Game Notes Supplement

GAME INFORMATION
Game #29: Penn at Cornell
Tip off: Saturday, February 27, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2009-10 Records: Penn (5-19, 4-6 Ivy League); Cornell (24-4, 10-1 Ivy League)
Series Record: Penn leads 143-70
Last Meeting: Penn won 79-64, February 12, 2010 in Philadelphia, Pa.

HEAD COACH STEVE DONAHUE
Cornell head coach Steve Donahue is in his 10th season at Cornell (141-137, .507) ... 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. —  Eight seniors who have been instrumental in the greatest period of success in Cornell men's basketball history will have a chance to secure at least a share of its third straight Ivy League title when the Big Red faces Penn on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena. Barry Leonard and Matt Grassie will provide the call on 93.5 WVBR-FM, while live video of the game will be available as part of the RedCast subscription service.

In a pregame ceremony today, Louis Dale, Jeff Foote, Jon Jaques, Geoff Reeves, Pete Reynolds, Alex Tyler, Andre Wilkins and Ryan Wittman will be honored for their many contributions to Cornell basketball.

Cornell used a strong defensive effort and got an efficient 19 points from senior Jeff Foote in completing a season sweep over Princeton, topping the Tigers 50-47 in a defensive showdown last night at Newman Arena. The win gave the Big Red some separation in the conference standings, holding a two-game edge in the loss column against both the Tigers and Harvard.

While a win against Penn, the only team to hand the Big Red a conference loss this year, Cornell would need help to clinch the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament at home for the third straight year. In addition to its own win, Cornell needs both Princeton (at Columbia) and Harvard (vs. Yale) to also lose. 

Cornell, which has won 22 of its last 24 contests, will be looking to avenge a 79-64 defeat at the hands of the Quakers on Feb. 12, Since then, the Big Red has won four straight, including three wins over the second and third place teams in the conference. 

ABOUT PENN
• Conference: The Ivy League
• Head Coach: Jerome Allen (Penn '09), first season.
• Penn's record stands at just 5-19 (4-6 Ivy), but the Quakers have played much better basketball under head coach Jerome Allen, winning four of its last nine contests heading into tonight. A buzzer-beater by Columbia's Brian Grimes handed the Quakers a heartbreaking 56-55 loss in New York City last night.
• The Quakers split last weekend at home, knocking off Yale 81-69 after dropping an 80-73 contest to Brown.
• Sophomore Zack Rosen averages a team-best 17.5 points on 43 percent shooting from the floor and averages 4.4 assists and 3.5 rebounds each night.
• Jack Eggleston is the only other double figure scorer, posting 12.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per night.
• As a team, Penn is shooting 40 percent overall (31 percent from 3-point range) while surrendering 48 percent shooting (38 percent from 3-point range).  
• Since taking over as head coach, Jerome Allen has registered a 5-12 record after the Quakers began the season with seven straight losses.

THE SERIES
• Penn leads 143-70 overall in a series that dates back to the 1903-04 campaign.
• Cornell has had the best of the series recently, four of the last five with the wins coming by an average of 13.5 points after losing 18 consecutive contests to the Quakers.
• The current group of seniors has a 4-3 record against Penn, falling to the Quakers 79-64 on Feb. 12 at the Palestra.

THE STORY LINE
• The winningest senior class in Cornell history will make their final regular season appearance at Newman Arena when the Big Red faces Penn.
• With a victory, Cornell can win at least a share of its third consecutive Ivy League title. The Big Red would become the first team other than Penn or Princeton to win three straight conference crowns.
• The Big Red will also attempt to avenge a 79-64 loss at Penn. No team has swept a season series from Cornell since both Harvard and Penn swept the series from the Big Red in 2006-07.
• For the Big Red to clinch the title outright tonight, it needs some help. Besides needing to defeat Penn, Columbia would have to beat Princeton in New York City, while Harvard needs to lose at home to Yale.
• The Big Red needs five 3-pointers in its final four games to establish an Ivy record (currently 266 by Penn in 2001-02).
• A win over the Quakers would make Cornell the ninth team in Ivy history to win 25 games in a season.

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD ...
• make the Big Red 25-4 overall.
• give Cornell an 11-1 Ivy League record.
• give Cornell 23 wins in its last 25 games.
• make the Big Red 36-4 in Ivy League over the last three seasons and 45-9 over the last four.

