The monkey is off the men’s basketball team’s (1-5, 0-0 Ivy) back, but Cornell has little time to rest after running away from Ithaca (2-3, 0-0 Empire 8) on Monday night for its first win of the season. The Red gets right back into action tonight at 7:00 p.m. when it hosts Buffalo (3-2, 0-0 MAC).
Cornell matched a school record in the 77-45 win by connecting on 14 3-pointers. The Red utilized a 53-point second half to pull away from the Division III Bombers. However, the Bulls will in all likelihood present a tougher challenge to Cornell.
Buffalo, which averages 69.6 points per game, is led by Darcel Williams. The 6-6 senior leads the team with 15.8 points per game and is also the Bulls’ high rebounder, averaging 6.6 boards per game.
In addition to Williams, Buffalo sports a deep bench, and coach Reggie Witherspoon isn’t hesitant to use all of his troops.
“They’re a very good basketball team, they’re real athletic, they’re tall, they’re long,” Red head coach Steve Donahue assessed. “We’re going to have to play extremely well to beat them.”
The Bulls are coming off a thrilling win at home on Saturday against New Hampshire. Buffalo senior Louis Campbell gave his team a 73-72 lead with 10.4 seconds remaining in the contest. The one point margin held up for the victory.
Close games have become a habit for the Bulls, as four out of the team’s five contests this season have been decided by two or fewer points.
Buffalo only needs one more victory to match its total number of wins from last year’s four-win season.
Buffalo and the Red have played one common opponent this year. Cornell dropped its season opener to Canisius (1-2, 0-0 MAAC) 65-48 on Nov. 16, while Buffalo beat the Golden Griffins 58-56 over Thanksgiving weekend.
The Bulls play an aggressive defense, which is aided by a pair of 6-10 players in the frontcourt, freshman Mark Bortz and senior Kevin Swoffer. The Red will be looking to slow the speed of the game down in order to get the looks from outside that it was able to get against Ithaca.
“We’re going to have to control the tempo, make sure we get good shots at the basket, and obviously handle the boards like every night,” Donahue said.
Archived article by Alex Fineman