GAME 26: #4 Cornell (15-10, 7-7 Ivy) vs. #1 Princeton (22-5, 12-2 Ivy)

Date & Time: Saturday, March 12 - 11:00 a.m.
Venue: Lavietes Pavilion (1,636) - Cambridge, Mass.
Twitter: @CUBigRedGameday | @CUBigRedHoops
 

STORY LINES

• The Cornell men's basketball team makes its second Ivy League Tournament appearance in program history and will be in search of its first trip to the finals when it meets top-seeded and regular season champion Princeton on Saturday, March 12 at 11 a.m. at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Mass.
• The semifinals will be televised live on ESPNU, with the championship game on tap for ESPN2.
• Cornell, picked seventh in the preseason Ivy League media poll, vaulted into the top four and is the only school in the league with a win over each of the top two seeds.
• The Big Red's only previous Ivy Tournament appearance came in 2018 as the No. 4 seed, dropping a 77-54 contest to top-seeded Harvard at the Palestra in Philadelphia, Pa.
• Cornell, which ranks 19th in the nation in scoring entering the week, was No. 1 in the country in adjusted pace in terms of shortest average possession time in Division I during the non-conference season.
• The Big Red stands second in the conference in points per game despite not having a player ranked in the top 15 in scoring.
• In fact, Cornell has 10 players averaging between 5.6 and 10.2 points per game this year and 12 have posted at least one double figure scoring game with five having a 20-point effort.
• Cornell has shared the ball all season long, ranking seventh nationally in assists per game (17.5).
• While the Big Red's offense has been in focus all season, Cornell is second in the Ivy League in opponent's field goal percentage (.427)
• Senior Dean Noll has played at an All-Ivy League level in conference play, averaging 12.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.4 blocks per game while shooting 46 percent from the floor and 83 percent from the free-throw line.
• The Big Red had four different players earn Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors during the regular season — sophomores Keller Boothby (Dec. 6) and Chris Manon (Feb. 7) and freshmen Nazir Williams (Nov. 29) and Guy Ragland Jr. (Feb. 28).
• Jeff Foote, a two-time Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and member of the 2010 NCAA Sweet 16 team, will be honored as a Legend of Ivy League Basketball this weekend. 
 

SERIES HISTORY VS. PRINCETON

Overall: Princeton leads 149-84
In Cambridge, Mass.: First Meeting
Current Streak: Cornell, 1 game
Last Meeting: Cornell won 88-83, 2/4/22 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Earl vs. Princeton: 4-6
Series dates back to the 1901-02 season • the two teams have split the meetings down the middle over the last 17 seasons (series tied 17-17) • the Tigers have the better of the recent meetings, claiming 16 of the last 22 after the Big Red had gone 7-1 in the previous eight matchups • Cornell snapped a six-game Princeton win streak in 2018, a three overtime thriller won by the Big Red at Newman Arena • the Big Red swept the season series in 2019-20.
 

NEXT UP

• The winner of the game will meet the winner of the second semifinal, No. 2 Yale and No. 3 Penn, for a trip to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, March 13 at noon.
• An Ivy League Tournament win would send the Big Red to its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance.
• The Big Red could play in Dayton, Ohio in the First Four, or be sent to one of eight regional sites (Buffalo, N.Y.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Fort Worth, Texas; Portland, Ore.; Greenville, S.C.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; San Diego, Calif.).
• The Big Red has a 2-6 all-time record in NCAA Tournament games, earning a pair of victories in the 2009-10 event en route to a Sweet 16 appearance.