* Game notes vs. Indiana
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GAME INFORMATION
Game #7: Cornell at Indiana
Tip off: Sunday, Nov. 30, at 4:00 p.m.
Site: Assembly Hall (17,357), Bloomington, Ind.
2008-09 Records: Indiana (3-2, 0-0 Big Ten); Cornell (4-2, 0-0 Ivy)
Series Record: First Meeting
Last Meeting: Teams have never met
Radio: 1160 ESPN Radio, WPIE (Barry Leonard)
TV: Big Ten Television Network
Live Stats: available at www.IUHoosiers.com
Live Video: available at www.IUHoosiers.com
Tickets: available by calling (607) 254-BEAR

HEAD COACH STEVE DONAHUE
Cornell head coach Steve Donahue is in his ninth season at Cornell (100-125, .444) ... 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 Cornell men's basketball team (4-2) will play one of the storied programs in college basketball history in Indiana (3-2) on Sunday, Nov. 30 at 4:00 p.m. at Assembly Hall. The game will be broadcast nationally on the Big Ten Network. Barry Leonard will provide the call on 1160 ESPN Radio, while live audio of the game will be available on the RedCast subscription service. 

The Big Red swept a pre-Thanksgiving neutral site series with Loyola-Chicago (78-53) and Eastern Michigan (67-54) in the consolation round of the NIT Preseason Tip-Off tournament. Cornell used an offensive explosion in the victory over the Ramblers, hitting on 60 percent of its field goals, while holding onto the ball (four turnovers) in knocking off the Eagles.

Junior forward Ryan Wittman (19.8 ppg.) leads three double figure scorers, with classmate Geoff Reeves (15.8 ppg.) and senior Jeff Foote (14.0 ppg., 7.5 rpg., 4.0 bpg.) also scoring at least 14 points per game. Wittman, whose father Randy was an All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year for the Hoosiers, enters the game 21 points shy of becoming the 23rd player in school history to surpass 1,000 points. Cornell's 4-2 start is especially impressive when considering it has been without the service of one of the top mid-major backcourts in the country in reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Louis Dale and two-time All-Ivy selection Adam Gore due to injuries.

The Indiana game starts a brutal three-game road stretch for Cornell before finals that continues with games at Syracuse on Dec. 3 and Minnesota on Dec. 6, two teams that have combined to go 10-0 through Nov. 27. 

ABOUT INDIANA: The storied history of college basketball has a whole chapter just on Indiana, and first-year head coach Tom Crean is attempting to rebuild the program to that level. His Hoosiers, with just one returning letter winner from last year's Big Ten champion, is off to a 3-2 start, including a 1-2 record at last week's Maui Invitational. After suffering losses to Notre Dame (88-50) and Saint Joseph's (80-54), the Hoosiers squeaked by host school Chaminade 81-79. Tom Pritchard (14.4 ppg., 7.6 rpg.) and Devan Dumes (12.2 ppg.) lead the squad in scoring. Indiana has shot just 28 percent from 3-point range and has allowed 40 percent shooting from beyond the arc in the team's first five games. It will be the first-ever meeting between Cornell and Indiana, with the Big Red attempting to become the first-ever Ivy League opponent to capture a win in Assembly Hall. IU is 445-69 (.877) all-time in the building's 38-yer history.

CORNELL VS. THE BIG TEN: The Big Red holds a 12-29 all-time record against current members of the Big Ten Conference, but will be meeting Indiana for the first time. The Big Red has also faced Illinois (1-3), Iowa (0-3), Michigan (0-3), Michigan State (1-5), Minnesota (1-3), Northwestern (1-2), Ohio State (3-5), Penn State (5-4) and Purdue (0-1), while never meeting Wisconsin. Cornell snapped a 39-year stretch without a Big Ten victory when it defeated Northwestern 64-61 on Nov. 10, 2006. 

A WIN OVER INDIANA WOULD ...
• improve Cornell's record to 5-2 and extend the team's win streak to three games.
• make the Big Red the first-ever Ivy League team to win at Assembly Hall.
• continue its alternating streak of wins-losses to seven games.
• give the Big Red 23 wins in its last 27 games.
• be the 1,129th in school history.

