and NABC district Coach of the Year and a finalist for collegeinsider.com's Hugh Durham Coaching Award as Mid-Major National Coach of the Year.
• Guard Louis Dale was named Ivy League Player of the Year and joined forward Ryan Wittman (forward) as unanimous first-team All-Ivy selections.
• Jeff Foote (center) and Adam Gore (guard) were second-team All-Ivy picks.
• Cornell was the only school in the country that matched or improved its win total overall and in conference in six straight seasons.
• The Big Red is the only school in the country to rank in the top 10 nationally in field goal, 3-point and free-throw percentages.
• Cornell led the Ivy League in 14 of 22 team statistical categories.
• The Big Red joined Davidson (Southern Conference, 20-0) and Memphis (Conference USA, 16-0) as the only schools to finish league play with an unbeaten record.
• Cornell was ranked as high as No. 18 in the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major poll and received Associated Press top 25 votes during the last four weeks of the season. 

FOR OPENERS: The Big Red has posted a 71-41 all-time record in season openers after beginning this year with a 79-69 win over South Dakota at Newman Arena. Cornell has won four consecutive season openers.

SPURTABILITY: Through three games, Cornell is averaging 73.0 points per game, nearly at last year's season average of 76.3. That is especially impressive when you factor in that the Big Red has two of its three leading scorers from a season ago sitting out those games with injuries (Ivy League Player of the Year Louis Dale, second-team All-Ivy Adam Gore). Dale and Gore averaged a combined 23.9 points and 6.4 assists a season ago. Cornell has scored at least 75 points in three of its first four games.

BLOCKS UP: While four games is a small sample, Cornell has posted 22 total blocked shots (5.5 per game) a season after blocking 88 total in 28 games. At the same pace over the 30-game schedule, the Big Red would block a school record 165 shots.

NEW LINE NOT BOTHERING CORNELL MUCH: Despite struggling from beyond the arc against Siena in a 7-of-24 night, Cornell doesn't look to be affected much by the new 3-point line. After finishing fourth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage a season ago, Cornell proved it could bury shots behind the arc at 19-9. This year the line moved back a foot to 20-9 and the Big Red has barely noticed. Cornell hit on 8-of-18 from 3-point range for 44 percent in the season-opening win over South Dakota, including a 5-of-8 performance by junior Geoff Reeves. Through four games, head coach Steve Donahue's team has hit 26-of-71 3-point shots, good for a .366 shooting percentage. Leading the way has been junior Geoff Reeves at 43 percent (12-of-28), while classmate Ryan Wittman has connected on 11-of-30 (37 percent).

BIGGER, STRONGER WITTMAN: Junior Ryan Wittman has come back for his junior season with a vengeance, opening the year with three consecutive 20-point efforts in Cornell's 2-1 start. In the 2008-09 season-opening win over South Dakota, Wittman poured in a career-best 25 points, the most by a Cornell in a season opener since Eric Taylor notched 30 points on 14-of-16 shooting in a 78-72 victory at Buffalo to open the 2002-03 campaign. He responded by again matching that high of 25 in the loss to St. John's and putting up 24 more in the win over Loyola (MD). He is averaging a team-best 21.3 points per gams.

GETTING TO THE LINE: Junior Ryan Wittman has proven to be more than just a perimeter jump shooter this season, as he has averaged 4.8 trips to the line per game while hitting 95 percent (18-of-19) in his first four games. Entering the year, Wittman was averaging just 2.2 attempts at the line per game while shooting a school record 88 percent at the charity stripe.

MORE THAN JUST THE SCORING: While his 21.3 points per game is spectacular, so are Wittman's other contributions through four games. The 6-6 forward is averaging 4.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.8 steals and has posted a 2.5:1 assist-turnover ratio while playing 38.0 minutes per game. All of those numbers are career highs.

ADDING ANOTHER FOOTE: Senior center Jeff Foote has turned into a dominating force in the paint this season, ranking second on the team in scoring (14.8 ppg.) and pacing the squad in rebounding (7.3 rpg.) and blocked shots (4.3 bpg.) in four contests. He is also shooting 55 percent from the floor and averaging 2.8 assists per contest.

