February 14, 2010

"We're a good basketball team, but we did not play well. And Penn played terrific."

Cornell head coach Steve Donahue kept it simple after dropping Friday night's game.

Once Cornell lost in the Palestra all of the frills that had been following the program for the last month were suddenly gone. No perfect league record. No top 25. No high RPI. No low NCAA tournament seed, if any NCAA tournament at all.

And pretty quickly, the result of the first matchup of the weekend made Saturday night simple too. Win and you're in the driver's seat, lose and you need help to even make the tourney.

The Big Red took that to the court at Princeton. In New Jersey, the Red abandoned the high wire offensive act chalk full of powerful dunks atypical of an Ancient Eight group and gaudy 3-point shooting numbers ranking among the nations elite. Instead, they went back to the basics and played an intense, gutsy brand of basketball. The team that looked tense and hesitant in Philadelphia on Friday night was nowhere to be seen 24 hours later and 50 miles north.

The renewed toughness showed down the stretch when Ryan Wittman scored 7 points in the final 2 minutes and 14 seconds. The stabilizing confidence was evident when Louis Dale, who shot just 1 for 7 from the field, stepped to the free throw line with 22 seconds left and the Red clinging to quickly evaporating, 1 point lead, and knocked down a pair of free throws that were so pure that the net barely moved as the ball went through.

It was there from the start though, specifically, the starting lineup. Senior tri-captain Alex Tyler, who had opened the previous 19 games on the bench because of injuries and a lack of productivity, got the nod on Saturday night and played a season high 27 minutes. Tyler's numbers were nothing special, his 6 points and 4 rebounds were almost identical to his career averages. But Alex Tyler being Alex Tyler seemed to be exactly what the Red were missing.

Don't be mistaken, in Tyler's absence his replacement, Jon Jaques, helped to take Cornell to the next level. Jaques' 46% shooting from beyond the arc and ability to defend any position 1 through 5 bring to the Red something that Tyler never did in his 2 plus years as a starter. This year Jaques has been invaluable.

But Tyler brings a bulldog's attitude and a constant hustle to the rotation that is essential in Ivy League play. There are only 8 teams in the conference; everyone plays each other twice every year; and nobody leaves early to go to the pros. As Donahue reiterates time and time again, the league games are the toughest part of the schedule because everyone else knows your tendencies and how to play you.

That's how a 3-15 Penn team can beat a Cornell team that had spent the previous two weeks in the top 25. The Quakers doubled Foote more successfully than any other team that the Red had faced all year. They rotated well on the back side to shooters, forcing Cornell into just 34.5% shooting from deep. Penn extended their defense well beyond the arc and forced Dale to commit an uncharacteristic 4 turnovers. The defensive formula used to stop Cornell was more effective than those concocted by teams from the ultra-athletic and talented Big East, SEC and Atlantic 10.

In the league schedule, when facing teams that can neutralize each other's strengths as well as Penn did to Cornell on Friday, games can often to come down to attitude and toughness. The hustle that Tyler provided in Jadwin Gymnasium on Saturday filled that role; so much so that it almost went too far.

With just under 3 minutes left and Cornell owning a 2 point lead, Tyler got into a shoving match with Princeton's Marcus Schroeder. The Tiger guard was likely to get a technical for instigating the scuffle, but Tyler's chest bump thrown at the Schroeder prompted a double technical call instead. Rather than Cornell getting a pair of free throws and a key extra possession, Princeton took the ball and no free throws were awarded.

For a split second, it seemed that Tyler's passionate play could cost the Red the game. The exchange could have initiated a 6 to 8 point swing. What may have been two points from the charity stripe and two or three more on the ensuing Cornell possession, could have easily morphed into a bucket on the other end for Princeton. Instead, the Red responded with the same passionate and inspired play that got Tyler into the mess, spurring a 5-1 run that proved to be the difference in the low scoring affair.

Despite the win at Princeton which propelled the Red back to the top of the league standings, Cornell's final three weekends of the Ivy season will likely remain absent of the national craze following the team since early January. Without all of the hoopla, the picture for Cornell should be just as simple as it was following Friday night's loss: the Red control their own destiny. And if they continue to play with the Alex Tyler attitude, they should hear their name called on Selection Sunday.