While alarm bells aren't ringing like they were around this time a year ago, Ryan Wittman would still like to see Cornell's three-game losing streak addressed.
?We really need a win bad right now,? said the junior, whose 22.3 points per game average leads the 4-5 Big Red. ?Losing three in a row at any time, no matter what type of team you're playing, you always want to win.?
If there's a card up Cornell's sleeve today against visiting LaSalle (5-4), it's junior point guard Louis Dale. Although the Explorers are bound to know plenty about Dale, last year's Ivy League Player of the Year, the unknown variable is how he'll mesh with this year's current rotation.
Today's 2 p.m. tip-off will be Cornell's first since a 71-54 loss at Minnesota on Dec. 6, in which Dale played just 10 minutes before fouling out in an anticlimactic return from a hamstring injury. Two straight weeks of practice have certainly helped restore the 6-foot junior's feel for his teammates.
?It's been really critical, because anyone who watched the Minnesota game would know that Lou was a little on the outskirts,? senior center Jeff Foote said. ?The chemistry wasn't 100 percent back, so the last two weeks we've been working him back into the system, getting a feel for each other again. So I think it's been crucial for our development.?
Dale gives Cornell an elite, playmaking point guard who doubles as an outstanding defensive rebounder. A year ago, he averaged 13.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc, 45 percent from the field and 90 percent from the free throw line.
He tweaked his hamstring three times between his return to campus in August and the start of practice in October, forcing the coaches and trainer Marc Chamberlain to hold him out until the injury was ?100 percent.? Coach Steve Donahue said on several occasions that had it been an Ivy League weekend, Dale could have played ? but the decision was to let the injury heal fully.
Dale said he's still regaining his rhythm back, but is feeling good.
?I'm still not completely how I was before, but I'm getting used to it,? he said. ?And it's pretty good right now. I've just been building that confidence and enjoying the game. That's the best part, just playing with the guys. It's just great to play basketball honestly after sitting out for so long.?
In his absence, freshman Chris Wroblewski averaged 29.6 minutes over nine games. Although his contributions, particularly a positive assist to turnover ratio, exceeded Donahue's expectations, the trickle-down effect was clear. Juniors Geoff Reeves (12. 6 ppg) and Wittman had to work harder for shots, Foote has gone long stretches at times without easy buckets, the team's overall shooting percentage has dropped and opponents have full-court pressed the Big Red to exhaustion.
While Cornell is by no means a sinking ship, Dale's return will translate into the plugging of a few leaky holes.
?He gets other guys easier shots, he gets rebounds ? which you forget about,? Donahue said. ?He's such a great defensive rebounder and he does so many other things that you forget about until you see him on the court. That's what we (missed). That's what makes us a different team.?
Today's affair opens a stretch of five of six contests to be played at Newman Arena, with Monday night's tilt against St. Joseph's in Philadelphia the only road trip. The Big Red hosts Boston University on Dec. 29, Quinnipiac on New Years Eve, Division III member Ursinus (Donahue's alma mater) on Jan. 3 and Bucknell on Jan. 6. After a road trip to Division I newcomer Bryant University on Jan. 12, Cornell opens Ivy League play on Jan. 17 at Columbia.
LaSalle is coming off a 92-75 win over Rider on Wednesday. The Explorers have a cupboard filled with rangy athletes standing between 6-5 and 6-9 who can post up at any time and score several in different ways.
?We have a good balance in terms of having probably seven guys that can score double figures for us on any given night,? coach John Giannini said.
Giannini said that guarding a player of Foote's caliber will be difficult. The Spencer-Van Etten graduate's numbers (12.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg) are well up over last year's. He blocked 30 shots in 22 games a year ago. This season, he has 27 blocks in nine games.
?Any time you have a seven-foot guy that is skilled and mobile, you have something that most teams do not,? Giannini said. ?Wittman and Foote are two very unique players, and the other guys are also very good.?
