Men's Basketball (2016-17)

[Ken711]

Big Red drop a 69-59 decision at Albany where the Great Danes have 16 offensive rebounds to Cornell's 1.  Matt Morgan was out, I assume hurt since he seemed to suffer an injury late in the Lowell game.  

The Big Red trailed pretty much the entire game, but a late run (largely Hatter) closed the gap to 2.  Unfortunately, the Red couldn't get another stop.

The last OOC game is against NAIA Fisher.  

Meanwhile Dartmouth has won three in a row, including one over a decent New Hampshire squad, so they aren't going to go quietly into last place.

Earl and his staff have got to bring in the front players in subsequent recruiting classes.

[mountainred]

Cornell drops the Ivy opener 79-75 to Columbia.  Down one, the BR forced a Lion turnover with 18 seconds left, but thanks to a turnover never got the shot at the win.

Size was again the problem.  Columbia's center had 31 points and the Lions had 11 offensive rebounds (basically one of every three possible rebounds.)

Sophomore Jack Gordon had 13 points on 4 for 4 shooting and added 3 assists.  If he can repeat that (I don't count double figures against the non-D1 opponent), he should be taking a chunk of Fallas' minutes down the stretch.

Also Hatter left the game with injury in the second half and never returned.

Penn has started 0-3, so the last slot for the Ivy Tourney may be up for grabs to a team that can go 7-7.  It's unlikely Cornell can do that, but it will be nearly impossible without a split of Columbia.

[mountainred]

Cornell gets the split with Columbia 67-62.  Brian Earl gets his first league win.

The Big Red win despite Hatter being out with an injury, giving up 16 offensive rebounds and 22 turnovers.  You have to respect a team finding a way to win despite that.

Morgan led the way with 17 points and 7 assists.  Gettings and Whiteside had 13 each, and Bathurst had 12. Will started for Hatter and played well.  And Jack Gordon had 4 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists off the bench.  Notably he was on the floor in the in the final moments, along with Matt, Stone, Troy and Will.

It's Cornell's best road win of the year by far. Making the Ivy Tourney is still unlikely, but it's still possible with the split.  One positive note for the long-term health of this team:  the senior class was not much of a factor.

Meant to add that Columbia's Luke Petrasek only had 8 points, and only took 6 shots inside the arc, after destroying the Big Red last week.  The BR was clearly focused on Luke, but the Lions have to get the ball inside better.  I bet their fans are not happy right now.

[ugarte]

Cornell gets the split with Columbia 67-62.  Brian Earl gets his first league win.

Agh so mad I missed this. I forgot it was today but to be honest I spent too much time in Manhattan today anyway.

[mountainred]

Cornell splits a pair at home.  Harvard closes on a 13-2 run to beat the BR 77-71.  Frustrating loss in that Cornell led by 12 early in the second half and 5 with five minutes to go, but the talent between Harvard and Cornell (and frankly every other Ivy) is enormous.  Cornell bounces back to beat Dartmouth 75-62 in a game that Cornell led by around ten most of the way.  The split means Cornell is right now 5th in the league and ahead of Brown, Penn and Dartmouth.

Troy Whiteside and Will Bathurst have played really well the last couple of weeks which is great to see.  Over the last five D1 games Troy is averaging something like 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.  Maybe not all-Ivy numbers, but solid starter numbers.  Bathurst has always struck me as a bit of a 'tweener in that he has a forward's game in a guard's body.  In the past, he'd explode every now and again, but he lacked consistency.  Well, he's started the three games in place of Hatter (injured) and hit double figures each night with 5 rebounds and 3 assists.  He still sometimes tries to do too much, but the increased PT may be reducing his urgency to impress.

In crunch time lately, Cornell has gone with Morgan (still a special talent), Whiteside, Bathurst, Gettings (or Warren if rebounding is more critical), and a lot of Jack Gordon.  What makes that group interesting is that it is 1 junior, 4 sophs, and our only freshman.  With all respect to the seniors, who I know are still working hard, that's probably the right move for the longer-term success of the program.

