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DATE & TIME: Friday, February 27th, 7:00 p.m. (et).
FACTS & STATS: Site: Leede Arena (2,100) -- Hanover, New Hampshire. Television: None. Home Record: Cornell 11-0, Dartmouth 5-8. Away Record: Cornell 4-7, Dartmouth 3-7. Neutral Record: Cornell 3-1, Dartmouth 0-1. Conference Record: Cornell 8-2, Dartmouth 6-4. Series Record: Dartmouth leads, 101-96.
GAME NOTES: Needing at least one win this week to secure a share of the Ivy League title, the Cornell Big Red takes its first shot with a meeting against the Dartmouth Big Green tonight at Leede Arena in Hanover. Cornell enters action tonight with a two-game lead against the rest of the league and could sew up the crown if it swept meetings with both Dartmouth and Harvard and also got some help from other school along the way. Nevertheless, the Big Red was rather impressive in its most recent outing last Saturday with an 85-45 blowout of Brown on the road, the fourth win in the last five games for the program. As for Dartmouth, it is coming off a historic weekend in which it defeated both Penn and Princeton in the same weekend for the first time in half a century. Saturday's 66-63 win in Princeton's Jadwin gym was just the third in the last 41 years for the Big Green. In terms of the all-time series between these two programs, Dartmouth owns a 101-96 advantage dating back to 1900-01, but in recent years Cornell has been dominant with seven straight wins and victories in 10 of the last 11 overall, including a 79-76 double- overtime affair in the first meeting of this season.
Five players scored in double figures in Cornell's lopsided win against Brown last weekend, led by Jeff Foote and his 16 points, to go along with a team- best nine rebounds. Ryan Wittman chipped in 15 points and handed out four assists, followed by Louis Dale with 12 points as he became the 23rd player in program history to log 1,000 points for his career. Not to be forgotten were Alex Tyler and Brian Kreefer with 10 points apiece. Wittman has been putting up strong numbers all season for the Big Red, leading the way with his 18.2 ppg on 44.2 percent shooting from the field. In addition, Wittman is also the top passer for the group with his 70 assists and has knocked down 79 three- point baskets in 26 starts to place himself among the best in the league in that department. Dale (13.9 ppg) and Foote (12.2 ppg) help give the squad a scoring advantage of 9.4 ppg over the competition.
Alex Barnett was a machine at the free-throw line in the final minute of play for the Big Green as he knocked down six attempts to secure the win for the squad on the road against the Tigers in New Jersey. Barnett finished a perfect 7-of-7 at the stripe and came up with a team-best 22 points, followed by Marlon Sanders and David Rufful with 13 and 12 points, respectively, as the squad made good on all but two of 15 chances at the stripe. Barnett, the leading scorer in each of the last four games for Dartmouth, is one of the league's most productive shooters with his 19.6 ppg. Barnett has converted 42.9 percent of his three-point tries and has made nearly twice as many free throws (86-of-103) as his closest teammate even has attempts. However, his impressive 83.5 percent accuracy at the charity stripe has done little to help the squad with its mere 64.3 percent effort at the line over the course of 24 games this season.
Although the teams played a tight matchup in their most recent meeting a few weeks back, don't expect Cornell to need a couple of extra periods this time around to pick up the win.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Cornell 77, Dartmouth 68
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