Sean Hansen

Cornell men pick up where they left off by pushing tempo

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The Cornell men have picked up right where they left off last season.

Through three games, the Big Red are 2-1. They lost at the buzzer on opening night to Boston College, 79-77, before routing SUNY Delhi in a lopsided 57-point laugher.

Cornell defeated Saint Francis (Pa.), 80-77 Monday despite surrendering multiple double-digit leads. The Big Red led 70-57 with 5:11 remaining, but several Cornell fouls gave the Red Flash opportunities at the free-throw line. Max Watson, a junior college transfer, split a pair of free throws in the closing seconds for the Big Red, and a St. Francis half-court heave missed the mark, securing the Cornell victory.

The impressive part about Cornell’s quick start has been the changed offensive approach from Cornell coach Brian Earl. A disciple of Pete Carril, Earl came to East Hill in 2016 with the typical slow, methodical Princeton offense. In the 2019-20 season, Cornell ranked 314th in adjusted tempo and 325th in average possession length, per KenPom.

But after a year off from the COVID-19 pandemic, Earl came into 2021 with a much quicker pace. Cornell ranked 16th in adjusted tempo and third in average possession length, per KenPom.

The Big Red have continued that trend this season. In three games, Cornell is 16th in adjusted tempo and 17th in average possession length amongst 363 Division l teams. In comparison, former Princeton teammate Mitch Henderson’s Princeton squad is 207th in adjusted tempo and 256th in average possession length after a convincing 94-64 win over UMBC Monday.

Cornell has also continued its balanced scoring approach. Seven players are averaging eight or more points through the Big Red’s first three contests, led by senior Greg Dolan at 15.7 points per contest. On Monday, Sean Hansen scored 26 points to lead the Big Red, blowing away his previous high of 13 points last season.

And the team has much more room to grow, too. Sophomore guard Nazir Williams, although scoreless Monday, has shown flashes of 20-point-per-game potential and has seemingly improved his decision-making. The same goes for junior guard Chris Manon, who is averaging 10.7 points per game.

Junior forward Keller Boothby, who shot 49% from deep last season, has made just six of his first 21 treys this season. That clip is sure to improve.

After Cornell faces crosstown foe Ithaca College on Friday, it enters the most crucial portion of nonconference play.

On November 22, the Big Red host Canisius, which is fresh off an overtime victory against St. Bonaventure. Three days later, Cornell travels to New Jersey to play Monmouth in its first season as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. Six days later, the Big Red will travel to Delaware before heading home to battle Lafayette on December 4.

Games against Miami and Syracuse, both projected NCAA Tournament teams, are sandwiched around a 10-day break for exams.

We’ll know a lot more about this Cornell squad in the coming days and weeks. But so far, the Big Red seem to be clicking well. Earl is continuing to build in Ithaca, and the reigning Ivy League Coach of the Year is hungry to lead Cornell back to Ivy Madness and, potentially, the program’s first NCAA Tournament since 2010.

2022-23 IHO Men’s Preseason Poll

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Only five points separated the top three teams in the Ivy League Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll, and our final tabulation was even tighter. Just three points separated the team atop IHO contributors’ preseason poll.

Yale gets the slight nod here, with our contributors trusting James Jones to lead the Bulldogs to their fifth Ivy League title in an eight-season span in a bid to represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament for a third straight time. Penn, the Ivy League preseason poll’s top team above Princeton by a single point, also finished a single point above Princeton in our standings. Our contributors saw potential for success in a roster that returns most of the key players from last year’s squad that placed third in the Ivy standings. We’ve got Princeton pegged to finish third, aided in their quest to repeat as Ivy League champions by returning 2021-22 Ivy Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan but losing significant backcourt production from last year’s conference title team.

Harvard was the clear No. 4 finisher in our poll, a showing that would improve upon the disappointing sixth-place result that locked the Crimson out of the Ivy League Tournament on its home floor last season. We have Cornell ranked slightly ahead of Brown as the Big Red look to build on last season’s overachieving Ivy League Tournament berth and the Bears look to bounce back from an underachieving sixth-place finish (tied with Harvard) a season ago. Columbia and Dartmouth tied in our voting tally at the bottom of the standings as both programs look to secure their first Ivy League Tournament appearances.

