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Cornell point guard Louis Dale said this week that Cornell's Friday night struggles on the road are “a mental thing.”
ITHACA — Call it cherry-picking, but Cornell is taking this statistic very seriously: In Friday night Ivy League road games this season, the Big Red is 0-2.
Each team annually gets three such games, and Cornell's third is tonight at rejuvenated Dartmouth's Leede Arena. Considering recent history, none have carried more importance for the Big Red (18-8, 8-2), which holds a two-game lead on four different teams with four games remaining.
"We want to clinch as quickly as we can, and this is a huge weekend to do it," senior center Jeff Foote said. "Dartmouth's a really hot team right now, and they're in second place and looking for a big ‘W'."
Three weeks ago, Princeton handled Cornell at Jadwin Gymnasium, 61-41. Last Friday, Yale erased from its memory a 28-point loss to Cornell in Ithaca, and outworked the Big Red in a 72-60 win.
In both games, Foote said Cornell lacked the energy necessary to win on the road. Junior point guard Louis Dale agreed, and said it was a "mental thing."
"We've got to come out and play hard, get all the loose balls and just outwork the other team," said Dale, who struggled in the Yale loss with seven points on 3-of-12 shooting and five turnovers.
If there's a team confident in itself to knock off the Big Red, it's Dartmouth.
On Valentine's Day, the Big Green (8-16, 6-4) became the first team since Quinnipiac to take Cornell to the wire at Newman Arena, losing 79-76 in double overtime. Despite trailing by 19 in the second half, Dartmouth rallied behind key contributions from several unlikely sources — 14 points from sophomore Ronnie Dixon; seven points, six rebounds and three blocks from freshman Herve Kouna; 12 points, four boards from junior Elgin Fitzgerald — to go along with player of the year frontrunner Alex Barnett's 22-point effort.
Dartmouth could have folded after that loss, which followed a 13-point defeat at Columbia, but it didn't. The Green responded by recording its first road sweep of Penn and Princeton since the inception of the Ivy League.
"They've played well pretty much all of the Ivy League season," Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. "They've got a formula, and it's working. I think they're a different matchup for everyone, because of Barnett. He plays the three, he's bigger than us; he plays the four, he's quicker than us. And the other kids are buying into it."
Cornell could clinch at least a share of the Ivy title as early as tonight, depending on what happens elsewhere. With a sweep of Dartmouth and Saturday's game at Harvard, Cornell would win its second championship outright should Columbia, Princeton and Yale each lose once this weekend.
If not, Cornell would then try and wrap it up against Penn and Princeton on March 6-7 at Newman Arena.
"I think they realize this is a huge weekend for our program," Donahue said. "They felt that last weekend, but now they understand it. It's right in front of them. It's a huge challenge for this group of guys. Since we've been together, this is about the biggest challenge we've faced."
The consensus after Wednesday's practice was that nothing in Cornell's Thursday-Friday travel routine needed to be changed. Donahue expects this team to feed off the surrounding urgency, and the fear of what another Friday loss could mean.
"You've got to look at what happened the last two Fridays, and you've got to pay attention to detail," Donahue said. "But I also think that those teams played very well, and you've got to expect that because they've had the whole week to prepare for the best team; the team that's coming in first place. They're fired up for it, and you've got to react to it. It's all part of the challenge."
Coach: Terry Dunn (5th season)
Record: 8-16, 6-4 Ivy League
Last time out: Dartmouth swept the Princeton-Penn road trip for the first time in 50 years, getting just its third victory at Jadwin Gymnasium in 41 years Saturday night, 66-63. Senior Alex Barnett made six free throws in the final minute to hold off the Tigers.
Last time vs. Cornell: Louis Dale scored 18 points and hit all six of his free throws in the two overtimes to lead Cornell to a 79-76 victory over the Big Green. Barnett led all scorers with 22 points.
