Game Note Supplement

GAME INFORMATION
Game #31: Cornell at Yale
Tip off: Saturday, March 6, at 7:00 p.m.
Site: John J. Lee Amphitheater (2,532), New Haven, Conn.
2009-10 Records: Yale (12-18, 6-7 Ivy League); Cornell (26-4, 12-1 Ivy League)
Series Record: Cornell leads 106-101
Last Meeting: Cornell won 90-71, February 5, 2010 in Ithaca, N.Y.

HEAD COACH STEVE DONAHUE
Cornell head coach Steve Donahue is in his 10th season at Cornell (143-137, .511) ... 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. —  A night after securing its third straight outright Ivy League title and the accompanying NCAA tournament berth, the Big Red men's basketball team closes out the regular season when it faces Yale on Saturday, March 6 at 7 p.m. at John J. Lee Amphitheater. Barry Leonard will provide the call on 93.5 WVBR-FM, while live audio of the game will be available as part of the RedCast subscription service.

Cornell has plenty to play for as it heads into the regular season finale. Including needing a win for seeding purposes, the Big Red hasn't fared well at Yale in recent years, losing seven of its last eight contests in New Haven, Conn. A victory would give the team 86 victories in four seasons, joining just four other classes of players in Ivy history with that many triumphs in a career.

The Big Red was nearly unstoppable offensively in Friday night's 95-76 win at Brown that clinched the program's this straight outright Ivy title. Cornell connected on an Ivy League record 20 3-pointers, making 20-of-30 shots beyond the arc. That total ties the most treys in a game by one team this season in Division I.

Senior Jon Jaques tied a career-high with 20 points, including hitting 6-of-8 3-pointers. Ryan Wittman added 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Louis Dale had 18 points and eight assists to lead five starters in double figures.

The win over Brown was Cornell's 26th of the season, matching the third-most in a season by an Ivy team. A victory over Yale on its Senior day would move that number to 27 and match the great 1997-98 Princeton team that was ranked in the top 10 and finished the year 27-2.

ABOUT YALE
• Conference: The Ivy League
• Head Coach: James Jones (Albany '86), 11th season.
• Yale's record stands at 12-18 (6-7 Ivy) after a 65-48 win over Columbia on Friday night.
• All-Ivy candidate Alex Zampier is the team's leading scorer (17.1 ppg.) and ranks among the league leaders in steals with 57, setting a new Yale record in the process.
• Junior Michael Sands is also in double figures (10.8 ppg., 6.1 rpg.).
• Sophomore forward Greg Magnano has shown flashes of All-Ivy potential as well in the post, averaging 7.5 ppg. and 5.6 rpg., while Jordan Gibson averages 7.8 ppg. and 4.1 rpg., while standing second on the team in steals (29) and third in blocked shots (20).
• Yale is 8-7 in its last 15 contests.

THE SERIES
• Cornell leads 106-101 overall in a series that dates back to the 1898-99 campaign.
• Cornell has had the best of the series recently, winning seven of the last nine meetings and each of the last six in Ithaca.
• The Big Red took home a 90-71 victory in the first meeting between the teams on Feb. 5 at Newman Arena.
• The Big Red's last four wins over the Bulldogs have come by an average of 21.8 points per game.

THE STORY LINE
• After clinching the program's third consecutive outright Ivy League title and NCAA tournament berth, Cornell closes out a record-breaking regular season at Yale.
• A win over the Bulldogs on Yale's Senior Day would give the Big Red 27 wins, matching the 1997-98 Princeton Tigers for the second-most regular season wins in Ancient Eight history.
• Cornell hit a school and Ivy League record 20 3-pointers in Friday's 95-76 victory at Brown to secure the league's automatic bid.
• The Big Red will attempt to go into the NCAA tournament with a seven-game win streak, thie third win streak of at least that long this season.

A WIN OVER YALE WOULD ...
• be 27 wins for the Big Red on the year, tied for the second-most by any team in Ivy history (since the formation of Ivy play in 1955-56)
• end Cornell's regular season with a 27-4 overall record (13-1 Ivy League).
• give Cornell 25 wins in its last 27 games.
• make the Big Red 38-4 in Ivy League over the last three seasons and 47-9 over the last four.

