HANOVER, N.H. – When we last left the Cornell men’s basketball team, it had given up 100 points or more in three straight Ivy League losses and didn’t seem to have many answers, seemingly on its way to being the third straight Ivy Madness hosts to not qualify for postseason play.
Fast forward six weeks, and the Big Red will not only be on the court in Ithaca next week, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see them win it.
Cornell buried Dartmouth 111-90 Saturday afternoon at Leede Arena for its eighth win in 11 games, and even though it clinched an Ivy League Tournament berth last weekend, the Big Red showed what makes them so dangerous, not only hitting 19 three-pointers, but having 10 different players hit one.
In a way, though, Saturday was not really emblematic of what adjustments Jaques and Cornell (15-12, 8-6 Ivy), which has now posted three straight winning Ivy records, made since that Yale blowout in January. Cornell and Dartmouth (11-16, 5-9) went for 78 possessions, the fastest pace for the Big Red since their Ivy opener against Columbia, a 104-99 home loss.
Jaques has not slowed things to a crawl, but he has made it a point to play more deliberate at times to help his team on the defensive and offensive end, specifically in the paint, where Cornell does not have much size, even by Ivy League standards. Saturday’s starting lineup saw no Cornell players taller than 6-foot-5 (senior Josh Baldwin).
“We had to change some things defensively,” Jaques said. “What we were doing clearly wasn’t working, and to the guys’ credit, they bought in 1,000% on what we needed to do. It definitely took me too long for what was best for this group. It’s a great learning experience for me, and I’m glad we had enough time to turn it around. We just had to be more aggressive and disruptive, and I think that helps our offense, too. We just have to be small and scrappy and get in people when we can.”
Yet after losing to Yale 102-68 on Jan. 17, a game that saw the Bulldogs shoot 27-for-39 on two-point shots, Cornell was able to flip the script last week, beating Yale 72-69 in a contest that saw just 64 possessions. The Bulldogs still shot above 50% from inside the arc (21-for-40), but there was at least some resistance, enough as it turned out.
“We want to play with pace, but for this group sometimes it’s the pace in the half-court is really good,” Jaques said. “We have such good shooters and cutters, Jacob (Beccles) is very fast and getting better with decision making. That kind of pace has been good for this team. The last couple years it was more like, push it every chance we had. Now we just want to get into our offense quickly sometimes.”
It’s hard to say defense has been the key for the Big Red’s success this season when they still check in at 336th nationally and finished dead last in Ivy League play (1.16 points per possession). Teams still shot 54.7% on two-point shots against them, also last in the conference.
But it’s at least in the same area code as everyone else, something that wasn’t the case earlier in the season. When you have Cooper Noard and the rest of the offensive weapons Jaques has to call on and add a little home court advantage next week, it might be all the Big Red needs to get back to the NCAA Tournament.
Cornell shot 19-for-38 from behind the arc Saturday, but that masked what has always been the secret sauce for the Big Red in recent years: spreading out the defense to feast inside. With such a small lineup, matchup nightmares abound (even for someone like Yale), and Cornell was 22-for-29 on two-point shots Saturday (81.5%). The Big Red are ninth nationally this season in that category (59.7%) and have been in the top 10 in each of the last four seasons, leading the Ivy in each of the last five campaigns (all since COVID).
“They obviously shoot the ball well, some of them were challenged, too,” Dartmouth coach David McLaughlin said. “They take advantage of large mistakes on our end, but they also take advantage of small mistakes, and that’s the sign of a really good offensive team.”
Cooper Noard leads the way at 18.5 points per game, with Jake Fiegen (16.8), and Adam Hinton (12.5) both in double digits. But 11 players average nine minutes or more, and 10 average at least 3.5 points per game. Noard – as a 6-foot-2 guard – is hitting 68.5% of his two-point shots (45th nationally), while Fiegen – at 6-foot-4 – is at 66.4%.
Saturday, Fiegen led the way with 22 points, Hinton 16, Beccles 14, Noard 12, and Baldwin 11.
It, of course, sets up a much anticipated third meeting with Yale in Ithaca next Saturday morning. Can the Big Red take down the two-time defending and current regular season champs? Well, their chances look much better than they did just a few weeks ago.
“Yale will be a handful,” Jaques said. “They have a lot of size on us, most teams do. We have to really commit to protecting the paint, but obviously that’s very risky against one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country. There’s some things about the tournament that won’t quite be like home. We won’t be in our locker room, for instance. We can’t practice when we want. But we just want to roll with it and have fun.”