BRING IT ON, NIT: The NIT Preseason Tip-Off was the coming out party for senior center Jeff Foote, who ripped through both St. John's and Loyola (MD). In those two games, Foote averaged 19.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 6.0 blocks and 2.0 assists while getting to the line 18 times. He set a career-high with 20 points and five blocked shots to go along with seven rebounds and three assists against the Red Storm, then answered with 19 points, eight rebounds and seven blocks against the Greyhounds.

REEVES HITS BLACKJACK: Junior Geoff Reeves proved a capable replacement for the injured Adam Gore in the starting lineup in the opener against South Dakota, putting up a career-best 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting and 5-of-8 from beyond the 3-point arc. His previous best was 16 points against Harvard during his rookie campaign. The start was the first for Reeves after 44 career games as a reserve. Through four games, Reeves sits third on the team in scoring at 13.5 ppg.

TYLER A STEADYING INFLUENCE: Junior Alex Tyler has been his strong, steady self in the first four games of 2008-09, as the two-year starter at power forward is averaging 6.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.

ROBO-POINT GUARD: Freshman Chris Wroblewski has been solid in his first four contests, including his first start in a win over Loyola (MD). Wroblewski is averaging 5.0 points, 3.5 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game while putting up a very solid 2.3:1 assist-turnover ratio. He had a career-high six assists to go along with four points and four rebounds in the win over Loyola (MD) and notched five points and four assists with just one turnover against St. John's.

BATTLE, KREEFER PLAYING KEY ROLES AS CAPTAINS: Old stalwarts Jason Battle and Brian Kreefer have played outstanding basketball in the first three games of the season while providing excellent leadership. Battle has started two contests and is averaging 3.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 15.8 minutes per game, shooting 60 percent from the floor in the process. Kreefer has played 19.3 minutes per game off the bench and has picked up 6.5 points and 5.3 rebounds while making 50 percent of his shots from the field.

COMING IN WIRED: Sophomore Adam Wire didn't play in the team's first two games of the year, but made quite an impact off the bench against Loyola (MD). The 6-6 forward corralled seven rebounds, including five on the offensive end, and added two points and two steals in 15 minutes of action. He entered the game midway through the first half and in his 3:05 of action he had four rebounds, including three offensive boards, and a steal. When he left, Cornell had an eight point lead that it would never surrender despite playing its second game in 19 hours. Wire has averaged 2.0 points and 4.5 rebounds while playing 12.0 minutes in two appearances.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS: The Big Red won its second Ivy League title in school history and its fifth conference title of any kind with an 86-53 win over Harvard on March 1, 2o08. Cornell was the first team other than Penn or Princeton to win the outright title since the Big Red captured the 1987-88 title.

HISTORIC RUN TO THE TITLE: Cornell was the 13th team in Ivy League history to post a perfect 14-0 Ancient Eight season, joining Penn (7) and Princeton (5) with undefeated squads. Here are the Ivy League's unbeaten teams:

Cornell (1 — 2007-08)
Penn (7 — 1969-70, 1970-71, 1992-1993, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1999-2000, 2002-03)
Princeton (5 — 1968-69, 1975-76, 1990-91, 1996-97, 1997-98)

GENDER EQUITY: On the same day the Cornell men's basketball team found out it would be matching up with Stanford in the NCAA tournament first round last season, the Big Red women's team clinched the program's first-ever bid to the NCAA tournament. It was the first time in Ivy League history the NCAA tournament representatives for both the men's and women's teams were from the same school.

A WIN IS A WIN: Cornell's 22-6 record in 2007-08 was its second straight winning campaign (16-12 in 2006-07), giving the program consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1986-87 (15-11) and 1987-88 (17-10).

HOME SWEET HOME: Cornell finished the 2007-08 season with a 12-1 record at home, including seven straight triumphs in front of the Newman Nation crowd. The Big Red fans came out in droves to support the team, averaging 3,992 fans for conference games and posting crowds of more than 4,000 in four of the final five home games, including sell-outs for wins over Penn (2/9) and Harvard (3/1). Cornell extended its home win streak to eight with the season-opening 79-69 win over South Dakota in front of 3,679 fans.

