Buy Tickets I Live Video (RedCast) I Live Stats I Text Updates I 2009-10 Cornell Information Center I 2009-10 Cornell Statistics I 2009-10 Cornell Roster I 2009-10 Cornell Schedule & Results

GAME INFORMATION
Game #13: Penn State Behrend at Cornell
Tip off: Thursday, Dec. 31, at 2:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2009-10 Records: Penn State Behrend (5-2, 2-2 AMCC); Cornell (10-2, 0-0 Ivy)
Series Record: Cornell leads 1-0
Last Meeting: Cornell won 80-70, Nov. 24, 1998 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Radio: 93.5 WVBR-FM (Barry Leonard)
Penn State Behrend Web Site: www.PSBLions.com
TV: None
Live Stats: Available at www.CornellBigRed.com
Live Video: Available at www.CornellBigRed.com

HEAD COACH STEVE DONAHUE
Cornell head coach Steve Donahue is in his 10th season at Cornell 127-135, .485) ... Donahue became the fourth Robert E. Gallagher '44 Coach of Men's Basketball at Cornell.

---

ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's basketball team will attempt to close 2009 with a bang when it hosts Division III Penn State Behrend on Thursday, Dec. 31, at Newman Arena in Bartels Hall. Barry Leonard will provide the call on 93.5 WVBR-FM, while live video will be available as part of the RedCast subscription service.

Cornell brings an eight-game win streak into the contest after putting an end to La Salle's six-game home win streak with a 78-75 victory over the Explorers on Dec. 29. The Big Red will begin a stretch of eight of the next 11 contests at home after playing just two of the first 11 games on the road. The Big Red's 10-2 start thus far is just shy of the best-ever start to a season, while its nine wins away from home is the most by any Division I school this season (next closest has seven).

The All-Ivy trio of Louis Dale, Jeff Foote and Ryan Wittman have lived up to their billing so far this season. Dale is averaging 9.7 points, 5.2 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game, while Foote is at 13.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. Wittman, who became Cornell's all-time leading scorer in the win over La Salle, paces the squad with his 19.6 points. Additionally, Chris Wroblewski, last season's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, is putting up 10.9 points per game as the third double-figure scorer. Seniors Mark Coury, Jon Jaques, Alex Tyler and Geoff Reeves, juniors Max Groebe and Adam Wire and freshman Errick Peck round out the rotation.

ABOUT PENN STATE BEHREND
• Conference: Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference
• Head Coach: Dave Niland (LeMoyne '89), 16th season.
• The Lions have made eight straight postseason (either NCAA or ECAC) appearances and 12 in the last 13 years.
• PSU-Behrend went 18-10 a season ago and returns two starters and eight letter winners from an ECAC tournament squad that placed second in the AMCC (13-5).
• Senior guard Adam Kaiser was a first-team all-league pick as a junior and is averaging 12.1 ppg., while both Chris Saltzman (14.6 ppg., 4.1 rpg.) and Russ Conley (10.0 ppg., 5.3 rpg.) are also in double figures.
• Senior forward Adam Potter was a second-team all-league pick in 2008-09 and is averaging 7.0 ppg. and 5.4 rpg.
• The Lions have won five of their last six games, but will be playing its first contest since Dec. 12.
• Dave Niland, the program's all-time winningest coach and a seven-time AMCC Coach of the Year, has won 287 contests in his 16 years.

CORNELL VS. NON-DIVISION I TEAMS
• Cornell has annually played and beaten a non-Division I team in each of the last 18 seasons, posting an average margin of victory of more than 30 points.
• Each of the team's wins came by double figures except for in 2004-05, when Ithaca College made a 10-point run against Cornell reserves in the final minute in a 69-67 Big Red victory.
• Cornell is 152-61 against teams that are non-Division I foes, including 1-0 against Penn State Behrend.
• Head coach Steve Donahue has a 9-0 mark against non-Division I teams.

THE SERIES
• Cornell won the only previous meeting between the teams.
• The Big Red knocked off the Lions 80-70 on Nov. 24, 1998 in Newman Arena.
• Wallace Prather had 19 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals in the win, while Jeffrion Aubry had 17 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals to overcome PSB's 10 3-point field goals.

