The numbers: 9-8 overall, 2-1 Ivy, 186th RPI, 206th Sagarin, 191st Pomeroy
The recent results: won 49-45 at Columbia (1/20)
The upcoming schedule: Columbia (1/27)
Clamping down
Cornell seemed much more interested in scoring points than keeping opponents off the scoreboard in the first 11 games. The Big Red’s offense was impressive at 1.05 points per possession, but it was giving up even more at the other end (1.07). For all the talk of how Cornell could have been a 9-2 team instead of a 4-7 one, the poor defense made that losing record look well deserved. However, Steve Donahue has his team playing exceptional defense now, and that shows in the five wins in the past six games. Even with the 1.17 points per possession Penn put up against the Big Red factored in, the defensive efficiency is a stellar 0.84 over the past six contests. In the five wins, no opponent has done better than 0.86 points per possession.
Reversal of fortune
The renewed effort on defense was a big part of Cornell’s ability to pull out the narrow win over Columbia in New York. The victory ended a streak of losses in close games, as the Big Red had dropped its previous five contests decided by four or fewer points or in overtime. During the rough stretch when it lost six of seven, Cornell couldn’t get key defensive stops late in the game and the offense shut down in crunch time. On Saturday, the Big Red held Columbia to just two points in the final 8:58 and while it only scored nine points itself in that span, that was enough for the win.
Freshmen leading the way
It’s hard to remember the last time a pair of freshman carried the load for an Ivy team like Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman are doing this year for Cornell. Brown’s Earl Hunt (17.0 points per game) and Alai Nuualiitia (13.3 points, 6.6 rebounds per game) in 1999-00 might be the only recent first-year duo to compare to what the Big Red frosh are doing. Dale and Wittman have combined to score 482 of their team’s 1124 points (42.9 percent), and each player has claimed four Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors. And they’re doing so with excellent efficiency, both ranking in the top 160 nationally in effective field goal shooting. Dale is hitting on 45.1 percent of his three-point attempts and his 50.8-percent shooting overall is excellent for a guard, while Wittman isn’t far behind at 44.4 percent from three.
Fifth starting spot up for grabs
Brian Kreefer began the season starting at power forward, and responded with some big scoring games. But the sophomore is much more of a finesse big man who would prefer to shoot from the perimeter over banging in the paint, so a post-exam shooting slump has buried him in the rotation. Kreefer is just 8 of 25 (32.0 percent) overall and 2 of 15 (13.3 percent) from outside the arc since mid-December. Consequently, he didn’t make it off the bench against Princeton and is averaging just 7.0 minutes over the past five games. Donahue has experimented with Jason Mitchell and Ugo Ihekweazu in his starting lineup in Ivy play, but neither has produced much, and he has ended up going with a four-guard lineup much of the time.
Freshmen battling for frontcourt reserve minutes
With Donahue playing just one big man for extended stretches, playing time has been at a premium for the frontcourt reserves. Despite impressive 11-for-16 (68.8 percent) shooting on the season, Pete Reynolds’s minutes have been dwindling of late. The freshman big man hasn’t played more than seven minutes in a game since December 22 and barely made it the court the past two games, seeing just one minute in each contest. Fellow frosh Alex Tyler has been the beneficiary of some of that playing time, averaging 10.6 minutes over the last nine games. Tyler hasn’t scored as efficiently inside as Reynolds (36.4-percent shooting), but has been doing some other things — such as rebounding — relatively well.
Team health report
In his postgame press conference on January 7, Donahue confirmed that Jason Hartford will join Adam Gore in sitting out the entire 2007-08 season with an injury. Assuming the league grants an additional year of eligibility, Hartford will be back for one final season in 2007-08… Geoff Reeves returned from missing the final three non-league games with illness to play in all three Ivy contests so far, averaging 4.0 minutes per in those games.
Odds & ends
– The Big Red allowed 27 free throw attempts in its non-league finale against NJIT, but through three Ivy games, it has surrendered just 19 attempts from the stripe — an astounding 9.00 possessions per free throw attempt.
– The offensive rebounding also has been remarkably improved in Ivy play, jumping from a woeful 27.9 percent outside the league to 38.2 percent in the league.
– Cornell is losing the turnover battle badly against Ivy foes, committing turnovers on 30.6 percent of its offensive possessions, while league opponents have done so just 18.1 percent of the time.
– Andrew Naeve suddenly is asserting himself defensively in the paint, swatting 13 opposing shots through three Ivy games.
– Jason Battle looked poised to become a scoring threat after putting up 35 points in the two games in the William & Mary tournament back in early December, but the sophomore wing has averaged just 2.8 points over the nine games since.
– Wittman’s nine-point afternoon at Columbia broke a string of 13 straight games in double figures for the freshman.
– Dale’s assist-turnover differential stood at an unsightly 19-29 seven games into the season, but he’s shown major improvement at 46-27 since.
– After coming off the bench against Princeton, Graham Dow was back in the starting lineup last weekend at Columbia.
– Connor Mullen is averaging 21.4 minutes over the last eight games after playing just 22 total minutes in the first nine contests.
