THE STORYLINES
COLUMBIA'S STATUS
The Lions snapped a two-game slide with a convincing 88-61 win over Lehigh Sunday afternoon. Columbia shot 58 percent for the game and 11-of-20 from beyond the arc to improve to 2-0 at home.
WOFFORD'S STATUS
The two-time defending SoCon Champion Terriers are coming off a 73-63 victory over Maryland-Eastern Shore in their home opener. Wofford opened the season with a pair of tough tests at Missouri and No. 1 North Carolina.
Spencer Collins leads the squad averaging 14.0 points, while C.J. Neumann pulls down 6.7 boards per game.
SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday will be the first meeting between the schools and Wofford's first-ever game in New York City in 111 years of basketball.
COLUMBIA VS. THE SoCON
Columbia is 3-7 all-time against teams currently in the Southern Conference. The Lions have faced Elon four times, going 1-3 against the Phoenix. Columbia's last win over a SoCon foe came at Furman to start the 2012-13 campaign.
CBE HALL OF FAME CLASSIC
Tuesday night's contest is part of the ”host round” of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic. Northwestern, Kansas State, North Carolina and Missouri will serve as host in the preliminary games and will play in the Championship Rounds in Kansas City on Nov. 23-24. Columbia's Nov. 24 game against Wofford and Nov. 27 gamee at Fairfield will also be part of the event. The tournament, in partnership with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), was initially established in 2001 as the Guardians Classic.
MILESTONE ACHIEVED
Senior Maodo Lo became Columbia's all-time leader in 3-point field goals with his 190th career trifecta with 5:34 remaining in the second half at Lehigh on Nov. 22. Lo passed the old mark, previously held by Matt Shannon '89CC.
LUKE SKYWALKER
Junior Luke Petrasek turned in a trio of strong performances at Kansas State, Northwestern and against Lehigh to earn Co-Ivy League Player of the Week status on Nov. 23. Petrasek averaged 15.7 points and 8.0 rebounds and recorded several highlight-reel slam dunks against two major conference foes and the preseason Patriot League favorites.
KLEPTOMANIAC
Maodo Lo has averaged 4.5 steals in his last two games to move up to second in the Ivy League and 16th in the nation (3.3) for the year. He tied a career-high with five steals against Lehigh and has 117 swipes to his credit, putting him eight shy of passing Brian Barbour for fourth on the career list.
IRON MAN
Alex Rosenberg eclipsed the 40-minute plateau for the third time in his career after logging 41 minutes in an overtime game at Northwestern on Nov. 20. Rosenberg has played 43 minutes twice, at Colgate (Dec. 30, 2013) and against Harvard (Feb. 14, 2014)
NUTHIN' BUT A “G” THANG
Grant Mullins is showing no signs of rust after missing all of last season due to injury. The senior guard has scored in double-figures all four games this season, including a 22-point outburst at Northwestern, and is second on the squad averaging 13.5 points per game.
FANTASTIC FOUR
With the return of Mullins and Rosenberg, along with the strong start of Luke Petrasek, Maodo Lo has not had to carry the scoring load. All four players are averaging double-figures in points and the Lions' 86.5 points per contest rank first in the Ivy League.
UP NEXT
AT FAIRFIELD
CBE HALL OF FAME CLASSIC
FRIDAY, NOV. 27 | 5 P.M.
FAIRFIELD, CONN. | ALUMNI HALL
VS. LONGWOOD
SATURDAY, NOV. 28 | 7 P.M.
LEVIEN GYMNASIUM
Columbia is taking part in a non-conference back-to-back over Thanksgiving weekend, taking on Fairfield at Alumni Hall before returning to Levien Gymnasium to take on Longwood Saturday night.
