Columbia will be the first Ivy League squad to take a crack at toppling defending men’s basketball league champion Cornell when the Red matches up against the Lions in New York City tomorrow at 7 p.m. Both teams are riding five-game win streaks into the contest. After an undefeated conference season in 2007-08, Cornell has not lost to an Ancient Eight team since March 3, 2007.

Look out: Junior forward Ryan Wittman, the Red’s leading scorer, will lead Cornell into the regular season this weekend.

With a 69-46 win at Bryant on Monday, the men’s basketball team tallied its 10th win of the season — when the Red (10-6) resumes play at Columbia this weekend, it will be the first time in 56 years that the Red enters the Ivy League season with ten wins under its belt. The victory in Smithfield, R.I., was Cornell’s fifth in a row.

After opening the break with a home win against La Salle University, 79-70, the Red dropped a close contest to St. Joseph’s at the Palestra in Philadelphia, 71-67.

Blowing out Boston University, 89-59, and edging Quinnipiac, 73-70, in late December, the squad got back to .500, notching a win over D-III powerhouse Ursinus Jan. 3, 99-45. 6-1 since a semester-ending loss at Minnesota in early December, the Red remains perfect at Newman Arena, 6-0.

The men’s basketball team moved back over .500 with wins over Quinnipiac and D-III powerhouse Ursinus this week. With the wins, the Red improves to 8-6 on the season and remained perfect at Newman Arena, 5-0. Cornell has won 13 straight contests at home dating back to last season.

Senior guard Louis Dale showed why he is the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year with two clutch defensive plays late in the Red’s 73-70 win over Quinnipiac. He blocked a shot with 29 seconds left in the game then forced a held ball with 2.2 seconds left to give the Red possession. Junior forward Ryan Wittman was fouled after the inbounds pass and sank his two free throws to pad the Red’s lead. Dale, a team captain, and Wittman paced the offense with 23 and 25 points, respectively.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams both dropped tough non-conference games on Monday night. The men couldn’t hold on to a 13-point first half lead as St. Joseph’s used a late 11-3 run to come out on top, 71-67. St. Bonaventure trounced the women, 70-49, in their first game after a 21-day break.

St. Joseph’s Ahmad Nivins had a hot shooting night to lead the Hawk offense with 26 points and 16 rebounds including 16 points and 11 boards in the second half. Nivins also recorded seven offensive rebounds after the break. The Hawks were aggressive on the offensive glass and had a 16-10 advantage in offensive rebounds, which led to a 22-8 edge in second-chance points.

For the second time in one week, the men’s basketball team will get a chance at ruining a perfect season when it faces Minnesota tomorrow at Williams Arena, also known as “The Barn.”

The Red will look to hand the Gophers their first loss of the season after falling short against undefeated Syracuse, 88-78.

Cornell is led by as many as 16 points during the first half but collapsed in the second half as the Orange shot 75 percent from the field to retake the lead.

“We all just want to come out with a little more toughness and just finish games,” said junior forward Alex Tyler. “We’ve had games with opportunities to put teams away and we haven’t been able to do that. We want to get over that hump and actually win a couple of those games.”

Led by an electric performance from junior Ryan Wittman, Cornell put a scare into No. 20 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome last night — going up by as much as 16 points in the first half before eventually falling, 88-78.

Wittman paced the Red with 33 points, while the Red shot 43 percent from the field, including going 13-of-29 shooting from 3-point range. Sophomore standout Johnny Flynn led the Orange with 24 points and six assists on over 50 percent shooting, and former high school teammate Paul Harris was right behind Flynn with 21 points and nine rebounds.

The men’s basketball team has had its challenges on the road this season, losing contests to Siena, St. John’s and Indiana. The toughest of the season might just come tonight as the Red travels to Syracuse to take on the No. 20 Orange in a game which will be broadcast locally on Time Warner Cable. The Red will enter the central New York showdown unsure if junior point guard Louis Dale will suit up until game time. Dale’s services would help as they face a tough and physical Big East squad led by sophomore point guard Johnny Flynn.

Yesterday, said Indiana men’s basketball head coach Tom Crean, Cornell brought out the best in the Hoosiers.

While the compliment was nice for Cornell, it didn’t make the final result, a 72-57 loss, any easier to handle for Cornell head coach Steve Donahue.

“We just didn’t get out and play well from the start,” he said. “It was not one of our better games.”

The men’s basketball team proved last night that it was capable of winning with both its defense and its offense in a resounding 78-53 win over Loyola University-Chicago. The win was the Red’s second straight of the NIT Preseason Tip-Off tournament after an opening round loss to St. John’s. The Red used staunch first-half defense, a high-scoring second-half offense and some aggressive rebounding to capture the win.The Geoff/Jeff show: While junior guard Geoff Reeves (15) scored 26 points against Loyola-Chicago last night, senior center Jeff Foote controlled the glass for the Red.

The men’s basketball team will face Eastern Michigan University today at 5:45 p.m. in Jamaica, N.Y. — the contest is the Red’s final consolation round game in the NIT Preseason Tip-Off Tournament, which opened last week.

In Cornell’s other consolation round game, the squad nabbed a decisive 78-55 win yesterday over Loyola (Chicago). The Red (3-2) then got the chance to do a little scouting, as host St. John’s beat Eastern Michigan (1-4), 73-61, in the 8 p.m. slot. Sophomore Brandon Bowdry and junior Justin Dobbins were the Eagles’ high scorers in that game, and the two forwards are the only players to average double-digits (15.2 and 13.6 points per game, respectively) for the Mid-American Conference squad.