In the midst of a six game losing streak, Cornell headed to Penn and Princeton for its final road trip of the season. The Big Red were hoping to get back in the win column, surprise a top-tier team and escape the league basement. Unfortunately, the team finished the weekend with two losses, an eight-game losing streak and sole possession of last place.
Most of the information about this past weekend was covered well by Mike Tony in his Friday roundup, Saturday recap and Ivy Power Rankings.
Just to add a small amount to those items:
– Robert Hatter took a strong step forward in his return from a month-long ankle injury at the start of conference play. At Penn, he played 34 minutes and scored 31 points on 57 percent shooting. Against the Tigers, he played 30 minutes and went for 18 points. Hatter ended up claiming a spot on this week’s Ivy League Honor Roll.
– Matt Morgan, the conference’s leading scorer at 23.3 points a game, notched 14 points in Philadelphia and 20 at Princeton. With his total of 473 league points, Morgan passed Earl Hunt of Brown to become the Ivy League’s all-time leading freshman scorer. With two games remaining, he is looking to add to that total and lock down the league scoring title. For his recent effort, Morgan earned his fifth Ivy League Rookie of the Week award.
– Heading into the last weekend of the season, Cornell can play spoiler as first-place Yale visits on Friday night. Although the Elis won by 31 last month, the team is dealing with serious on and off-court issues related to the sudden withdrawal of senior captain Jack Montague. On Saturday night, the Big Red look to send off senior captain Robert “Bobby Buckets” Mischler (and possibly coach Bill Courtney) with a victory over seventh-place Brown in the season finale.
– Sometime after this weekend’s games, athletic director Andy Noel will announce his decision regarding the future of Coach Courtney. At that point, Cornell basketball can put this season to rest and begin to plan for the 2016-17 season.