HOOSIER CONNECTIONS: Three Cornell players have direct connections to the state and/or Indiana basketball program.
• Team leading scorer and 2007-08 first-team All-Ivy selection Ryan Wittman is the son of Indiana Hall of Famer Randy Wittman, the 1983 Big Ten Player of the Year. Randy, currently the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves and a nine-year NBA veteran as a player, was a two-time Academic All-American, an All-American as a senior and ranks 13th on the school's career scoring list (1,549 points), while holding the school record for career games played (133).
• Senior Adam Gore, the 2005-06 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and a two-time All-Ivy selection, is related to another IU all-time great, Hoosier Hall of Fame coach Branch McCracken. McCracken, who led Indiana to a pair of national titles (1940, 1953), is Gore's great-uncle. Gore won't be able to play on the court named after his great-uncle, as he suffered a preseason knee injury that will keep him off the floor for the non-conference season. He was a third-team all-state selection as a senior at Monrovia HS in Monrovia, Ind., scoring 1,671 career points.
• Sophomore Adam Wire's great-grandfather played for head coach Branch McCracken at Indiana. His parents, Mike and Cheryl, were born in Indiana.

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 six games, head coach Steve Donahue's team has hit 40-of-104 3-point shots, good for a .385 shooting percentage. Leading the way has been junior Geoff Reeves at 50 percent (20-of-40), while classmate Ryan Wittman has connected on 14-of-42 (37 percent). That effort comes despite missing the second and third-leading 3-point shooters by percentage in Cornell history on Louis Dale and Adam Gore (both tied for second behind Wittman at .420). The duo has missed the first six games due to injury.

TREY BIEN: The Big Red has hit at least one 3-pointer in 539 straight games entering the Indiana 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 590 of 594 games, connecting on 3,419 treys, an average of 5.76 per game. The Big Red has hit a 3-pointer in all 225 games coached by Steve Donahue. 

NIT SUCCESS: Cornell posted a 3-1 record in the NIT Preseason Tip-Off, earning consecutive victories over Loyola (MD) (82-72), Loyola-Chicago (78-53) and Eastern Michigan (67-54) after opening the tournament with a loss to St. John's (87-75). Of the 16 teams in the tournament, Cornell joined a who's who of college basketball programs that includes Arizona, Davidson, Georgia, Oklahoma, Purdue and St. John's, as well as the winner of Boston College and UAB, all of whom earned at least three wins in the tournament.

ANOTHER FINAL FOUR TARGET: Cornell has defeated some of the most stories and well-known programs in NCAA history. When the Big Red faces Indiana, it will be trying to knock off its 28th school that has reached a Final Four. The list includes Arkansas, California, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Illinois, Kentucky, La Salle, Loyola-Chicago, Michigan State, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Rutgers, St. Bonaventure, Stanford, Syracuse, Villanova, Wake Forest, West Virginia and Western Kentucky.

THAT'S MORE LIKE IT: The Big Red offense has come alive in the last two victories after struggling shooting the ball in the first four games, hitting on 56 percent of its shots overall (59-of-106) and 42 percent from 3-point range (14-of-33). Cornell made 30-of-50 shots from the floor in the win over Loyola-Chicago, the first time it hit 60 percent of its shots in a game since knocking off Buffalo in the 2005-06 season opener when it also went 30-of-50. Cornell did not hit the 50 percent mark in its first four contests, but has made half of its shots in each of its last two games.

CENTURY MARKED: Head coach Steve Donahue picked up his 100th career coaching victory with a 67-54 triumph over Eastern Michigan in the final contest of the 2008 NIT Preseason Tip-Off on Nov. 25. The 2007-08 USBWA and NABC District Coach of the Year has a 100-125 overall record in nine seasons at Cornell, but is 42-20 (.677) in his last three seasons, including last year's Ivy League title. His teams have matched or surpassed its win totals overall and in league play each of the last six seasons (only school in the country) and has finished in the top three of the Ancient Eight standings for four straight years.

WITTMAN'S SCORING GRAND: Junior forward Ryan Wittman enters the game against Indiana needing 21 points to become the 22nd player in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone. He enters the contest with 979 points in his first 62 games (15.8 ppg.). 

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 and averaging a team-high 19.8 points in Cornell's 4-2 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). Wittman gained 10 pounds of muscle in the offseason and has shown his strength early on, scoring 64.8 percent of his points from inside the 3-point arc and from the free-throw line this season compared to 40.4 percent in his first two seasons.

LINE 'EM UP, KNOCK 'EM DOWN: Junior Ryan Wittman has made 21-of-22 shots from the free-throw line so far this season, good for a .955 percentage through six contests. That ups his already school-record pace to .889 (128-of-144).

MORE THAN JUST THE SCORING: While his 19.8 points per game is spectacular, so are junior Ryan Wittman's other contributions through six games. The 6-6 forward is averaging 3.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.3 steals and has posted a 2.2:1 assist-turnover ratio while playing 36.2 minutes per game. All of those numbers are career highs except for his rebounding average, which was at 4.2 rpg. a season ago.

