Light Blue struggles in 77-51 loss to Big Red

Home-court advantage was not enough to lift the Columbia men’s basketball team over reigning champion Cornell, as the Big Red triumphed 77-51 in Saturday’s matchup. The Lions came into the game looking to avenge its 74-53 loss to Cornell on Jan. 16, but instead lost by 20-plus points for the second weekend in a row.

The game did not start out well for the Light Blue, beginning with a dunk from Cornell senior center Jeff Foote. Big Red senior forward Jon Jaques scored next with a 3-pointer, putting Cornell up 5-0. Columbia would not score until three minutes into the first half, when freshman center Mark Cisco netted a layup.

As the Big Red continued to build its lead, the Light Blue struggled to keep up.
“You got to make some tough shots if you’re going to beat them, and really make some plays, and tonight we didn’t do that,” senior point guard Patrick Foley said.

With 2:48 left to play, Cornell led by 16 on a 3-pointer from senior forward Ryan Wittman, assisted by senior guard Louis Dale.

Though Wittman is Cornell’s leading scorer, averaging 18.2 points per game, Dale led the Big Red with 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting. Dale also posted eight assists, four rebounds, and two steals.
Things only got worse for the Lions in the second half, as the Big Red was able to lead by as much as 27 with 11:37 left to play.

Though the Columbia defense allowed Cornell to shoot 47.4 percent from the field, it was really offensive struggles that held the Light Blue back. The Lions only shot 23.2 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from 3-point land.

“I was just really disappointed in our offense tonight, because we didn’t move the ball at all,” Columbia head coach Joe Jones said. “We didn’t make them work. We didn’t do a lot of the things we talked about.”

Columbia’s three leading scorers—sophomore guard Noruwa Agho, junior forward Brian Grimes, and Foley—went a combined 3-for-23 from the floor.
Agho, who led the nation in 3-point shooting percentage prior to this contest, went 0-3 from behind the arc and made only two of his 12 field goal attempts. While this could be attributed to a solid Big Red defense, both Foley and senior guard Niko Scott admitted that Columbia needs to work on its offense.

“Noruwa’s a big factor for us, and he couldn’t really get off tonight,” Foley said. “I think they kind of keyed on him. It was really on all of us. I think we got to work a little harder to get Noruwa some better shots.”

Scott, who led the Lions with 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting, also stressed the importance of working as a team on offense.

“We were trying to do some things, we were trying to really get everybody involved,” Scott said. “It’s definitely a team offense, and we really need to embrace that and work as one in order for everyone to get easier looks.”

Columbia’s struggles on the offensive end of the court were not solely the fault of the Light Blue, as Cornell worked together to put forth an excellent defensive effort.
“You’re not going to win the game if you don’t play well together offensively,” Jones said. “But I thought Cornell did a great job in both games. They played well defensively in both games.”
Part of the reason the Big Red is so heavily favored to three-peat as Ancient Eight champion is that it plays as a cohesive unit.
“They just play a great team game,” Jones said.

Cornell, which has nine seniors on its roster, has had time to grow as a team and many chances to play together, something that hasn’t happened for Columbia. The Lions’ current squad, though immensely talented, has not had a real shot to play together, due both to injury and to age.

But Jones knew this coming into the season, and isn’t ready to count his team out yet.
“We’ve been 0-2 [at the start of league play] now for four years,” he said. “This is not something that’s new to me or our program, and we’ve always been able to dig ourselves out of the hole and make a run.”

While acknowledging that the Lions did not play their best basketball against Cornell, Scott agreed with his coach that as the season progresses, they will get better.
“I think we’re really going to surprise people in this league,” Scott said.