[mountainred]

I was traveling, so I missed the games -- even the delayed by blackout game against Yale -- but the Big Red dropped a pair at home this past weekend:  81-70 to Brown and 78-71 to Yale.  The main culprit appears to be the inability to hit 3s as the Big Red shot 10 for 45 from behind the arc (22%) over the weekend.  The losses move Cornell's chances for making the Ivy Tourney from "unlikely, but maybe they get hot" to "mathematically alive, but not going to happen."

The record is a bit disappointing, but the change to Earl has been largely for the better.  The offense is more cohesive.  The defense needs tightening, but it's hard to excel on that end without a good big man.  Stone is a much better offensive player than he is defensive.  There has been more individual development as Whiteside, Bathurst and Gordon are all getting better as the season goes along.  

The big question for Earl is whether he can bring in the talent necessary to compete.  Cornell needs front line help, three point shooters and could use a pure PG.  I like Josh Warren, but he is the only freshman on the team in year that has seen a ridiculous amount of freshman talent in the league.  The current recruiting class for next year has some interesting prospects, but no one who will be a pre-season pick for ROY.  This could well be a multi-year rebuild, but I guess we knew that.

[CAS]

At the half, Penn 42 - Cornell 14.  Penn is 1-6 in Ivies.

[mountainred]

At the half, Penn 42 - Cornell 14.  Penn is 1-6 in Ivies.

The worst I've seen the guys.  By far.  Very disappointing after a competitive loss at Princeton on Friday night.

Penn isn't great, but their 1-6 record is a bit deceiving.  They looked like a lock for the Ivy Tourney before the league slate began.  

But, make no mistake, that was a brutal half.

[mountainred]

The second half was better.  How could it not be?  But Penn wins 82-63.  

In a classic college basketball moment, the refs spent a minute watching the replay to decide if they needed to put .8 on the clock at the end of the game.  With the score 82-63.  Just in case Cornell had a 20 point play ready to use.

Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth and Penn are all tied for fifth place at 2-6.  I know that also means last place.

[scoop85]

Well, I'm glad I was distracted by a broken snowblower so that I didn't have to watch such a debacle

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

I started to watch it - it was on Comcast - but when it got to the point when Cornell had missed something like 10 shots in a row and were already way down, i quit.

[billhoward]

The second half was better.  How could it not be?  But Penn wins 82-63.  

In a classic college basketball moment, the refs spent a minute watching the replay to decide if they needed to put .8 on the clock at the end of the game.  With the score 82-63.  Just in case Cornell had a 20 point play ready to use.

Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth and Penn are all tied for fifth place at 2-6.  I know that also means last place.

+1

[Ken711]

Final: Cornell 69 Dartmouth 65

[mountainred]

Final: Cornell 69 Dartmouth 65

Nice road win for the guys.  Warren got his first start and it helped on the glass.  Warren had five offensive rebounds; the team had 10. Troy Whiteside had a huge, possibly game-saving offensive rebound late.  Cornell led by 8 with 2+minutes to go, but Dartmouth scored six in a row and forced the Big Red into a desperate shot just before the shot clock expired.  It looked liked Dartmouth was going to get a chance to tie or take the lead when Troy swooped in for the offensive board.  Dartmouth had to foul and Morgan was perfect from the line down the stretch.

Morgan had 28 points and Getting added a double/double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.  

Technically Cornell is still alive for the Ivy Tourney as the team is only one game back of 4th place Columbia.  Realistically?  Not going to happen.

[Trotsky]

Technically Cornell is still alive for the Ivy Tourney as the team is only one game back of 4th place Columbia.  Realistically?  Not going to happen.

How come?  We and Columbia play the same schedule as travel partners, right?  So we just need to pick up a game someplace.