Probable starters: Marlon Sanders (6-1, 180. Sr., G), Jabari Trotter (6-1, 185, Fr., G), Alex Barnett (6-6, 210, Sr., F), Kurt Graeber (6-9, 245, Sr., F)
Statistically: Cornell has beaten Dartmouth seven straight times, including a 79-69 victory last year at Leede Arena. ... Barnett leads the Ivy League in scoring (19.7 ppg). ... Dartmouth freshman David Rufful has won two out of three Ivy rookie of the year awards, and reached double figures in both wins last weekend. ... After shooting 48 percent (37-77) from beyond the arc during non-league play, Cornell's Geoff Reeves is shooting at a 26 percent clip during league (10-39). ... In the five games since Cornell's loss to Princeton, Ryan Wittman is shooting 52 percent from 3, and 50 percent from the field. ... In league play, Dartmouth ranks second behind Columbia in turnover margin (plus-2.80). ... Cornell freshman Chris Wroblewski is shooting a team-best 47 percent from 3 in the league.
Outlook: Back in October, who would have thought that Cornell- Dartmouth on Feb. 27 would mean so much? For Cornell, considering what's at stake, it's the biggest game of the season. A sweep this weekend guarantees the Big Red a share of its second straight Ivy championship, and two wins over its last four games guarantees — at a minimum — a tie for the title.
Dunn surprised Cornell two weeks ago by going big with a rotation of Graeber, Clive Weeden (6-9), Elgin Fitzgerald (6-9), Dan Biber (6-8) and Herve Kouna (6-6). That group made Jeff Foote and Alex Tyler work hard for everything, and defended Cornell's frontcourt better than any other league team has.
"They throw a bunch of them at you," Foote said. "Each guy's different, but overall me and A.T. are going to play our game, and we'll see how they handle it."
In Ithaca, Cornell made Barnett take 27 shots to get his 22 points, which all things considered is a strong effort. But in turn, Barnett did a superb job defensively on Ryan Wittman, holding Cornell's leading scorer to 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting in 45 minutes. Reeves, who has struggled with his shot over the last 10 games, had his best offensive outing during that stretch with 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
The most important thing for Cornell tonight is getting off to a quick start, which would limit the noise of what should be a large crowd at Leede Arena. It's been 10 years since Dartmouth prepared for such an important game in late February.
Cornell's experience in games like this should tip the scales in its favor.
Each team annually gets three such games, and Cornell's third is tonight at rejuvenated Dartmouth's Leede Arena. Considering recent history, none have carried more importance for the Big Red (18-8, 8-2), which holds a two-game lead on four different teams with four games remaining.
"We want to clinch as quickly as we can, and this is a huge weekend to do it," senior center Jeff Foote said. "Dartmouth's a really hot team right now, and they're in second place and looking for a big ‘W'."
Three weeks ago, Princeton handled Cornell at Jadwin Gymnasium, 61-41. Last Friday, Yale erased from its memory a 28-point loss to Cornell in Ithaca, and outworked the Big Red in a 72-60 win.
In both games, Foote said Cornell lacked the energy necessary to win on the road. Junior point guard Louis Dale agreed, and said it was a "mental thing."
"We've got to come out and play hard, get all the loose balls and just outwork the other team," said Dale, who struggled in the Yale loss with seven points on 3-of-12 shooting and five turnovers.
If there's a team confident in itself to knock off the Big Red, it's Dartmouth.
On Valentine's Day, the Big Green (8-16, 6-4) became the first team since Quinnipiac to take Cornell to the wire at Newman Arena, losing 79-76 in double overtime. Despite trailing by 19 in the second half, Dartmouth rallied behind key contributions from several unlikely sources — 14 points from sophomore Ronnie Dixon; seven points, six rebounds and three blocks from freshman Herve Kouna; 12 points, four boards from junior Elgin Fitzgerald — to go along with player of the year frontrunner Alex Barnett's 22-point effort.
Dartmouth could have folded after that loss, which followed a 13-point defeat at Columbia, but it didn't. The Green responded by recording its first road sweep of Penn and Princeton since the inception of the Ivy League.
"They've played well pretty much all of the Ivy League season," Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. "They've got a formula, and it's working. I think they're a different matchup for everyone, because of Barnett. He plays the three, he's bigger than us; he plays the four, he's quicker than us. And the other kids are buying into it."