NON-LEAGUE SUCCESS: The Big Red guaranteed itself a second-consecutive non-conference season with at least a .500 record in its win over Alvernia and finished 8-6. The last time the Big Red at least broke even out of league play in consecutive seasons was in the 1983-84 (7-5) and 1984-85 (6-6) campaigns.

MORE NON-LEAGUE SUCCESS: Cornell won eight non-league contests last season, the most by a Big Red team in a single campaign since the 1996-97 squad also won eight games.

DONAHUE NAMED COURT COACH FOR U-18 NATIONAL TEAM TRYOUTS: This summer, Cornell head coach Steve Donahue spent a week in July as a court coach for the U.S. Under-18 national team tryouts in Washington, D.C. The team, under the direction of Davidson's head coach Bob McKillop, also featured VCU's Anthony Grant and Georgetown's John Thompson III as assistant coaches. The team won the silver medal at the 2008 FIBA U18 championship in Formosa, Argentina, falling to the host team 77-64 in the gold medal game.

WITTMAN NAMED ALL-DISTRICT BY USBWA AND NABC IN 2007-08: Sophomore Ryan Wittman was named to the USBWA All-District 2 team and to the NABC All-District 2 second-team. Wittman is the 10th player in school history to be honored by the NABC and the first since Ka'Ron Barnes was also a second-team pick in 2004.

WITTMAN NAMED ONE OF NATION'S TOP 10 SHOOTERS BY ESPN.COM: Junior Ryan Wittman was named one of the nation's top 10 shooters in a special article about the NCAA 3-point line being moved back from 19-9 to 20-9 this coming season according to ESPN.com college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla. Fraschilla placed Wittman No. 10 on his list that also included Davidson's Stephen Curry, Notre Dame's Kyle McAlarney, Miami's Jack McClinton, Texas' A.J. Abrams, Drake's Josh Young, UAB's Robert Vaden, Cal State Fullerton's Josh Akogmon, American's Garrison Carr and Rhode Island's Jimmy Baron. In two seasons, Wittman has connected on 171 3-pointers at a 44 percent clip. His total of 93 as a freshman set a school record and the 6-6 sophomore has paced the Ancient Eight in 3-pointers made in each of his first two years. He already ranks fourth on the school's career 3-point list and is first in career percentage.

DALE NAMED HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICAN: Louis Dale capped off an outstanding sophomore season in 2007-08 by earning honorable mention All-America accolades by the Associated Press. Dale is the first Cornell player to earn All-America honors from the AP since Ken Bantum was also an honorable mention pick in 1985. Prior to Bantum, Cornell hadn't had an All-American since Robert Gale was named to the second team by Helms in 1948. Dale is the Big Red's seventh All-American, with Gil Halstead earning first team honors twice (1913 and 1914).

DONAHUE NAMED NABC, USBWA DISTRICT COACH OF THE YEAR: Cornell men's basketball coach Steve Donahue was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District II and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Coach of the Year in 2007-08. Donahue was chosen in a vote by his peers by the NABC and was one of 16 coaches who were finalists for the NABC National Coach of the Year. The USBWA also named him the top coach and was one of nine candidates for Coach of the Year. Additionally, Donahue was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com and was a finalist for the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year.

GETTING UP THERE: Cornell head coach Steve Donahue entered the 2008-09 campaign with the second-longest tenure at the helm of their current team in the Ivy League. Only James Jones at Yale (10th year) has been at his current school longer than Donahue has directed the Big Red (nine years).

TALL IVY: Over the last four seasons, Cornell's 39-17 record is second-best among Ivy League teams in conference action. Penn claimed the previous three Ancient Eight titles and has posted a 43-13 mark in conference over the same span.

223 AND COUNTING: Cornell head coach Steve Donahue was on the sidelines for his 219th career game during the NCAA first round a season ago, moving him into third on the school's all-time list. He has now coached in 220 contests. Donahue coached in his 200th career game when the Big Red defeated Stony Brook 66-50 on Dec. 29 and became the fourth Big Red head coach to reach that mark.

