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GAME INFORMATION
Game #19: Cornell at Columbia
Tip off: Saturday, Jan. 23, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Levien Gymnasium (2,700), New York, N.Y.
2009-10 Records: Cornell (15-3, 1-0 Ivy), Columbia (6-9, 0-1 Ivy)
Series Record: Columbia leads 118-95
Last Meeting: Cornell won 74-53, Jan. 16, 2010 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Radio: 93.5 WVBR-FM (Barry Leonard)
Columbia Web Site: www.GoColumbiaLions.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 (132-136, .493) ... 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. — Cornell's trip to New York City in December was a big hit, with the Big Red capturing the MSG Holiday Festival with a last-second overtime victory over Davidson and a signature win over St. John's. The stakes are even higher when Cornell continues the 14-game Ivy League tournament when it battles Columbia on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 7:00 p.m. at Levien Gymnasium. Barry Leonard will provide the call on 93.5 WVBR-FM, while live audio of the game can be heard on the internet as part of the RedCast subscription service. 

After opening the 2009-10 Ivy League season with an impressive 74-53 victory over the Lions in Ithaca, Cornell will attempt to improve to 2-0 in Ancient Eight play for the third straight year and improve its win streak against Columbia to nine games. The Big Red is 26-3 in conference action over the last three years, but to improve on that mark it will need to be able to win on the road in league play. So far this season, the road has been a home away from home for the Big Red. Cornell is 10-2 away from Newman Arena in 2009-10. Over the last two seasons, coach Steve Donahue's teams have gone 11-3 in Ivy play on the road.

A darkhorse candidate in the Ivy League, Columbia has plenty of talent, when healthy, to compete for the conference crown. Without the services of senior guard Patrick Foley and with limited use of La Salle transfer Brian Grimes, the team's second and third-leading scorers, sophomore sensation Noruwa Agho (17.4 ppg.) has been forced to carry the offensive load. The Big Red defense did a good job containing Agho in the first meeting, limiting him to seven points on 3-of-11 shooting with three turnovers.   

ABOUT COLUMBIA
• Conference: Ivy League
• Head Coach: Joe Jones (Oswego '87), seventh season.
• Columbia is 6-9 so far this season and has lost three straight and five of its last six entering the contest.
• Columbia is 4-2 at home, but just 2-7 away from Levien Gymnasium.
• Sophomore Noruwa Agho has been one of the most efficient scorers in Division I so far this season, averaging 17.4 points on 50 percent field goal shooting and an amazing 57 percent from 3-point range (39-of-39).
• Brian Grimes, a transfer from La Salle, is posting 10.1 points and 6.6 rebounds, while senior Patrick Foley is at 9.9 points and 3.1 assists per game. Foley has missed the last three games this season with an injury and his status for the game is unknown.
• The Lions have led the nation in 3-point percentage much of the season, shooting .429 from beyond the arc, but attempting 12.6 attempts per game.
• Columbia outrebounds its opponents by nearly two per game, but average four more turnovers than assists per game over its first 15 contests.

THE SERIES
• The Lions lead the all-time series between the programs 118-95.
• Cornell, however, enters the weekend having won 13 of the last 15 contests against Columbia, including eight straight.
• The Lions' last win over Cornell came in a 58-57 last-second triumph on Jan. 21, 2006 in Ithaca, when Dragutin Kravic beat the buzzer to give the visitors the win.

THE STORY LINE
• Cornell looks to open Ivy League play a perfect 2-0 for the third straight year when it hits the road to face Columbia in a return trip to its travel partner. The Big Red won the first contest between the teams a week ago in Ithaca by a 74-53 margin.
• The two teams rank first (Columbia, .429) and eighth (Cornell, .418) nationally in 3-point field goal percentage), while Ryan Wittman (18.9 ppg.) and Noruwa Agho (17.9 ppg.) rank first and third, respectively, in the conference scoring race.
• Cornell has won 13 of its last 15 games against the Lions, including eight straight.
• Cornell is 26-3 in conference play over the last three seasons, 35-8 in the last four and 41-14 in its last 55 overall league contests.
• Cornell's three losses this season have been to a pair of top 5 teams (Kansas, Syracuse) and Big East foe Seton Hall, squads that have combined for a 43-8 record as of Jan. 17.

A CORNELL WIN WOULD ...
• make the Big Red 16-3 overall.
• give Cornell a 2-0 Ivy League record for the third straight season.
• give Cornell 14 wins in its last 15 games.
• improve the Big Red's record away from Ithaca to 11-3, a school record for road/neutral wins in a season (10 in 2007-08).
• guarantee the team's fourth straight winning season, the longest stretch since 1983-88.
• give Cornell 14 wins in its last 16 contests against the Lions, including nine straight.
• make the Big Red 27-3 in Ivy League over the last three seasons and 36-8 over the last four.

REVIEWING THE COLUMBIA GAME
• Cornell senior Jeff Foote posted a double-double as the Big Red men's basketball team led from wire-to-wire to defeat Columbia, 74-53, in the Ivy League opener for both squads on Jan. 16 at Newman Arena.
• The Big Red led by as many as 32 points midway through the second half before both teams emptied their benches.
• Cornell's defense ruled the day, limiting the Lions to 30 percent shooting in the first half and 37 percent for the game while blocking four shots and matching a season-high with 13 steals.
• Cornell shot 46 percent from the floor and hit 11-of-26 from beyond the arc as 11 different players hit the scoring column.
• No Lions' player hit double figures, with Kevin Bulger leading the way with nine points.
• Leading scorer Noruwa Agho had seven points and three rebounds, but was held to 3-of-11 shooting with three turnovers.
• The nation's top 3-point shooting team in the country entering the game was just 2-of-10 from beyond the arc and turned the ball over 16 times while assisting on just five baskets in the loss.

