By Brian Delaney
Ithaca JournalFebruary 1, 2010
ITHACA -- This was not a night when the Ivy League title was decided, especially considering Cornell's schedule finishes with six of its final eight games on the road.
But what Cornell did Saturday at Newman Arena, where a lively sold out crowd replenished the Big Red with waves of adrenaline, was send a clear message to its league brethren: Upstaging the two-time defending champions will be a mountainous task.
Cornell hit its first six shots, picked apart Harvard with its precision passing and balanced scoring, then compounded the Crimson's frustrations with an aggressive defense that made standout guard Jeremy Lin look pedestrian.
The Big Red led from start to finish in an emphatic 86-50 victory, its 16th win in 17 games.
"They're very, very good," Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. "We knew that coming in, but seeing them first half obviously this season -- depth, talent, experience, and they play very hard. There's nothing else really to say. I think they're an outstanding basketball team and one of the better teams in the country from what I've been able to see."
Both programs spent the non-league portions of their schedules assembling impressive resumes. While Cornell (18-3, 4-0 Ivy) beat the likes of Alabama and St. John's, Harvard (14-4, 3-1) knocked off Boston College, George Washington and Rice. The terrific play of Lin, a top 30 finalist for the Wooden Award, along with Amaker's high-profile reputation catapulted the Crimson into the national spotlight.
But Lin and his supporting cast, which includes four freshmen regulars, found themselves overwhelmed by Cornell's experience, savvy and physicality.
Harvard committed 25 turnovers, 14 in the first half, which led to 29 Cornell points. Cornell coughed it up only eight times, and assisted on 22 of 30 baskets.
Jeff Foote's 16 points led five double-figure scorers. Although Harvard did a sound job on Ryan Wittman (11 points), it mattered little.
"It's a group that doesn't care who scores, and it's really honestly true," Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. "It's not like these guys are trying to get their points. Not one guy cares how it gets done."
Citing the lack of a conference tournament, Cornell tried to downplay the game's importance during the week. The team's body language suggested differently.
Typically reserved players, like Jon Jaques and Ryan Wittman, emoted after made shots or officials' calls they found questionable. Loose-ball scrums looked more like physical scrambles to recover fumbles in football, and Lin, in particular, was slow to his feet on more than one occasion following rugged collisions.
"I definitely felt like the intensity was high right from the get-go," said Louis Dale, who had 13 points, five assists and zero turnovers. "It felt like this was a huge game."
Harvard was still within striking distance with 12 minutes, 56 seconds remaining, trailing 46-36 following two Christian Webster free throws. Cornell then scored 17 straight, a run that began as a trickle but ended in a flood of 3-pointers from seniors Dale, Jaques and Wittman.
Harvard turned it over three straight times and missed two front ends of a one-and-one during that stretch.
The Crimson also struggled to handle Foote.
His rim-rattling, one-handed dunk over Doug Miller, followed by a right hook in the post ignited the first-half run that gave Cornell a 35-17 lead. Foote's night included nine rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots.
When Amaker ran an extra defender at the 7-footer, he generally found an open teammate. When Amaker didn't, Foote usually converted.
"I was able to get into my moves, and the lack of a double team really helped out," Foote said.
Amaker called Foote "the key" to Cornell's team.
"He does so much dirty work," Amaker said. "He scores on the inside, he's a great passer -- a very unselfish big man. I'm very fond of his game."
Cornell hasn't trailed over the last 221 minutes, 43 seconds -- a streak that spans 5 1/2 games. The Big Red's last deficit was 31-30 in the first half of a Jan. 8 game at South Dakota.
Cornell's four league wins have come by an average margin of 29 points. They've yet to surrender more than 53 points in that stretch. Junior forward Adam Wire has been helpful off the bench, and finished with five points, two rebounds, two assists and three steals in 14 minutes.
Lin scored 19 points, but picked up his fourth foul with 12:08 left and, for the second straight trip to Newman, finished with eight turnovers. He was held to just four first-half points on 1-for-2 shooting.
The game slowed in the second half, with the two teams getting whistled for 10 total fouls in the first three minutes. Twenty-eight fouls were called after halftime.
The rematch, scheduled for Feb. 19 in Cambridge, has already sold out.
Princeton (11-5, 2-0 Ivy) opened its Ivy schedule with a pair of road wins, and is expected to be a contender. The Tigers visit Harvard on Friday night, while Cornell hosts Yale.
Donahue called Harvard "a great team," but said he doesn't believe the league is a two-team race.
"People wanted to make this the Ivy League championship game," he said. "I've been in the league 20 years. I'm telling you, there's going to be a lot happening over the next 10 games."
Notes: Princeton won at Yale on Saturday, 58-45; Penn received a controversial tip-in at the buzzer from Dan Monckton to beat Brown, 55-54; Columbia snapped a five-game losing streak with a 63-51 win over Dartmouth.
By the Numbers
Cornell is off to a 4-0 start in Ivy League play, after Saturday night's 86-50 victory over Harvard. The numbers, to say the least, have been impressive:
* 29.3 -- Average margin of victory
* 0 -- Number of seconds Cornell has trailed
* 47.8 -- Opponents' points-per-game average
* 18 -- Consecutive league victories at home
* 27 -- Cornell's ranking, as of Jan. 25, in the ESPN / USA Today top 25 coaches poll.
At first, Jeff Foote attempted to downplay the importance of what a top 25 national ranking would mean for the Cornell men's basketball team.
"Like coach says all the time, the ratings and that kind of stuff doesn't matter to us," said Foote, the
Spencer-Van Etten graduate and senior center who led Cornell to its 16th victory in 17 games Saturday night, an 86-50 win over Harvard in front of a sold-out crowd at Newman Arena. "We want to focus on ourselves and get better every day. That's kind of for you guys."
Pause.
"But it would be kind of cool to get in the top 25."
There. That wasn't so hard, was it?
National ranking discussions are extremely rare for Ivy League basketball teams in the modern era, considering the league's lack of athletic scholarships and primary focus on academics. The last Ivy team to be ranked was Princeton in 1997-98.
But with each passing weekend, it appears the stars are aligning for Cornell. After a weekend sweep of Dartmouth and Harvard by a combined 70 points, the Big Red is 18-3 and on the cusp of its first national ranking since the 1950-51 season. Two of the team's losses are to No. 4 Syracuse and No. 2 Kansas. Harvard entered Saturday's game with a 14-3 record, which led to considerable attention from national media outlets during the week.
Cornell hasn't trailed once in its last 5 1/2 games.
"The only thing I would say is I feel very comfortable playing any team in the country on a neutral court with this group," Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. "I feel we would fare well."
The two main college basketball polls, the ESPN/USA Today top 25 coaches poll and Associated Press top 25, are updated every Monday afternoon. As of Jan. 25, Cornell had received 38 votes in the coaches' poll, which tied the Big Red for 27th overall along with New Mexico. Cornell was further down in the AP poll, slotted at 36th overall with 16 votes.
At least two teams, No. 19 Connecticut and No. 21 Clemson, are expected to drop out of the coaches' poll after suffering losses during the week. A third, No. 17 Pittsburgh, lost at South Florida on Sunday and could also depart.
New Mexico, which upset No. 10 Brigham Young University on Wednesday, and Baylor (37 votes), which won at No. 6 Texas on Saturday, are expected to make big leaps. After its 36-point victory over the Crimson, Cornell will be hard to ignore.
"It would be a great achievement for our team, definitely," senior point guard Louis Dale said. "It's something we definitely believe. We can be a top 25 team."
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