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Harvard men hold on in overtime versus Cornell to stay competitive in Ivy Madness race

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Noah Kirkwood kept Harvard very much in the Ivy League Tournament race with a 31-point, eight-rebound, four-assist performance in the Crimson’s 77-72 overtime win versus Cornell Saturday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

After a disappointing loss at Dartmouth Friday, the Cornell men had no time to ruminate. They had to travel to Harvard and try to maintain crucial Ivy League Tournament leverage versus the Crimson.

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Dartmouth men trip up Cornell in Ivy League Tournament race

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Junior forward Dame Adelekun notched a career-high 19 points and eight rebounds in just 23 minutes in Dartmouth’s 71-59 win over Cornell Friday. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Cornell men made just 40% of its shots and turned the ball over 18 times at Dartmouth Friday night, falling 71-59, to the Big Green.

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Cornell men never trail in 89-75 victory over Canisius

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BUFFALO, N.Y. — Cornell men’s basketball continued a trend Big Red fans haven’t seen much of since the days of Ryan Wittman, Louis Dale and Jeff Foote.

Winning.

With its second consecutive victory in which the team never trailed, Cornell won its sixth game of the season on Monday, defeating the Canisius Golden Griffins, 89-75.

“I thought we played well for a while,” coach Brian Earl said. “Somewhere in the second half, we lost track of ourselves … It’s good to get a win.”

Cornell (6-1) jumped out to a 16-6 lead over Canisius (2-5) after three-pointers from sophomores Sean Hansen and Keller Boothby to set an early tone. The two scored 10 points and eight points, respectively.

“It’s good to get those guys to come in and have confidence,” Earl said. “Most guys have the green light to shoot if they can shoot.”

The Golden Griffins fought back to trail by just two points with 9:39 to go in the first half, but a 25-11 run sparked off 57% shooting as a team gave the Big Red a 46-30 advantage at the break.

Cornell continued its hot shooting early in the second half, opening on an 11-2 run sparked by two three-pointers from junior guard Jordan Jones. He scored 14 points off 5-for-7 shooting.

“I rep them in practice and I rep them over the summer,” Jones said. “It’s just about putting them together in the games for me. I had a good little start, but I hadn’t been hitting too many shots recently, so now it’s just about getting back to business.”

The Big Red led by as many as 27 points, but technical fouls on Jones and reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week Nazir Williams gave the Golden Griffins some momentum. Canisius narrowed its deficit to just 12 points with six minutes remaining, but Cornell held on for the 14-point victory.

“We just have to figure out how to act like winners,” Earl said. “It’s just unnecessary comments to everybody. Stuff that’s not college basketball … It’s about being mature in a space we haven’t been in a lot, and that’s having a winning record.

Senior forward Kobe Dickson led Cornell in the scoring column, posting a career-high 17 points off 7-for-9 shooting.

“It was nice to see the ball go in the hoop finally,” Dickson said. “Me being able to shoot opens up the middle of the lane for cuts, so defenses can’t sink off me and clog up the lane.”

Junior guard Greg Dolan returned to hometown Buffalo for the first time collegiately, scoring 12 points off perfect 5-for-5 shooting and dishing eight assists.

“Fun to be back in town,” Dolan said. “My sister plays here, my dad works here, so it was fun to go out on the court we always played on as little kids.”

Cornell shot 62% from the field, higher than its free-throw percentage at 58%. The Big Red connected on 11 of 22 three-point attempts, hitting more than 10 for the fourth time this season.

“It’s good to make those shots,” Earl said. “We’re not going always to be able to shoot so well from the field, and you are going to have to rely on those moments when you get to the line.”

For Canisius, Malek Green scored 19 points and Scott Hitchon scored 16. The Golden Griffins shot 38% from the field, 21% from deep and lost the rebound battle, 37-31.

Next, Cornell welcomes Coppin State in the first leg of a two-game homestand on Friday. The Eagles have played 10 games in three weeks to open the season at a 1-9 clip and will come to town after a game at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday.

“They have to play a tough schedule,” Earl said. “They are all over the place for their reasons. We’ve got to respect them as much as we can and make sure we do what we do.”

What to expect when Ivy League basketball returns

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As this Ivy non-season progresses, we thought it’d make sense for us to do an Ivy Hoops Online contributors’ roundtable looking ahead to next season, assuming there is one:

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