REVIEWING THE LA SALLE GAME
• Senior Ryan Wittman scored a career-high 34 points to establish a brand new Cornell career scoring record as the Big Red shook off the loss of two starters to knock off La Salle 78-75 on Dec. 29 at Tom Gola Arena.
• Wittman surpassed former Big Red great John Bajusz, who posted 1,663 points in his four-year career. By the end of the night, Wittman had 1,667 points after connecting on 11-of-21 shots overall and 4-of-9 from 3-point range.
• He added six rebounds, three assists and two steals in the victory.
• Senior Jeff Foote and sophomore Chris Wroblewski added 11 points each, with Wroblewski adding six assists.
• Junior Adam Wire had four points and a team-best nine rebounds in the victory, while Mark Coury chipped in five points, three rebounds, a block and a steal in the victory.
• The team shot 60 percent in the second half and 51 percent for the game.
• The victory snapped the Explorers' six-game home win streak.

THE STORY LINE
• Cornell brings an eight-game win streak into the New Year's Eve contest against Division III Penn State Behrend.
• The team returns home for the first time since Dec. 6 and will be playing only its third home game of the 2009 portion of its schedule. Only 17 Division I schools have played three or ewer home games so far this year, with both Alcorn State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff not having played in front of a home crowd.
• The Big Red will look to pick up its 11th non-conference victory of the season, breaking the school record of 10 set last season.
• Big Red head coach Steve Donahue, who was named a mid-season candidate for the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award this week, is a perfect 9-0 against non-Division I teams, with Cornell winning a game against a lower division foe for the last 18 years.
• Cornell's two losses this season have been to teams a pair of Big East teams (Seton Hall, Syracuse) that have a combined record of 22-2 as of Dec. 31.
• The Big Red is expected to again play without the services of starters Louis Dale (ankle) and Alex Tyler (leg).

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
• Cornell is 9-1 away from home so far this season, the most road/neutral court wins in the country by two heading into its return home against Penn State Behrend.
• Louisiana Tech (7-2), Northern Colorado (7-3) and Vermont (7-4) have as many as seven wins away from home, while only three other schools in Division I have as many as six.
• Included among Cornell's road wins are victories over teams from the SEC (Alabama), the Big East (St. John's), the Atlantic 10 (Massachusetts and La Salle), as well as pennial mid-major powers Bucknell, Davidson and Vermont.
• Cornell needs one more road win to tie the school record of 10 road/neutral wins set by the 2007-08 Ivy League championship squad.

ALL-TIMERS
• Senior Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale have each toppled Cornell career records in the last two games.
• With a career-high 34-point effort against La Salle, Wittman surpassed John Bajsz for the schol's all-time scoring record. He ended the night with 1,637 points, four more than Bajusz in his four-year career. Wittman still has at least 19 games this season to add to that total.
• Dale, meanwhile, had six assists in the win at St. John's, giving him 381. That surpassed Chuck Rolles' 53-year old record of 378.

NEARING BEST START
• Cornell's 10-2 record after 12 games is the second-best start, behind only an 11-1 opening to the 1950-51 campaign.
• This year's squad ties the 1953-54, 1961-62 and 1964-65 squads at 10-2.
• A win over Penn State Behrend would match the best-ever 13-game start.
• Overall, the 1964-65 squad opened the year 19-2 before suffering three straight losses to end the year at 19-5. The 1961-62 team opened 14-2 before ending the season with an 18-7 mark, while the 1950-51 and 1953-54 teams opened 11-2.

VETERAN TEAMS WIN CLOSE GAMES
• Cornell had won six of its last seven games by eight points or less, with two coming in overtime.
• The last three victories have come by five points or less.
• The current core of seniors have posted a 18-9 record in games decided by five points or less, including a 4-0 this season. That mark improves to 11-3 in the last three seasons.
• The current seniors are 4-1 in overtime and 4-0 in the last three years.

REVIEWING THE LA SALLE GAME
• Senior Ryan Wittman scored a career-high 34 points to establish a brand new Cornell career scoring record as the Big Red shook off the loss of two starters to knock off La Salle 78-75 on Dec. 29 at Tom Gola Arena.
• Wittman surpassed former Big Red great John Bajusz, who posted 1,663 points in his four-year career. By the end of the night, Wittman had 1,667 points after connecting on 11-of-21 shots overall and 4-of-9 from 3-point range.
• He added six rebounds, three assists and two steals in the victory.
• Senior Jeff Foote and sophomore Chris Wroblewski added 11 points each, with Wroblewski adding six assists.
• Junior Adam Wire had four points and a team-best nine rebounds in the victory, while Mark Coury chipped in five points, three rebounds, a block and a steal in the victory.
• The team shot 60 percent in the second half and 51 percent for the game.
• The victory snapped the Explorers' six-game home win streak.

NEXT UP
• The Big Red will head out on the road for contests at nationally ranked Kansas (Jan. 6 at 8 p.m. ET) and South Dakota (Jan. 8 at 8:30 p.m. ET).
• Cornell returns home to meet Clarkson on Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.