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GAME INFORMATION
Game #18: Columbia at Cornell
Tip off: Saturday, Jan. 24, at 4:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2008-09 Records: Columbia (5-10, 0-1 Ivy League), Cornell (11-6, 1-0 Ivy League)
Series Record: Columbia leads 118-93
Last Meeting: Cornell won 71-59, Jan. 17, 2009 in New York, N.Y.
Radio: 1160 ESPN Radio, WPIE (Barry Leonard)
TV: None
Live Stats: available at www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: available 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 (107-129, .453) ... 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 will play only its second home game in front of the Newman Nation student fans when it meet Columbia on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 4 p.m. at Newman Arena. Barry Leonard will provide the call locally on 1160 ESPN Radio, while video of the contest will be available as part of the RedCast subscription service. 

While Cornell played five home games over the winter break, none were in front of the students, but the Big Red persevered to extend its win streak in Ithaca to 14 games, matching a program-best. A win over the Lions would extend several streaks, including16 consecutive Ancient Eight games, eight straight league home victories and six in a row against Columbia.

Cornell is on an eight-game stretch (7-1) that has seen the Big Red outscore opponents by 17.3 points per game, shoot 52 percent and limit opponents to 37 percent shooting. Over the eight games, Cornell is hitting on 48 percent of his 3-point attempts and surrendering 29 percent from beyond the arc.

Continuing to lead Cornell on both ends of the court are a trio of All-Ivy players, juniors Ryan Wittman (20.1 ppg., 4.0 rpg.) and Louis Dale (14.4 ppg., 3.8 apg., 3.2 rpg.) and senior Jeff Foote (12.1 ppg., 6.8 rpg., 2.5 apg., 2.4 bpg.). Combined with key contributors like juniors Geoff Reeves (10.4 ppg.) and Alex Tyler (6.4 ppg., 4.6 rpg.) who have also started all 17 games, and the Big Red looks poised to defend their 2007-08 Ivy League title. Freshman Chris Wroblewski, sophomore Adam Wire and seniors Brian Kreefer and Jason Battle have also played key roles off the bench in the early going.

ABOUT COLUMBIA: The Lions enter the contest with a 5-10 record (0-1 Ivy) after last weekend's 71-59 loss to the Big Red at home. Columbia was picked sixth in the Ivy League preseason poll and has hung its hat on defense, allowing opponents just 64.7 points on 41 percent shooting overall and 34 percent from 3-point range. Its needed the defense, as its offense has struggled all season, shooting just 40 percent itself with 28 percent from 3-point range and nearly four more turnovers than assists per game. Patrick Foley is the lone double figure scorer at 12.9 points per game, while seven other players are averaging between 5.3 and 9.5 points. Both Jason Miller (8.7 ppg., 6.9 rpg.) and Asenso Ampim (7.4 ppg., 6.7 rpg.) are among the Ivy League leaders in rebounding. Head coach Joe Jones has a 68-85 record in six seasons at Columbia.

A WIN OVER COLUMBIA WOULD ...
• move the Big Red's record to 12-6 and extend its win streak to seven games.
• extend Cornell's Ivy League win streak to 17 games, including nine straight home wins.
• be the seventh straight against the Lions.
• narrow the gap in the all-time series to 118-94.
• be the 1,136th in school history.

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).

IVY OPENER: Cornell opened its 53rd official Ivy League season (the league was formally started prior to the 1956-57 season) with a 71-59 win at Columbia and is now 19-34 in Ivy openers. Cornell is 15-17 against Columbia and has played the Lions more than any other team to open league play. Other notes on the Ivy opener:
• The records against opponents in Ivy openers: Brown (0-3), Columbia (13-17), Dartmouth (1-4), Harvard (2-5), Penn (0-2), Princeton (0-1) and Yale (1-2).
• Cornell is 14-15 in Ivy openers at home and 5-19 on the road.
• Going back to its Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League (a forerunner of the Ivy League), Cornell's record is 44-62 in conference openers (25-28 in the EIBL).
• Cornell has won three straight Ivy openers, all against the Lions.

TALL IVY: Over the last two seasons, Cornell's 24-5 record in the best among Ivy League teams in conference action. Penn, who claimed the 2006-07 title, is second at 21-7, followed by Yale (18-11) and Brown (17-12). Other Ivy teams include Columbia (14-15), Harvard (9-20), Dartmouth (7-22) and Princeton (5-23).

LION TAMERS: Cornell enters the weekend having won 11 of the last 13 contests against Columbia in men's basketball, including six straight.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES: Cornell head coach Steve Donahue has a 15-12 record all-time against the Jones Brothers. The Big Red mentor is 9-2 against Joe Jones' Columbia teams and is 6-10 against Yale with James Jones on the sidelines.

PERFECT 10: The Big Red won 10 non-conference contests in one season for the fourth time in program history and for the first time since the 1950-51 season when Cornell also won 10 games. The Big Red won a program-best 11 games out of the league in 1949-50 and also took home 10 decisions in the 1919-20 campaign.