THE STREAKS
• Cornell is 35-4 in Ivy play over the last three seasons and 44-9 over the last four.
• The Big Red has won 21 straight conference contests at home and is 25-2 in league play at home over the last four seasons. Cornell has won 10 straight games at Newman Arena overall.
• Cornell is 36-2 in its last 38 games at Newman Arena.
• Cornell is 83-32 over the last four years, making the Big Red seniors the winningest class in school history.

CELEBRATED SENIORS
• The current group of eight seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony today.
• The class includes  Louis Dale, Jeff Foote, Jon Jaques, Geoff Reeves, Pete Reynolds, Alex Tyler, Andre Wilkins and Ryan Wittman.
• The group is the winningest class in school history and has accumulated an 83-32 record over four seasons and a 44-9 record in Ivy play.
• The class features the school's all-time leading scorer and Ivy League leader in 3-point field goals (Ryan Wittman), the school's career assist leader (Louis Dale), the inaugural Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year (Jeff Foote),  a three-year starter (Alex Tyler), and a one-year starter and two-year sixth man (Geoff Reeves), as well as another one-year starter (Jon Jaques).
• Combined, the class has accounted for an Associated Press All-American, four NABC all-district, four first-team All-Ivy, three second-team All-Ivy and an honorable mention All-Ivy selection, an Ivy League Player, Rookie and Defensive Player of the Year, 17 Ivy League Player of the Week citations and an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honor.
• The eight players have combined for 684 games played, 387 starts, 5,652 points, 2,116 rebounds, 1,017 assists, 401 steals, 293 blocked shots and 656 3-point field goals.

NEWMAN NOTES
• Cornell closed the 2008-09 season with a 21-game win streak at Newman Arena, ranking as the third-longest in Division I. That streak was snapped in its 2009-10 season opener, an 89-79 loss to Seton Hall.
• The Big Red has won its home games by an average of 21.3 points this season. The team has nearly doubled its opponents' assist total (198-101) while turning it over 22 fewer times, has hit more than twice as many 3-pointers (110-50) and holds dominant advantages in field goal percentage (.479-.367), 3-point percentage (.409-.275), rebounding (37.7-30.6), blocked shots (54-31) and steals (86-66).
• The Big Red was extremely impressive in its undefeated 13-0 run at Newman Arena in 2008-09. As a team, Cornell outscored its foes by 18.9 points (80.7-61.8) while hitting at a .523 clip from the field and .471 from 3-point range. The team had a 1.5:1 assist:turnover ratio and defended at an outstanding pace, limiting opponents to .386 shooting from the floor and .297 from 3-point range.
• Cornell is riding a 21-game home Ivy league win streak as well.
• All-time, the Big Red is 155-102 (.603) in Newman Arena since the building opened in 1990.
• The Big Red is 36-2 in its last 38 home contests.

RECORD WINS
• Cornell has won a school-record 24 games this season, surpassing the 22-6 mark of 2007-08.
• The Big Red's 24 wins is the second-most by an Ivy team this century (Penn, 25-7 in 2001-02).
• Cornell's .857 winning percentage (24-4) is the best by an Ivy League team since Princeton went 27-2 (.931) in 1997-98.
• Since the beginning of official Ivy League play in 1955-56, only 11 conference teams have won at least 24 games in a season. Only Penn (6) and Princeton (4) have teams that have won at least 23 games. Penn's 28 wins during the 1970-71 season is the most by an Ivy team.
• A win tonight over Penn would leave Cornell at 25 wins (only eight teams with 25+ wins).
• Cornell surpassed the 1967-68 Columbia team (23-5) for the most wins by a non-P team since the inception of the Ivy League.
• The Big Red's 14 regular season non-conference wins set an Ivy record, surpassing the 13 non-league wins by the 2001-02 Penn squad.

A WORTHY MVP
• In the 13 games Cornell has played that have been decided by 10 points or less (11-2), 11 of which have been on the road, senior Ryan Wittman has played All-American basketball.
• Wittman is averaging 20.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.5 blocks while shooting 46 percent from the floor and 41 percent from 3-point range while making 3.5 treys per contest in those games.
• He has scored at least 20 points in seven of the games and has 25 points or more in four.
• Wittman played at least 35 minutes in each of the 13 contests and averaged 37.8 minutes in those games.
• The senior hit the game-winning 35-footer at the overtime buzzer to drop Davidson, scored seven points in the final two minutes to knock off Princeton on the road and scored a career-best 34 points against La Salle in a three-point victory.