With Dale back in the lineup, they'll only get better.
?We really need a win bad right now,? said the junior, whose 22.3 points per game average leads the 4-5 Big Red. ?Losing three in a row at any time, no matter what type of team you're playing, you always want to win.?
If there's a card up Cornell's sleeve today against visiting LaSalle (5-4), it's junior point guard Louis Dale. Although the Explorers are bound to know plenty about Dale, last year's Ivy League Player of the Year, the unknown variable is how he'll mesh with this year's current rotation.
Today's 2 p.m. tip-off will be Cornell's first since a 71-54 loss at Minnesota on Dec. 6, in which Dale played just 10 minutes before fouling out in an anticlimactic return from a hamstring injury. Two straight weeks of practice have certainly helped restore the 6-foot junior's feel for his teammates.
?It's been really critical, because anyone who watched the Minnesota game would know that Lou was a little on the outskirts,? senior center Jeff Foote said. ?The chemistry wasn't 100 percent back, so the last two weeks we've been working him back into the system, getting a feel for each other again. So I think it's been crucial for our development.?
Dale gives Cornell an elite, playmaking point guard who doubles as an outstanding defensive rebounder. A year ago, he averaged 13.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.2 steals while shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc, 45 percent from the field and 90 percent from the free throw line.
He tweaked his hamstring three times between his return to campus in August and the start of practice in October, forcing the coaches and trainer Marc Chamberlain to hold him out until the injury was ?100 percent.? Coach Steve Donahue said on several occasions that had it been an Ivy League weekend, Dale could have played ? but the decision was to let the injury heal fully.
Dale said he's still regaining his rhythm back, but is feeling good.
?I'm still not completely how I was before, but I'm getting used to it,? he said. ?And it's pretty good right now. I've just been building that confidence and enjoying the game. That's the best part, just playing with the guys. It's just great to play basketball honestly after sitting out for so long.?
In his absence, freshman Chris Wroblewski averaged 29.6 minutes over nine games. Although his contributions, particularly a positive assist to turnover ratio, exceeded Donahue's expectations, the trickle-down effect was clear. Juniors Geoff Reeves (12. 6 ppg) and Wittman had to work harder for shots, Foote has gone long stretches at times without easy buckets, the team's overall shooting percentage has dropped and opponents have full-court pressed the Big Red to exhaustion.
While Cornell is by no means a sinking ship, Dale's return will translate into the plugging of a few leaky holes.
?He gets other guys easier shots, he gets rebounds ? which you forget about,? Donahue said. ?He's such a great defensive rebounder and he does so many other things that you forget about until you see him on the court. That's what we (missed). That's what makes us a different team.?
Today's affair opens a stretch of five of six contests to be played at Newman Arena, with Monday night's tilt against St. Joseph's in Philadelphia the only road trip. The Big Red hosts Boston University on Dec. 29, Quinnipiac on New Years Eve, Division III member Ursinus (Donahue's alma mater) on Jan. 3 and Bucknell on Jan. 6. After a road trip to Division I newcomer Bryant University on Jan. 12, Cornell opens Ivy League play on Jan. 17 at Columbia.
LaSalle is coming off a 92-75 win over Rider on Wednesday. The Explorers have a cupboard filled with rangy athletes standing between 6-5 and 6-9 who can post up at any time and score several in different ways.
?We have a good balance in terms of having probably seven guys that can score double figures for us on any given night,? coach John Giannini said.
Giannini said that guarding a player of Foote's caliber will be difficult. The Spencer-Van Etten graduate's numbers (12.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg) are well up over last year's. He blocked 30 shots in 22 games a year ago. This season, he has 27 blocks in nine games.
?Any time you have a seven-foot guy that is skilled and mobile, you have something that most teams do not,? Giannini said. ?Wittman and Foote are two very unique players, and the other guys are also very good.?
With Dale back in the lineup, they'll only get better.