NON-LEAGUE SUCCESS: The Big Red posted its third consecutive non-conference season with at least a .500 record with a 10-6 mark. The last time the Big Red at least broke even in non-league play in more consecutive years was the 1959-60 to the 1967-68 campaign, a span of nine straight years.

ROAD WOES?: Cornell is just 2-5 in true road games, but the five losses have come to a pair of nationally ranked squads where Cornell led at the half (Syracuse and Minnesota) and three other programs who competed in the 2007-08 NCAA tournament (Siena, Indiana, Saint Joseph's).

HOME STRETCH: Cornell has won six straight at home to open the year and will be out for its first seven-game home win streak to open a campaign since starting the 1989-90 season with eight consecutive victories when it meets Columbia on Jan. 24 at Newman Arena.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Big Red has opened the season with six straight home wins, extending its streak at Newman Arena to 14 games. Cornell finished the 2007-08 season with a 12-1 record at home, including eight 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).

AND BACK WHERE THEY BELONG: Cornell's win over Alvernia on Jan. 10, 2008, started the team's current 14-game home win streak, matching the school record. That ties the longest home win streak that started on Dec. 3, 1983 with a win over Cleveland State and culminated in a Jan. 9, 1985 loss to Canisius.

HOME WRECKERS: Cornell has been extremely impressive in its 6-0 start this season at Newman Arena, doing everything well in wins over South Dakota, La Salle, Boston University, Quinnipiac, Ursinus and Bucknell. As a team, Cornell is outscoring foes by 19.5 points (82.3-62.8) while hitting at a .526 clip from the field and a .500 clip from 3-point range. The team has a 1.4:1 assist:turnover ratio and is defending at an outstanding pace, limiting opponents to .380 shooting from the floor and .304 from 3-point range. The team's top seven scorers are all shooting at least 50 percent from the floor at home.

RECORDS FALL: Division III powerhouse Ursinus proved to be no match for the defending Ivy League champion Big Red in a 99-45 triumph. Here are some notes on the victory.
• Cornell's 18 3-pointers surpassed the previous record of 15 set against Syracuse at the Carrier Dome on Dec. 20, 2004.
• the Big Red's 34 attempts from beyond the arc was also a single-game high, more than the 31 put up against Ithaca College on Dec. 3, 2001.
• the 65 first half points broke a record for points in a half previously set against Colgate when Cornell put up 62 points on Dec. 4, 1965.
• the 54-point margin of victory is the largest for a Cornell team since topping Clarkson 92-37 on Dec. 9, 1953.
• the 99 points ties the most in a single game under head coach Steve Donahue (vs. VMI on Dec. 1, 2006.
• the Bears' .278 shooting percentage is the lowest by a Cornell opponent since the Big Red clinched the 2007-08 Ivy League championship by limiting Harvard to .242 shooting on March 1, 2008.
• freshman Alex Hill had 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. He entered the game with five career points, but hit five consecutive 3-pointers to end the first half (in a span of 3:01 late in the first half).

TREY BIEN: The Big Red has hit at least one 3-pointer in 550 straight games entering the Columbia 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 601 of 605 games, connecting on 3,518 treys, an average of 5.81 per game. The Big Red has hit a 3-pointer in all 236 games coached by Steve Donahue.

TOUGH ROAD: The Big Red's six losses include five teams from the Atlantic 10, Big East or Big Ten, as well as the preseason Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference favorite and defending league champion. Those six opponents have posted a cumulative record of 71-36 (Indiana 5-12; Minnesota 16-2; Siena 14-5; St. John's 10-7; Saint Joseph's 10-7; Syracuse 17-3).

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.

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 107-129 overall record in nine seasons at Cornell and is 49-24 (.671) 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.

THREE SPREE: Junior forward Ryan Wittman enters the Columbia game with 226 career 3-pointers and became the third Big Red player to record 200 treys in a career with his four first-half makes from beyond the arc against Minnesota.

ANOTHER THREE SPREE: Junior forward Ryan Wittman hit nine 3-pointers against Syracuse, matching the single-game school record by Alex Compton at Yale on Feb. 24, 1996. The 19 attempts from beyond the arc set a school record, surpassing the 16 attempts by Cody Toppert against Duquesne on Feb. 6, 2004. The nine makes were one shy of a single-game Ivy League and Carrier Dome record.

RARE 30: Junior Ryan Wittman's 33 points against Syracuse was the most by a Big Red player since Ray Mercedes notched 37 in a 93-84 loss to Harvard on March 3, 2001. It was the first 30-point effort by any Cornell player since Lenny Collins had 30 in a 72-67 loss at Marist on Nov. 19, 2004.

WITTMAN'S SCORING GRAND: Junior forward Ryan Wittman became the 23rd player in school history to score 1,000 career points when he posted 28 against Indiana on Nov. 30. He entered the contest with 979 points in his first 62 games and delivered his 1,000th point on a jumper with 9:10 left in regulation. He has since moved to 11th on the all-time list with 1,202 points.