RED-WHITE GAME: Junior Andre Wilkins drained a 3-pointer with two seconds to play to lift the Red over the White in the annual Cornell men's basketball Red-White game on Nov. 8 at Newman Arena. The victory gave the Red team four wins in the last five intrasquad matchups. Red was led by sophomore Max Groebe's 21 points, including a 4-of-5 effort from beyond the arc, while Jeff Foote had 18 points and seven rebounds and Geoff Reeves chipped in with 16. Pete Reynolds had seven points and tied Foote with his team-best seven boards. Junior Ryan Wittman led the White team with 30 points and added four assists, three rebounds and three steals, while Alex Tyler (17 points, five assists) and Chris Wroblewski (12 points, 4-of-7 on 3-pointers) were also in double figures. Senior Brian Kreefer chipped in with a game-high nine rebounds and six assists, as the team's starting frontcourt combination of Kreefer and Tyler combined for 11 assists and just one turnover.

TWO-TIME WINNERS: Only seven teams outside of perennial champions Penn and Princeton have won outright championships in the 53 years of Ivy basketball, with Cornell capturing the crown twice (1987-88 and 2007-08). Other non-P champions include the 1955-56 Dartmouth, 1956-57 Yale, 1957-58 Dartmouth, 1961-62 Yale and 1985-86 Brown squads.

20-20 VISION: The Big Red finished the 2007-08 season a 22-6 record, joining the 1950-51 team (20-5) as the only Cornell squads to post a 20-win season.

STANDINGS TALL: The Big Red was one of three men's basketball teams that sported a perfect conference record, joining Davidson (Southern Conference, 20-0) and Memphis (Conference USA, 16-0). 

TREY BIEN: The Big Red has hit at least one 3-pointer in 537 straight games entering the Loyola-Chicago contest. Cornell surpassed the 500-game plateau when the Big Red connected on six treys at Princeton on Feb. 16, 2007. 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 588 of 592 games, connecting on 3,405 treys, an average of 5.75 per game. The Big Red has hit a 3-pointer in all 223 games coached by Steve Donahue.

2008-09 CAPTAINS: Cornell's four-year senior class of Jason Battle, Adam Gore, Brian Kreefer and Conor Mullen will represent the Big Red as team captains for the 2008-09 season. It will be the second year as captain for both Battle and Gore and the first for Kreefer and Mullen.

BIG RED PICKED TO REPEAT IN PRESEASON POLL: After capturing its first Ivy League title in 20 years, the Ivy League media picked the Cornell men's basketball team to repeat as Ivy League champions by a unanimous vote in the 2008-09 preseason poll. The Big Red is the first team in the League's storied history not named Penn or Princeton to garner a unanimous first-place selection. Cornell returns four starters and seven of its top eight scorers from last season's 22-6 squad that ran through an undefeated league campaign (14-0) en route to its third NCAA tournament appearance in program history. Directly behind Cornell is traditional Ivy League power Penn, who received 110 votes as a near-unanimous second-place choice for the 16 voters. Each of the eight schools had two media representatives who cover Ivy League basketball eligible to vote. Yale (80 points) was picked third, followed by a resurgent Harvard squad (77 points) led by coach Tommy Amaker. Brown, last year's runner-up, was close behind the Crimson with 75 points for fifth place. Rounding out the poll was Columbia (45), Dartmouth (33) and Princeton (28).

BIG RED ON THE RADIO: For the second straight year, the Cornell University men's basketball games will be broadcast live on WPIE-1160 AM out of Elmira, N.Y., with Barry Leonard on the call. A half-hour pregame show and postgame analysis will enable Big Red fans to follow Coach Steve Donahue's team throughout the season.

LIVE VIDEO: 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 for all the latest information on Cornell broadcasts.

LIVE STATS: Cornell will use SIDEARM Live Stats for each of the Big Red's home games in 2008-09. Visit www.CornellBigRed.com for all of the official statistics.

NEXT UP: Cornell returns to action against Eastern Michigan on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 5:45 p.m. in St. John's Carnesecca Arena.