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The Sports Xchange and YahooSports have published the team reports for each of the Ivy League schools. Below are links to each of team reports as well as the full report for Cornell.Yahoo! Sports/SportsXChangeThe Columbia coach saw his team play its Ivy League opener without Patrick Foley, its senior leader and top ballhandler. Did its opponent, two-time defending champion Cornell, expect that to happen and alter its strategy to make things fairer for the Lions?
Fat chance. The Big Red did the opposite, ratcheting up the pressure and even adding a press that began at three-quarter court. It also attacked the perimeter, looking to shut down the shooters without the deft passing touch of Foley to get them the ball.
The result was a 21-point loss, 15 turnovers (13 of which came on Cornell steals), and a 2-for-10 night from three-point range. It’s the eighth consecutive loss for the Lions in the series.
Columbia gets a second crack at Cornell this weekend, and Jones hopes to have Foley back for the rematch. If not, he knows not to expect his counterpart on the other bench, Steve Donahue, to do him any favors.
...One reason for optimism as Cornell comes to town this weekend: The Lions are 4-2 this season at Levien Gymnasium. Its big issues have come on the road, where it has seven losses in nine games...
“We had a hard time against their pressure getting into any flow offensively. It’s hard without Pat in the game. We rely on him so much to get us in the offense.”—Columbia coach Joe Jones, to the Ithaca Journal, on how much his team missed the injured Patrick Foley against Cornell.
It would help Columbia tremendously if Patrick Foley could play against Cornell this weekend and if Brian Grimes was at full strength. Regardless of the team’s injury situation, it has to do a better job of taking care of the basketball than it did in the opener against a Big Red team that seemed to camp out in the passing lanes....Senior co-captain Patrick Foley had to watch the Ivy League opener from the sidelines because he is still bothered by an ankle injury suffered against American University on Jan. 2. He hopes to be ready when the Lions meet Cornell again this week.
...Brian Grimes injured his calf muscle against American on Jan. 2. He was back on the court against Cornell but is still working his way back into the swing of things.
January 20, 2010
Cornell has often impressed this season with its offense, but it was the defense that stole the show in the Big Red’s Ivy League opener against Columbia.
The Big Red took advantage of Lions point guard Patrick Foley’s absence to generate 13 steals in cruising to a 21-point victory. But that number doesn’t tell the whole story of how Cornell totally took Columbia out of its offense.
In fact, the most relevant number from the box score is five. That is the total number of assists Columbia recorded on its 21 made baskets.
Cornell attacked the passing lanes all night, forcing Columbia to play one-on-one basketball. Its strength is working the ball until one of its shooters gets an open look from three-point range—it entered the game as the top three-point shooting team in the country—but was unable to make that happen against the Big Red. It finished the game with just two three-pointers.
The defensive effort goes beyond that one game. None of its last six opponents has broken the 40% barrier, and that includes a game at then-No. 1 Kansas. With Jeff Foote in the middle, the Big Red can afford to be aggressive on the outside without surrendering dunks or layups in the paint, a luxury few Ivy League teams in recent memory can match.
Now, its task is to see how it does against a team that knows how to make adjustments. Columbia will surely try a different approach when the teams meet this week in New York, before the two schools become travel partners for the remaining six weeks of the Ivy League season.
NOTES, QUOTES
• Jeff Foote won Ivy League Player of the Week honors for the second time this season, mostly for his performance against Columbia. It’s his second such honor this season and the fifth week in a row that a Big Red player has either won or shared the award.
• If Cornell can knock off Columbia this week, it will set the school record for road/neutral wins in a season. The Big Red is 10-2 away from Ithaca thus far, and the school record for wins away from home is 10, set during the 2007-08 season.
On The Spot: An issue for the 2008-09 team was a loss of focus against some Ivy League opponents, which kept the race for the title in doubt a lot longer than it should have. The rematch with Columbia will be a test of whether that attitude still exists—it’s a team that Cornell just beat by 21, but also a dangerous squad that shoots three-pointers better than any team in the country and can severely test the visitors if they come in overconfident.
Quote To Note: “We have the target on our back. We know everybody’s coming to beat us, and I think we did a tremendous job.”—Jeff Foote, to the Ithaca Journal, after his team opened the Ivy League season with a victory over Columbia.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
Season Recap: Cornell continues to surge in the mid-major polls and garner votes in the Top 25, getting the 10th-most votes among unranked teams in both major polls. It built on its impressive non-league record by pummeling an undermanned Columbia squad 74-53 in its Ivy League opener.
Player Rotation: Usual Starters—F Ryan Wittman, F Jon Jaques, C Jeff Foote, G Chris Wroblewski, G Louis Dale. Key Subs—G Geoff Reeves, F/C Mark Courey, F Adam Wire, F Errick Peck, G Max Groebe.
Game Review:
Cornell 71, South Dakota 65
Cornell 82, Clarkson 37
Cornell 74, Columbia 53
Game Preview:
at Columbia, Saturday, Jan. 23
vs. Dartmouth, Friday, Jan. 29
vs. Harvard, Saturday, Jan. 30
vs. Yale, Friday, Feb. 5
vs. Brown, Saturday, Feb. 6
In Focus: When Cornell and Columbia met last week, the Lions were without Patrick Foley and got just a limited contribution from Brian Grimes, both because of injuries. The loss of the team’s second and third leading scorers, as well as the top ballhandler in Foley, were big factors in the blowout loss. If they can both play in the rematch, it will be a very different-looking, and much more potent, conference foe that awaits the Big Red this Saturday.
Roster Report:
• Alex Tyler missed the Ivy League opener after injuring his groin against Clarkson. He hopes to be back this week, but his minutes might be limited if it affects his mobility.
• Ryan Wittman reached another milestone in the Columbia game. He passed Columbia’s Jim McMillian to move into the top 10 on the Ivy League’s all-time career scoring list. With one more basket, he’ll pass another Columbia player, Buck Jenkins, to move into ninth.
• Jon Jaques is taking full advantage of his increased role, created by Alex Tyler’s injury. He enters the week on a torrid shooting stretch, having made 24 of his last 36 shots, which includes a 13-of-22 effort from beyond the arc.
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