THE STREAKS
• Cornell is 26-3 in Ivy play over the last three seasons and 35-8 over the last four.
• The Big Red has won 16 straight conference contests at home and is 20-2 over the last four seasons.
• Cornell is 31-2 in its last 33 games at Newman Arena.
• The Big Red has won 13 of its last 14 contests overall, with the only loss coming at Kansas.
• Cornell is 74-31 over the last four years, making the Big Red seniors the winningest class in school history.

TOP 25 VOTES
• The Big Red received 15 votes in the AP poll and 24 votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coach's Poll that was released on Jan. 18.
• Since 1948, Cornell has spent three weeks in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. During the 1950-51 season, the Big Red climbed as high as No. 14 on Jan. 3,1951. The two previous weeks the team was ranked No. 19 (12/19/1950) and No. 18 (12/26/1950).
• The Big Red most recently received votes in the AP poll in 2007-08 campaign, peaking with three votes heading into the NCAA tournament loss to Stanford.
• The Big Red has never been in the top 25 of the coaches poll.
• Cornell earned three votes in the preseason USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll to sit tied for 48th nationally.
• Also receiving three votes were Memphis, Mississippi, Utah State and Southern Illinois.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
• Cornell is 10-2 away from home so far this season, tied for the most road/neutral court wins in the country (as of Jan. 11).
• Vermont has also won 10 games (10-4) away from their home base.
• Both Northern Colorado (9-3) and Louisiana Tech (9-2) have won nine games away from home.
• 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 perennial mid-major powers Bucknell, Davidson and Vermont.
• Cornell's 10 road/neutral wins ties the school record set by the 2007-08 Ivy League championship squad.

NON-CONFERENCE NOTES
• The Big Red posted its fourth consecutive non-conference season with at least a .500 record with its 14-3 mark in 2009-10.
• Cornell's 14 regular season non-conference victories is the most by any team in Ivy League history.
• Cornell has won 10 non-conference contests for the second straight year and for just the fifth time in program history Before last year's 10-win non-league slate, the last time it had been done was the 1950-51 campaign when it 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.
• The Big Red has a 32-16 non-conference record over the last three seasons.
• 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 seasons.

PLAYER NUGGETS
• The top four players in the backcourt, seniors Louis Dale, Geoff Reeves, Ryan Wittman and sophomore Chris Wroblewski have made 112-128 free throws this season (.875), including 44-of-50 in the final three minutes of games within 10 points (.880).
• Senior Ryan Wittman has reached fouble figure and hit at least two 3-pointers in 16 straight games.
• Wroblewski has posted 55 assists and 23 turnovers in his last 11, including 40 assists and 17 turnovers in his last seven contests.
• Senior Jeff Foote has at least eight rebounds in 11 different games with eight double figure efforts.
• Foote has 13 career double-doubles, good for fourth place all-time at Cornell (Bernard Jackson '91 - 18, Mike Davis '80 -18, Justin Treadwell '94 - 15).
• Foote has played more than 25 minutes just once in the last six games after hitting that mark 10 times in the first 12 contests with six games of 35+ minutes.
• Sophomore Chris Wroblewski has at least four assists in each of his last seven games.
• Senior Louis Dale has 11 assists and one turnover in his last three contests.
• Senior Geoff Reeves has 16 assists and just four turnovers in the team's last nine contests.
• Senior Jon Jaques has made 24 of his last 36 shots (.667), including 13-of-22 from beyond the arc (.591).
• Junior Max Groebe is averaging 9.8 points on 12-of-21 shooting from 3-point range (.571) in the last four games in which he has played.
• Five different players (Dale, Foote, Jaques, Wittman, Wroblewski) have at least one game this season with 20+ points.

TEAM NOTES
• Cornell opponents are shooting .374 from the floor and averaging 58.1 points in the last eight games after shooting .456 and allowing 73.0 points in the first 10 contests.
• Cornell has scored at least 70 points in 15 of 18 contests.
• Cornell has a positive assist:turnover ratio in 17 of its 18 games this season.
• The team has hit 56 more 3-pointers this season than its opponents and has 98 more assists.
• The Big Red has at least 17 assists in eight of its last 10 contests.
• Cornell has only trailed at the half once in the last 12 games and four times this season.
• An opponent has hits more 3-pointers than the Big Red just once this season (Bucknell, 11-6).
• The Big Red has outrebounded eight of its last 11 opponents (+5.2 over that span).
• The Big Red has hit eight or more 3-pointers in each of its last 10 contests and averages 10.4 makes during that span.
• In its last seven contests, Cornell has led at the half by an average of 13.4 points (39.0-25.6).
• Cornell hasn't been held below 40 percent shooting all season, but has limited opponents to 40 percent shooting or below in six straight contests and nine times in 18 total games.

NEXT UP
• The Big Red will return home for two contests, meeting Dartmouth on Friday, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m., then faces Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m. in Newman Arena.
• Cornell will play consecutive home weekends at Newman Arena as part of five of its first six league contests coming in Ithaca, N.Y.