By wpengine
Yankees fans everywhere will be treated to a little Ivy League basketball tonight as the Cornell men’s basketball team hits the Mass Pike to battle Harvard at Lavietes Pavillion. The YES network will carry the conference tilt between the Red (7-8, 2-0 Ivy) and the Crimson (2-13, 1-1 Ivy) live at 7 p.m. Senior captain Ka’Ron Barnes will then lead his teammates north to Manchester, N.H. for a game against Dartmouth (3-13, 1-1) tomorrow. The Red, having won five of seven, finds itself in the middle of a six-game road swing and with an opportunity to come out of this weekend with a 4-0 Ivy record; the last time Cornell started even 3-0, the year was 1982. As both games are in front of hostile crowds, the Red has a chance to establish itself as a team that can win under any conditions. Cornell was able to do just that in last February’s game against Harvard, pulling out a 68-63 victory. Unfortunately for the Red, it was not as successful against Dartmouth last season, dropping both games. “You’ve got to be able to win on the road in this league,” said head coach Steve Donahue. “We’re going to have to win four halves of basketball this weekend if we expect to win.” The Crimson will look to junior guard Kevin Rogus to provide the spark on offense. With 16.1 points per game, Rogus is the Ivy League’s third-leading scorer. Luckily for Cornell, the top two scorers in the Ancient Eight roam the Red backcourt — guards Barnes (20.4 ppg) and junior Cody Toppert (17.3 ppg). The slightly taller Toppert (6-4, 202 pounds) will draw the initial assignment of shutting down Rogus (6-4, 196 pounds), providing an exciting one-on-one duel between two of the purest shooters in the league. Cornell bests Harvard in every statistical category except free-throw percentage and averages 73.1 ppg against the Crimson’s 63.2. Dartmouth comes off a split in last weekend’s home-and-home series with Harvard and will play Columbia tonight. The Green has only two starters averaging in double figures for scoring and is 2-4 at home, but the Red will still face a tough test. “They shoot and penetrate very well,” said Donahue. “It’s a concern for us; they spread the floor and slow the game down. We’ll have to guard them for all 35 seconds.” Although neither Harvard nor Dartmouth appear as strong as Cornell on paper, the team is not looking past this weekend to tougher games down the line. “Keeping our focus isn’t an issue with us,” said Donahue. “Harvard is a tough venue to play in. Both of these team can and have played well, especially on their home courts.” Tonight’s game against Harvard can be seen on the YES Network (Time Warner Channel 74) 7 p.m.; the Red tips off at Dartmouth on Saturday night at 7. Archived article by Per Ostman
By wpengine
After completing a grueling national tour which included duals against top-ranked teams Lehigh, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State and Hofstra, the wrestling team will finally get its first taste of Ivy League competition this weekend when it heads to Philadelphia, Penn. and Princeton, N.J. to take on Penn and Princeton. The Cornell squad has a modest 3-6 record heading into the contests, but strong showings at powerhouse tournaments have kept the Red ranked among the top 20 in national polls. “It’s going to be awesome to get off with a big start,” said head coach Rob Koll. “For 17 straight years, the winner of the Penn-Cornell match has gone on to win the Ivy League title, so it’s obviously a very important one to win.” In spite of the Red’s .333 winning percentage, all of its losses have come to teams ranked in the top 20 in the country, and the margin of victory in many of those matches was slim — two or three points. Entering its final bout against Wisconsin, Cornell trailed by four points, and Cornell junior heavyweight Matt Bogumil had a chance to win it for the Red. But, as the final 20 seconds of the third period ticked away, the Badgers’ Jareck Horton scored a takedown, earning a 3-1 decision, and giving Wisconsin a 21-14 team victory. Against Hofstra, Cornell saw another win yanked from under its feet. After four weight classes, the Red had worked to a 12-3 lead, and the middle of the lineup saw bouts go to both the Red and Pride. But Hofstra’s grapplers came out on top in the last five matches of the day, and Cornell lost the dual, 18-15. “Against Wisconsin, we had to forfeit a weight class as opposed to a pretty sure three points we would have gotten, so that’s a nine point swing, and we ended up losing by three. The Hofstra match, we ended up losing by three points and one of our guys had actually beaten their kid before,” added Koll. “We could very easily be 6-2 if we get those wins right there. But all things considered, we’re one of the best 3-6 teams in the country.” Though the losses have taken their toll on the team’s record, the grapplers’ confidence that it can take the Ivy League championship trophy home at the end of February has not diminished. “Right now, the guys are positive and feel that, despite the record, we have a solid team,” said Koll. “We have a good chance to get the Ivy title and have a strong nationals finish.” But both the Quakers and Tigers boast several matmen who will make both matches in tomorrow’s doubleheader tough for the Red. Last weekend, 15th ranked Penn placed eighth at the Cliff Keen NWCA National Duals, and the team upset No. 3 Iowa State and No. 14 West Virginia at the National Duals. The Quakers, 4-5 overall, have also proven themselves worthy of a top spot in the polls by beating Wisconsin, 19-15, handing Northern Illinois its first loss of the season in a 22-20 nail-biter, and losing close matches to top-10 teams Michigan, Penn State, Oklahoma and Minnesota. “On paper, there are a lot of matches that are up for grabs against Penn, and we need to win the close ones,” continued Koll. “I’m sure Penn expects to win, but we know we can pull it out.” The nightcap against Princeton, a team which showed promise earlier in the season but has fallen to 2-5, will be the easier match of the day for Cornell’s grapplers. In November, the Tigers earned an easy win against South Dakota State, but the team’s only victory since came against unranked Bacone College at the National Duals. And Princeton has struggled against the tougher opponents on its schedule, managing to score only nine points against Wisconsin, dropping a 41-0 shutout to 20th ranked Purdue, and losing 34-8 to Northern Illinois. “At one point about five or six years ago, Princeton actually dropped its team, and right now they’re trying to rebuild,” commented Koll. “Though they do have some strong individuals, they just don’t have the depth to beat us as a team right now.” With its national ranking, bragging rights, and an Ivy League championship trophy on line, the Red will certainly give all it can to start its second semester schedule on the path to the top of the Ivy League. Concluded Koll, “We should beat Princeton, but if history is any indication, Penn is the all important match for us.” Archived article by Everett Hullverson