BIGGER, STRONGER WITTMAN: Junior Ryan Wittman has come back for his junior season with a vengeance, opening the year with six 20-point efforts in the team's first 17 games and is averaging a team-high 20.1 points. In the 2008-09 season-opening win over South Dakota, Wittman poured in 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 a win over Quinnipiac, and putting up 24 more in the win over Loyola (MD). Wittman scored 28 points against Indiana in before answering that with a career-best 33 against Syracuse. Wittman gained 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason allowing him to get to the free-throw line more often and finish with contact.

MORE THAN JUST THE SCORING: While his 20.1 points per game is spectacular, so are junior Ryan Wittman's other contributions through 16 games. The 6-6 forward is averaging 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.8 steals and has posted a 1.4:1 assist-turnover ratio while playing 34.8 minutes per game. All of those numbers are career highs except for his rebounding average, which was at 4.2 rpg. a season ago.

CLIMBING THE IVY TREY TREE: Junior forward Ryan Wittman enters the Columbia game with 226 career 3-pointers and needs three to break into the Ivy League career top 10. Ed Peterson of Yale is 10th with 229. He currently ranks 11th, with two Cornellians ahead of him. Brandt Schuckman is ninth among Ivy players with 231, while Cody Toppert is sixth with 237. The all-time Ivy record holders is Princeton's Brian Earl with 281 from 1995-99. At his current pace of 3.4 per game this season, WIttman would close out his junior campaign in second place in Ancient Eight history.

WELCOME BACK: Reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Louis Dale is back after missing the first eight games of the 2008-09 season with a hamstring injury, and so far the returns have been excellent. The junior is averaging 14.4 points, 3.8 assists, 3.2 rebounds and1.6 steals in 25.0 minutes per game.

TRUE HOMER: Junior Louis Dale has played five of his first nine games of the season at home and his numbers have been impressive. Dale is averaging 15.4 points and 3.8 assists while connecting on 56 percent of his shots from the floor (25-of-45) and 44 percent from 3-point range (8-of-18) in the home contests. For the season, Dale is shooting a personal-best 50 percent.

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 (12.1 ppg.) and pacing the squad and the Ivy League in rebounding (6.8 rpg.), blocked shots (2.4 bpg.). He is tied for second on the team in assists (2.5 apg.) while shooting 54 percent from the floor, also a team-best.

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 41 shots in just 17 games after posting 30 blocks a season ago in 22 contests. After just 39 varsity contests, he already ranks sixth on the career list with 71 blocked shots.

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 Ivy League have seen a bigger scoring jump than junior Geoff Reeves this season. The 6-4 guard is averaging 10.4 points in the team's first 17 games a year after posting an average of 3.5 points per game. A 46 percent shooter thus far, Reeves has connected on 38-of-79 shots from beyond the arc (48 percent) and is also among the team leaders in assists (33) while averaging 29.5 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 were the most by an active Cornell player at the time 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 38-of-79 3-pointers this season (2.2 per game, 48 percent) and is now hitting 47 percent from beyond the arc for his career (66-of-141), tops on the school's career list.

TYLER MORE: Junior Alex Tyler has been his strong, steady self in the first 17 games of 2008-09, as the two-year starter at power forward is averaging 6.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots while playing 22.2 minutes per game. Tyler has reached double figures in scoring four times and posted a season-high 10 rebounds in the season opener against South Dakota. He had a season-best 14 points and a career-high four blocked shots to go along with six rebounds in the win over Boston University. His 11 points, seven rebounds and four blocks also led the Big Red past Columbia

MAKING CAREER MOVES: Senior Alex Tyler ranks among the school's career leaders in field goal percentage (12th, .518) and blocked shots (12th, 39).

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 since. Wire has averaged 3.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals while playing 17.8 minutes in 15 appearances. 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 against Loyola (MD) for his breakout game. In all, 26 of his 64 rebounds on the season have been on the offensive end and he leads the team lead with 22 steals.

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 outstanding. He averaged 6.6 points, 2.9 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game in the team's first nine games, including six starts.The freshman posted a 1.4:1 assist-turnover ratio (26a, 18t). He is currently second on the team lead in assists (42) and is averaging 5.9 points, 2.5 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game. Wroblewski is coming off an 11-point, five-reboumd, three-assist effort at Columbia that earned him Ivy League Rookie of the Week.

BATTLE, KREEFER PLAYING KEY ROLES AS CAPTAINS: Old stalwarts Jason Battle and Brian Kreefer have played outstanding basketball in the first 17 games of the season while providing excellent leadership. Battle has started two contests and is averaging 1.2 points and 0.8 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per game. Battle had six points and three rebounds in a win over Loyola (MD). Kreefer has played 12.6 minutes per game off the bench and has picked up 2.8 points and 2.8 rebounds while making 46 percent of his shots from the field. Kreefer had a career-high six assists in the win over Loyola (IL).

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.

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).

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 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 play its first full Ivy League weekend when Brown and Yale visit Ithaca on Friday, Jan. 30 and Saturday, Jan. 31, respectively.