There might not be any team in the nation that can boast a perfect 6-0 record in pre-season tournaments.
Except for Cornell.
After D.J. Kennedy’s three-pointer was off the mark with 11 seconds to go, Big Red senior Jon Jaques grabbed the board and hit a free throw on the other end to give Cornell a 71-66 victory over St. John’s in the title game of the MSG Holiday Festival.
The win was the Big Red’s first over a Big East opponent in three tries this season and second over a BCS conference school (Alabama), both of which came on the road.
And now, with an RPI of 17 and a SOS of 32, a whole new world of opportunities has been opened up to Cornell. If the Big Red can sweep the remainder of the non-conference slate other than its road date at Kansas, which would include a win at top 100 LaSalle, Cornell should stay in the top 25 of the RPI. At that point, the Big Red could be looking at as high as a eight or nine seed and an almost certain at large bid even if Cornell surprisingly missed out on the Ivy League’s automatic bid.
A Kennedy dunk made the game 35-24 with just under four minutes to go in the first half, but a 7-1 run into the break pulled Cornell to within five. The Big Red kept clawing away during the opening minutes of the second half and finally pulled ahead on a three-point play by senior center Jeff Foote with 10:43 to go. Cornell would never trail again, though the Red Storm did pull even at 60 with under three remaining. A Jaques three ball with 35 ticks left and two free throws by guard Chris Wroblewski capped off a 9-2 run that put Cornell up 69-62 with 20 seconds to go.
The Big Red posted the best offensive performance of the season against St. John’s, even better than Duke’s two weeks prior. Cornell shot 70.2 percent EFG against the Red Storm – 10 percentage points better than the second best shooting performance against St. John’s, which came at the hands of Brown.
The defense remains a bit of a concern, however. St. John’s 51.8 percent EFG shooting was right about at Cornell’s average allowed on the season, which itself is worse than average for Division I teams. But to compound matters, the Big Red allowed the Red Storm to haul down 46 percent of the rebounds on Cornell’s defensive end, which is precisely how a team that shot almost 20 percentage points worse from the field lost by just five.
Regardless, what matters at the end of the day is that the Big Red leaves Madison Square Garden with both a trophy and a potential claim to a seed that should give it a very good chance to grab an elusive NCAA tournament win for the league.
BIG EAST SCARE PART II
Before Cornell even took the floor to take on St. John’s, the Big East had already barely survived a huge scare at the hands of an Ivy League team last night.
Yale scored 21 points in the first 7:15 of the game and forced Providence to burn two timeouts in that span, as it took a 40-36 lead into the intermission. The Bulldogs led by as many as seven with 12 minutes to go, but a 13-3 run gave the Friars the lead for good, as they pulled away down the stretch for the 87-78 win.
Providence’s 115 offensive rating was the second-highest efficiency allowed by Yale this season. The Bulldogs are now 0-5 when opponents post offensive ratings over 100, while they’re 4-2 when opponents stay under that mark.
Yale guard Alex Zampier had an incredibly efficient all-around performance with 25 points on 61 percent EFG shooting as well as seven defensive rebounds and three assists. Forward Greg Mangano added 14 points on 65 percent EFG shooting.
RANKINGS, RANKINGS, RANKINGS
Prior to the Big Red’s win over St. John’s last night, Cornell remained at No. 5 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25. Harvard moved up one spot to No. 24 in that poll.
Cornell also held steady at No. 22 in the College Hoops Net Non-BCS Top 25, while the Crimson checked in at No. 24 in that poll as well.
The Big Red lost its votes in the national polls, but could very likely get some solid recognition in both next week after its road win over the Red Storm, which itself was on the cusp of cracking the Top 25.
Harvard and Cornell remain at historic highs in the Pomeroy, Sagarin and RPI. Harvard sits at 65th in the Pomeroy Ratings, while Cornell clocks in at 66th. The Big Red is 34th in the Sagarin ratings with Harvard at No. 50, and Cornell sits at 17th in the RPI with Harvard at No. 34.
