HAMILTON, N.Y. — Cornell men’s basketball coach Brian Earl refused to call Tuesday’s game a statement win.
But he didn’t downplay the importance of it, either.
The Big Red led for nearly 38 minutes en route to a 91-80 victory over Colgate, the two-time defending Patriot League champion an hour and a half up the road.
“It’s good to beat a program like that who has been built so much,” Earl said postgame. “We studied them a little bit and made our guys aware that there might be some open shots, but you’ve got to be unselfish and get it to the right guys, and they did that.”
Cornell (9-3) took a 48-31 at the half and staved off multiple runs from Colgate (6-7) in the final 20 minutes to walk away with an 11-point victory.
Senior guard Greg Dolan led Cornell with a career-high 25 points off 9-for-15 shooting. He knocked down four three-pointers and made all three shots from the free-throw line.
Dolan had 13 points at the half. Many of his points came on broken possessions for the Big Red in which he scored late in the shot clock.
“[Colgate] would score on a layup or something, we’d just get the ball out and go,” Dolan said. “I just felt really comfortable out there. It’s just kind of been something I’ve enjoyed, just playing efficient and guys are able to find me on my threes.”
It’s Dolan’s 10th game this season where he scored in double figures. In his first two seasons, Dolan had just six games total with 10 or more points.
In the last five games, Dolan has 29 assists and just four turnovers. Entering Thursday, he led the Ivy league in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.79) and placed seventh nationally.
“He’s just improved so much,” Earl said. “He does whatever’s asked, whether freshman year it was two points and [playing] defense and this year it’s 25 [points], so we’re proud of him and happy for him.”
Sophomore guard Nazir Williams added 14 points, connecting on seven of his nine shot attempts. After four three-pointers Saturday against Syracuse, Colgate seemingly emphasized taking Williams off the perimeter. So Williams instead scored all his points near the basket.
It was Williams’ eighth consecutive game in double figures and his 11th in 12 games this season.
“I’m more accustomed to going to the rim, mid-range pull-ups,” Williams said. “It wasn’t nothing that really made me uncomfortable. Of course, I wish I got more threes up, but [Colgate] did a really good job really closing out to us.”
Sophomore forward Guy Ragland Jr. added 13 for Cornell. Eleven different players scored.
Freshman guard Braeden Smith scored 21 points and senior guard Tucker Richardson added 15 for Colgate.
“[Smith] started taking advantage of some of the things that we did,” Earl said. “We locked into Richardson quite a bit, so he was smart enough to find the seams and he did and hurt us a little bit in the second half.
Injury note: Cornell junior forward Sean Hansen took an errant elbow to the nose in the first half and went down. He returned in the second half with a face shield. Earl said he may have broken his nose and hopes he’ll play next week against Binghamton.
Significance of the win
Cornell’s ninth victory of the season is statistically its best.
Colgate entered Thursday’s game at No. 111 in KenPom with a top-50 adjusted offensive efficiency rating. Sure, the Raiders scored 80 points, showing the Big Red’s defense still needs tidying.
But this victory proves legitimacy. Earl isn’t about moral wins, like losing to Boston College and Miami by just two points each. This is a victory over a mid-major powerhouse that has made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons it’s been played.
“After Syracuse, we really wanted to respond with Lehigh and Colgate,” Dolan said. “[Colgate is] always such a well-coached, great team to play, and something that prepares us really well for the Ivy League.”
Cornell wasn’t favored to win the game. According to ESPN, the Big Red were 4.5-point underdogs. That stuck with Williams.
“We were actually projected to lose this game,” Williams said. “We were all a little more hungry this game. It just shows that we can really play with anybody [and] beat anybody.
“Not that we’ve proved anything this year because we still have a lot to prove, but we feel like we’ve proved some things this year to feel like we should be favored in games like this.”
Colgate plays a style similar to what Cornell will see in the Ivy, helping Earl learn where his team stands.
“They are highly skilled,” Earl said. “From a defensive perspective, you’re trying to explain to your guys how they play and how they think. It takes basketball IQ to beat a team with that basketball IQ, and I think our guys locked into that.”
The Big Red players will now go home for a few days to enjoy the holidays with their families. But when they return on December 26, it’ll be all business to prepare for Binghamton in the nonconference finale.
“Enjoy your families and each other is the message right now,” Earl said. “We’ll talk basketball when we get back. I think that they’re all in a pretty good space with how we’ve done so far, so now’s the time to enjoy life at home without me being a scrooge all the time.”