THE STREAKS
• Cornell is 37-4 in Ivy play over the last three seasons and 46-9 over the last four.
• The Big Red is 6-1 on the road in its last seven contests away from Newman Arena.
• Cornell is 85-32 over the last four years, making the Big Red seniors the winningest class in school history.
• The Big Red has won 22 straight conference contests at home and is 26-2 in league play at home over the last four seasons.
• Cornell has won 11 straight games at Newman Arena overall.
• Cornell is 37-2 in its last 39 games at Newman Arena.

CELEBRATED SENIORS
• This will be the last regular season and Ivy League game for the team's eight seniors who have been the core of three Ivy League championship teams.
• 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 85-32 record over four seasons and a 46-9 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 700 games played, 396 starts, 5,779 points, 2,160 rebounds, 1,051assists, 415 steals, 299 blocked shots and 678 3-point field goals.

RECORD WINS
• Cornell has won a school-record 26 games this season, surpassing the 22-6 mark of 2007-08.
• The Big Red's 26 wins is the most by an Ivy team this century (Penn, 25-7 in 2001-02).
• Cornell's .867 winning percentage (26-4) 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 two conference teams have won at least 26 games in a season. The 1997-98 Princeton team went 27-2, while the 1970-71 Penn Quakers were 28-1.
• 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 169-199 free throws this season (.849), including 53-of-59 in the final three minutes of games within 10 points (.898).
• Senior Ryan Wittman has reached double figure in 28 straight games.
• Senior Jeff Foote has at least eight rebounds in 16 different games with 11 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 53-of-73 field goals in the last 10 games (.726) and is 27-of-33 from the floor in the last six contests (.818).
• Foote has multiple blocked shots in nine of his last 11 games.
• Louis Dale is the first Cornell player with 1,300 points, 400 rebounds, 400 assists and 100 steals in a career.
• In Ivy play, Louis Dale has 50 assists and 24 turnovers while shooting .492 from the floor.
• Dale and Chris Wroblewski have 90 assists and 38 turnovers combined in 12 home games.
• Senior Geoff Reeves has 25 assists and just 10 turnovers in the team's last 21 contests.
• Senior Jon Jaques has made 56 of his last 101 shots (.554), including 35-of-68 from beyond the arc (.515).
• Junior Adam Wire went 16 games (155 minutes) without a turnover before a miscue against Penn. He has 10 assists and one turnover in Ivy League play (145 minutes).
• 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.
• Six different players have made at least 10 3-pointers in Ivy League play.
• Five different players (Dale, Foote, Jaques, Wittman, Wroblewski) have at least one game this season with 20+ points.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
• Cornell is 15-3 away from home so far this season, the most road/neutral wins in the country.
• Its 10 wins away from home were the most by any Division I team in non-league play.
• Only five other schools have as many as 12 road/neutral wins as of March 6. (Murray State (14), Butler (13), Morgan State (13), Temple (13) and Vermont (13).
• 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 mid-major powers Bucknell, Davidson, Harvard and Vermont.
• Cornell's 15 road/neutral wins is already a new school record, surpassing the 10 of  the 2007-08 Ivy League championship squad.

TEAM NOTES
• Cornell opponents are shooting .389 from the floor (.330 from 3-point range) and averaging 57.5 points in the last 19 games after shooting .456 (.387 from 3-point range) and allowing 73.0 points in the first 10 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 24 games and five times this season.
• The Big Red has outrebounded 17 of its last 22 opponents (+5.2 over that span), including 12 of the last 13 games (+7.2).
• The Big Red's 292 3-pointers are a school and Ivy League record for a season.
• Cornell has made at least 10 3-pointers in 17 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 five times in 2009-10, but Cornell is 4-1 in those games (only loss to Penn, 11).
• The Big Red has hit eight or more 3-pointers in 19 of its last 22 contests.
• Cornell was held below 40 percent shooting for the first time all season against Princeton (.351) at home, but has limited opponents to 40 percent shooting or below 15 times this year.
• Opponents have gathered more than 30 rebounds just twice in the last 10 contests.

CORNELL BEYOND THE ARC
• The Big Red has hit at least one 3-pointer in 594 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 644 of 648 games, connecting on 3,917 treys, an average of 6.04 per game.
• The Big Red has hit a 3-pointer in all 280 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 292 with one regular season game 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) heading into the weekend and bumped that number to .429 after last night's effort.
• 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 17 times already this season, including 15 at Dartmouth and a school and Ivy League record 20 last night vs. Brown.

NEXT UP
• Cornell will find out its NCAA tournament opponent when the brackets are announced on Sunday, March 14.