ADDING ANOTHER FOOTE: Senior center Jeff Foote has turned into a dominating force in the paint this season, ranking third on the team in scoring (14.0 ppg.) and pacing the squad in rebounding (7.5 rpg.) and blocked shots (4.0 bpg.) in six contests. He is also shooting 60 percent from the floor and averaging a career-high 3.0 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. In his four games in the preseason NIT, Foote averaged 16.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.5 blocked shots and 2.8 assists while shooting 61 percent from the floor in Cornell's 3-1 tournament run.

BLOCK TO BLOCK: Senior center Jeff Foote has blocked 24 shots in just six games after posting 30 blocks a season ago in 22 contests. After just 28 varsity contests, he already ranks eighth on the career list.

AND THOUGH HE'S A SENIOR: Senior center Jeff Foote will be eligible to compete again in the 2009-10 season after sitting out a full season after transferring to Cornell from St. Bonaventure in the winter of 2006. A former walk-on for the Bonnies, he never played a varsity contest in his year-and-a-half with the program.

MOST IMPROVED?: Few players in the country have seen a bigger scoring jump that junior Geoff Reeves this season. The 6-4 guard is averaging 15.8 points in the team's first six games a year after posting an average of 3.5 points per game. A 51 percent shooter thus far, Reeves has connected on 20-of-40 shots from beyond the arc (50 percent) and is also second on the team in assists (19) while averaging 35.0 minutes per game. 

20-20: Junior Geoff Reeves has already posted a pair of 20-point games this season, including a career-best 26 points in a win over Loyola-Chicago. He made 10-of-14 shots overall, including 5-of-6 from beyond the arc in the contest. The 26 points are the most by an active Cornell player and the most since Lenny Collins netted 27 points against Long Beach State on Dec. 30, 2005. Reeves also scored 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting and 5-of-8 from beyond the 3-point arc.

SMART BOMBER: While classmate Ryan Wittman entered the season with much of the publicity of being one of the nation's top shooters, junior Geoff Reeves is out to prove he is fully capable of joining Wittman atop that list. Reeves has made 20-of-40 3-pointers this season (3.3 per game, 50 percent) and is now hitting 47 percent from beyond the arc for his career (48-of-102). 

TYLER MORE: Junior Alex Tyler has been his strong, steady self in the first six games of 2008-09, as the two-year starter at power forward is averaging 7.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks while playing 23.3 minutes per game. Tyler has reached double figures in scoring twice and posted a season-high 10 rebounds in the season opener against South Dakota. He is coming off his best game of the season with 10 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 25 minutes vs. Eastern Michigan, hitting on 5-of-9 shots from the floor.

TYLER MAKING CAREER MOVES: Senior Alex Tyler ranks among the school's career leaders in field goal percentage (10th, .520) and blocked shots (21st, 25). He needs one blocked shot to move into the top 20 and four to move all the way to 17th.

ROBO-POINT GUARD: When Ivy League Player of the Year Louis Dale went down with an injury in the preseason, freshman Chris Wroblewski was forced to take over running the offense from the point guard position and so far has been exceptional. His averages of 6.3 points, 3.2 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game don't adequately reflect his poise through six games, including four starts. The freshman has posted a 1.7:1 assist-turnover ratio (19a, 11 t), averaging just 2.6 turnovers per 40 minutes. He ranks second on the team in assists this season. 

BIG MINUTES FOR THE FRESHMAN: Freshman Chris Wroblewski has averaged 31.5 minutes per game in the last four contests since taking over the starting position at point guard and is averaging 6.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game over that span. Wroblewski had a career-high six assists and posted a career-best 13 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists in the win over Loyola-Chicago.

BATTLE, KREEFER PLAYING KEY ROLES AS CAPTAINS: Old stalwarts Jason Battle and Brian Kreefer have played outstanding basketball in the first six games of the season while providing excellent leadership. Battle has started two contests and is averaging 2.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 13.2 minutes per game, shooting 55 percent from the floor in the process. Battle had six points and three rebounds in a win over Loyola (MD). Kreefer has played 19.5 minutes per game off the bench and has picked up 4.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists while making 46 percent of his shots from the field. Kreefer had a career-high six assists in the win over Loyola-Chicago 

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 1.8 points and 3.3 rebounds while playing 10.3 minutes in four appearances. Seven of his 13 rebounds on the season have been on the offensive end.

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.

225 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 225 contests. Donahue coached in his 200th career game when the Big Red defeated Stony Brook 66-50 on Dec. 29 and earned his 100th career win with a 67-54 win over Eastern Michigan on Nov. 25, 2008. 

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).

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.

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: The Big Red will face another major conference foe on the road when it visits Syracuse on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 7 p.m. at the Carrier Dome. Cornell trails the all-time series against the Orange 84-31 and has lost 30 consecutive games to its Central New York foe. The latest matchup came last year, an 80-64 SU win behind 21 points from Jonny Flynn.