Cornell goes 3-0 in Spain summer tour

Now that first-year students (Thanks, Princeton!) have arrived on North Campus and the upper class students have found their way over to West Campus and various other parts of Ithaca, it is time to have a short update on the Men of Earl.

After his hiring last April, Brian Earl kept Assistant Coach Jon Jacques, who will start his fourth year at his alma mater.  Donovan Williams came over from Princeton and Adam Gierlach arrived from Rice to join the program as assistants.

Forward Josh Warren, from Downingtown West High School in Pennsylvania, is the only new first year joining the team this season.  The other 2016 recruit, forward Jerry Ben, graduated from New Haven High School in Michigan this spring and has opted to enroll for a prep school year at the Kent School in Connecticut.  According to Verbal Commits, Ben remains on Cornell’s list for 2017.

For those who are looking past the upcoming football season and cannot afford hockey tickets, here are some dates to put on the calendar before the official schedule is released:

Saturday December 17 – @ Wyoming (Las Vegas Classic)
Monday December 19 – @ USC (Las Vegas Classic)
Thursday December 22 – vs. Chicago State, Southeast Missouri or Troy (@ Orleans Arena: Las Vegas Classic)
Friday December 23 – vs. Chicago State, Southeast Missouri or Troy (@ Orleans Arena: Las Vegas Classic)
Tuesday December 27 – @ Syracuse
Saturday January 14 – vs. Columbia
Saturday January 21 – @ Columbia
Friday January 27 – vs. Harvard

Saturday January 28 – vs. Dartmouth
Friday February 3 – vs. Brown
Saturday February 4 – vs. Yale
Friday February 10 – @ Princeton
Saturday February 11 – @ Penn
Friday February 17 – @ Dartmouth
Saturday February 18 – @ Harvard
Friday February 24 – vs. Penn

Saturday February 25 – vs. Princeton
Friday March 3 – @ Yale
Saturday March 4 – @ Brown

Saturday March 11 and Sunday March 12 – Ivy League Tournament (@ The Palestra)

The Big Red men’s basketball team just completed an exhibition tour of Spain where it went 3-0.  On August 11th, Cornell beat Eurocolegio Casvi 67-52.  Prior to that game, Eurocolegio had beaten Arkansas 81-75 and stayed close to Purdue 80-71. On Sunday the 14th, Cornell beat a select professional team from Valencia 69-63.  Finally, on the 18th, the Big Red beat Sant Julia Select 72-69.

In the three games, sophomore Matt Morgan, the all-time Ivy League first-year scorer and Second Team All-Ivy player, led Cornell with 14.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.  Senior Robert Hatter, the Ivy League’s third leading scorer in 2015-2016, averaged 13.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists.  Sophomore forward Stone Gettings was the third leading scorer with 9.3 points per game, as well as 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.  Sophomore Troy Whiteside averaged 7.0 points and 5.3 rebounds in the three games.

While the offense was similar to last year’s results, 69.3 vs. 71.1 points per game, the real difference was on the defensive end.  Last year’s squad gave up 78.3 points per game, but the team gave up only 61.3 points per game in the exhibitions.  The team also held each of its opponents under 40 percent shooting in the recent games, while allowing over 44 percent last season.  Both Valencia and Sant Julia shot 27 percent beyond the three-point arc.

Getting low-post offense and defensive discipline will be needed for Cornell to turn the corner from last year’s results and compete for a spot in this spring’s Ivy League Tournament,  A three game European vacation does not guarantee anything come November, but it should be a welcome news for the Big Red faithful.