Cornell could clinch at least a share of the Ivy title as early as tonight, depending on what happens elsewhere. With a sweep of Dartmouth and Saturday's game at Harvard, Cornell would win its second championship outright should Columbia, Princeton and Yale each lose once this weekend.
If not, Cornell would then try and wrap it up against Penn and Princeton on March 6-7 at Newman Arena.
"I think they realize this is a huge weekend for our program," Donahue said. "They felt that last weekend, but now they understand it. It's right in front of them. It's a huge challenge for this group of guys. Since we've been together, this is about the biggest challenge we've faced."
The consensus after Wednesday's practice was that nothing in Cornell's Thursday-Friday travel routine needed to be changed. Donahue expects this team to feed off the surrounding urgency, and the fear of what another Friday loss could mean.
"You've got to look at what happened the last two Fridays, and you've got to pay attention to detail," Donahue said. "But I also think that those teams played very well, and you've got to expect that because they've had the whole week to prepare for the best team; the team that's coming in first place. They're fired up for it, and you've got to react to it. It's all part of the challenge."
Coach: Terry Dunn (5th season)
Record: 8-16, 6-4 Ivy League
Last time out: Dartmouth swept the Princeton-Penn road trip for the first time in 50 years, getting just its third victory at Jadwin Gymnasium in 41 years Saturday night, 66-63. Senior Alex Barnett made six free throws in the final minute to hold off the Tigers.
Last time vs. Cornell: Louis Dale scored 18 points and hit all six of his free throws in the two overtimes to lead Cornell to a 79-76 victory over the Big Green. Barnett led all scorers with 22 points.
Probable starters: Marlon Sanders (6-1, 180. Sr., G), Jabari Trotter (6-1, 185, Fr., G), Alex Barnett (6-6, 210, Sr., F), Kurt Graeber (6-9, 245, Sr., F)
Statistically: Cornell has beaten Dartmouth seven straight times, including a 79-69 victory last year at Leede Arena. ... Barnett leads the Ivy League in scoring (19.7 ppg). ... Dartmouth freshman David Rufful has won two out of three Ivy rookie of the year awards, and reached double figures in both wins last weekend. ... After shooting 48 percent (37-77) from beyond the arc during non-league play, Cornell's Geoff Reeves is shooting at a 26 percent clip during league (10-39). ... In the five games since Cornell's loss to Princeton, Ryan Wittman is shooting 52 percent from 3, and 50 percent from the field. ... In league play, Dartmouth ranks second behind Columbia in turnover margin (plus-2.80). ... Cornell freshman Chris Wroblewski is shooting a team-best 47 percent from 3 in the league.
Outlook: Back in October, who would have thought that Cornell- Dartmouth on Feb. 27 would mean so much? For Cornell, considering what's at stake, it's the biggest game of the season. A sweep this weekend guarantees the Big Red a share of its second straight Ivy championship, and two wins over its last four games guarantees — at a minimum — a tie for the title.
Dunn surprised Cornell two weeks ago by going big with a rotation of Graeber, Clive Weeden (6-9), Elgin Fitzgerald (6-9), Dan Biber (6-8) and Herve Kouna (6-6). That group made Jeff Foote and Alex Tyler work hard for everything, and defended Cornell's frontcourt better than any other league team has.
"They throw a bunch of them at you," Foote said. "Each guy's different, but overall me and A.T. are going to play our game, and we'll see how they handle it."
In Ithaca, Cornell made Barnett take 27 shots to get his 22 points, which all things considered is a strong effort. But in turn, Barnett did a superb job defensively on Ryan Wittman, holding Cornell's leading scorer to 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting in 45 minutes. Reeves, who has struggled with his shot over the last 10 games, had his best offensive outing during that stretch with 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
The most important thing for Cornell tonight is getting off to a quick start, which would limit the noise of what should be a large crowd at Leede Arena. It's been 10 years since Dartmouth prepared for such an important game in late February.
Cornell's experience in games like this should tip the scales in its favor.
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