PLAYER NUGGETS
• The top four players in the backcourt, seniors Louis Dale, Geoff Reeves, Ryan Wittman and sophomore Chris Wroblewski have made 167-193 free throws this season (.865), including 53-of-59 in the final three minutes of games within 10 points (.898).
• Senior Ryan Wittman has reached double figure in 26 straight games.
• Senior Jeff Foote has at least eight rebounds in 15 different games with 10 double figure efforts.
• Foote has 15 career double-doubles, good for third place all-time at Cornell (Bernard Jackson '91 - 18, Mike Davis '80 -18, Justin Treadwell '94 - 15).
• Foote has made 45-of-63 field goals in the last eight games (.714) and is 19-of-23 from the floor in the last four contests (.826).
• Foote has hit double figures in scoring in eight straight games, the longest stretch in his career.
• Foote has multiple blocked shots in eight of his last nine games.
• Louis Dale is the first Cornell player with 1,200 points, 400 rebounds, 400 assists and 100 steals in a career.
• In Ivy play, Louis Dale has 47 assists and 21 turnovers while shooting .485 from the floor.
• Dale and Chris Wroblewski have 84 assists and 34 turnovers combined in 11 home games.
• Senior Geoff Reeves has 21 assists and just nine turnovers in the team's last 19 contests.
• Senior Jon Jaques has made 45 of his last 85 shots (.529), including 28-of-57 from beyond the arc (.491).
• Junior Adam Wire hasn't committed a turnover in his last 16 games (155 minutes). He has 10 assists and zero turnovers in Ivy League play (124 minutes).
• Freshman Errick Peck is averaging 8.0 points in his last three games and is shooting 75 percent during that span (9-of-12), including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. He has shot better than 50 percent from the floor in six of his last seven.
• In the five games junior guard Max Groebe has played at least 10 minutes, he averages 11.0 points and 3.4 3-pointers per game while shooting percent (17-of-28) from beyond the arc.
• Five different players average at least a 3-pointer per game in Ivy League play.
• Five different players (Dale, Foote, Jaques, Wittman, Wroblewski) have at least one game this season with 20+ points.

TEAM NOTES
• Cornell opponents are shooting .389 from the floor (.332 from 3-point range) and averaging 58.1 points in the last 18 games after shooting .456 (.387 from 3-point range) and allowing 73.0 points in the first 10 contests.
• Cornell has scored at least 70 points in 22 of 26 contests.
• Cornell has a negative assist:turnover ratio in just four games all season.
• Cornell has only trailed at the half twice in the last 22 games and five times this season.
• The Big Red has outrebounded 15 of its last 20 opponents (+5.2 over that span), including 10 of the last 12 games (+7.4).
• The Big Red's 262 3-pointers is a school record and is four shy of a single-season Ivy record.
• After hitting a season-low two 3-pointers (on a season-low eight attempts) at Princeton, Cornell exploded for 27 3-pointers in road wins at Harvard and Dartmouth, shooting .563 in the two games beyond the arc. The Tigers matched that total with a pair of 3-pointers against last night.
• Cornell has made at least 10 3-pointers in 15 contests this season, a new school record. Additionally, the Big Red has hit nine in three other games.
• Opponents have made double figure 3-pointers four times in 2009-10, but Cornell is 3-1 in those games (only loss to Penn, 11).
• The Big Red has hit eight or more 3-pointers in 17 of its last 20 contests.
• Cornell was held below 40 percent shooting for the first time all season last night vs. Princeton (.351), but has limited opponents to 40 percent shooting or below 14 times this year.
• Opponents have gathered more than 30 rebounds just twice in the last eight contests.

CORNELL BEYOND THE ARC
• The Big Red has hit at least one 3-pointer in 592 straight games.
• 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 642 of 646 games, connecting on 3,877 treys, an average of 6.00 per game.
• The Big Red has hit a 3-pointer in all 278 games coached by Steve Donahue.
• The 2007-08 Big Red set a school record with 228 treys, which was broken again last year when Cornell connected on 241 shots from beyond the arc despite the line being moved back. This year, the Big Red has hit 262 with three regular season games remaining.
• The Big Red has ranked fourth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage each of the last two years: 2007-08 (.409) and 2008-09 (.411). Cornell is second this season (.418).
• The Big Red hit double figures in 3-point field goals seven times a season ago, including a single-game school record of 18 against Ursinus. The team has already hit for double figures 15 times already this season, including 15 at Dartmouth.

NEXT UP
• Cornell will close out the regular season back on the road, as the Big Red opens March with contests at Brown (Friday, March 5 at 7 p.m.) and Yale (Saturday, March 6 at 7 p.m.).