Cornell learned this weekend that young talent could provide the team with a boost, but that its unseasoned core is not yet prepared to deliver a tournament championship.
Looking for a chance to win its first in-season tournament since 1990, Cornell needed a catalyst in the semifinals of the William & Mary Tip-off Classic.
Faced with a nine-point halftime deficit, Cornell coach Steve Donahue decided to give sophomore Conor Mullen his first minutes of the game.
The sophomore delivered by dropping 15 points and grabbing four boards in only 14 minutes against Virginia Military Institute.
Each of the seven Cornell players who scored in the game put up double digits, and the Big Red earned a spot in the finals with a 99-94 victory. Underclassmen contributed 76 of those points.
However, in the finals against William and Mary, Cornell's dependence on inexperienced players proved fatal. The Big Red allowed a 13-point lead to disappear. That was the second time this week the young team was unable to hold on to a late double-digit lead - Cornell also blew a 12-point lead to Hartford last Tuesday.
Cornell held off the Tribe's late run and forced overtime. But in the end, William & Mary's momentum was too strong and the Big Red fell, 73-68.
Ironically, it is an underclassman - sophomore guard Adam Gore, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year - who Cornell misses the most. He will miss the season with an injury.
Brown learns to score. Averaging 50 points over the first seven games this season, Brown desperately needed to find a new source of baskets when they hosted Quinnipiac this Saturday, especially with leading scorer Keenan Jeppesen now off the team.
The Bobcats revealed that source by fouling a point-hungry Brown team so many times that it became clear why the free-throw line is referred to as the charity stripe.
Christmas came early for Brown as the team was given 60 free throw attempts, and it capitalized on the opportunity by cashing in on a school-record 47 free throws.
Senior Mark McAndrew made the most of his trips to the line, as he connected on 15 of 16 attempts, the 10th most free throws made in Brown history. He also grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds to complete a double-double.
Freshman helps hold off Northwestern. With Justin Conway sidelined with an injury, Princeton had to go with an untested freshman. The highly regarded Zach Finley was in at center for the Tigers this Saturday against Northwestern State.
The Tigers gained a much-needed boost from Finley in a low-scoring affair. Shooting 3-for-3 from the field, Finley also pulled down eight boards, the most by a Tiger this season.
His final rebound gave Princeton the last possession of the game, and they were able to hold off a team that reached the second round of the NCAA tournament last March.
