Cornell might have won the Ivy League last year, but it went 0-4 against power conference teams.
Yet just one game into this year, the Big Red have a signature victory.
Traveling to Tuscaloosa, Ala., they pulled off a 71-67 upset of Alabama to start their 2009-10 season with a bang Saturday.
The win was Cornell’s first over a Southeastern Conference opponent since 1972, when it beat Arkansas 78-77.
“It definitely felt good to go down to a solid SEC school and pick up a win,” senior Ryan Wittman told The Cornell Daily Sun. “I think we have a lot of places to grow, but it’s always great to start the season with a win.”
Wittman led the Big Red with 23 points (he also added three rebounds and three assists) and received Ivy League co-Player of the Week honors for his performance.
The forward was especially deadly from long distance, going 5-for-8. The Big Red as a whole shot 55.6 percent from beyond the arc, including 70 percent in the second half.
“The three-point line is the great equalizer in college basketball; it’s a game changer,” said Alabama coach Anthony Grant, who was making his debut with the Crimson Tide.
Last second Lin. Harvard senior Jeremy Lin is a two-time All-Ivy selection and last year was the only player in the nation to rank among the top 10 in his conference in every statistical category.
Now he has a signature play to his name.
The guard hit a 30-foot desperation heave at the buzzer to beat William and Mary in triple overtime, 87-85, Sunday in a matchup of the two oldest colleges in America.
The Tribe went up 85-84 thanks to a layup with four seconds left. On the ensuing inbounds play, Lin went three-quarters of the floor and — despite contact as he released the ball — connected for his 17th, 18th and 19th points of the night.
“That was a prayer — God just guided it into the hoop, that’s the best way I can describe it,” he told The Crimson.
Lin also had a team-high 24 points in the Crimson’s season-opening 87-77 win at Patriot League favorite Holy Cross Friday night. For his 21.5 points per game opening weekend he was awarded Ivy League co-Player of the Week honors (with Wittman).
Zamp-ing it up. Wittman and Lin had great performances in great wins for their teams.
Yet Yale senior Alex Zampier had an even better game statistically this weekend, though his Bulldogs couldn’t manage the victory.
Friday night the Bulldogs lost to Connecticut 6 rival Sacred Heart, 92-86, but Zampier certainly wasn’t to blame as he scored a career-high 35 points.
The captain scored the most points of any Yale player since Butch Graves had 39 against Harvard in 1983, but it was all for naught with the loss.
“I was feeling it a little bit, but it doesn’t matter if I score 40 if we give up [92],” he told Yale Athletics. “I’ll focus on our defense more than the night I had.”
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