Feb. 26 • at Princeton • 6 p.m. | Feb. 27 • at Penn • 7 p.m.
DON'T GET SOLD OUT! BUY YOUR TICKETS TODAY!A an extremely limited number of tickets remain for the remaining critical Ivy League games next weekend vs. Brown and Yale. Purchase yours now at gocolumbialions.com/tickets. Tickets are going fast - don't take your chances on game day, reserve your seats now!
ALUMNI EVENT SATURDAY
The Columbia Alumni Association is hosting a pre-game reception with Columbia's men's assistant basketball coach, Derrick Phelps, before the Lions face the Penn Quakers at the Palestra on Saturday, February 27, 2016 from 5:30-6:45 p.m. For more information or to buy tickets, click here!
THE STORYLINES
COLUMBIA'S STATUS
The Lions pulled within a game of first place Yale with a pair of wins over Harvard and Dartmouth, coupled with a Bulldogs' loss to Princeton last Friday night. Columbia used strong second halves in both contests to come away with with the sweep.
The win over the Crimson gave the Lions their first sweep of the Crimson since 2008.
PRINCETON'S STATUS
Princeton held serve at home last weekend against Yale and Brown to extend its winning streak to six games. The Tigers sit a half-game back of the Bulldogs for first place.
Henry Caruso is leading the squad in scoring and rebounding at 16.0 points, on 46.3 percent shooting from 3-point range, and 6.5 boards per game. Devin Cannady is checking in at 11.7 points per game and is shooting 46.4 percent from downtown, coming off the bench.
SERIES HISTORY... PRINCETON
The Tigers have won 12 of the last 13 contests and improved to 149-85 in the all-time series after stunning Columbia, 88-83 in overtime, on Feb. 13.
PENN'S STATUS
After an 0-3 start in Ivy League play, the Quakers are winners of four of their last six, including a split of Brown (win) and Yale (loss) last weekend.
Darien Nelson-Henry checks in at 12.8 points and 8.4 rebounds to pace the offense. Matt Howard is right behind Nelson-Henry at 12.6 points per game.
SERIES HISTORY... PENN
Columbia improved to 89-139 against the Quakers after a 10-point win in Levien Gymnasium on Feb. 12. The Lions will be in search of their first win at the Palestra since a 66-62 triumph on Feb. 13, 2010.
START ME UP
The Lions are off to their best start after 27 games since the Ivy League Championship season of 1967-68 when they went 22-5 The 8-2 Ivy League start is the best for the program since the 1993 campaign.
THE SMITH ERA
Over the last five-plus seasons with Kyle Smith as the Lions' head coach, Columbia has won 95 games, the most in such a span since Columbia posted 99 wins from 1964-65 season to 1969-70. It is also the most for a Lions coach in his first five-plus seasons at the helm since Lou Rossini notched 99 wins from 1950-55.
KLEPTOMANIAC
Maodo Lo tied a Columbia single-game record with seven steals at Yale to move into second place on the all-time list. Lo leads the Ivy League, averaging 2.43steals and ranks 14th in the nation in that category. The Berlin native's 61 takeaways this season already puts him second on Columbia's single-season list and is seven shy of tying Sean Couch's record of 68.
FROM DOWNTOWN
Columbia has been relient on the 3-point shot this season with 46.1 percent of its attempts coming from beyond the arc. The long-ball comrpises 38.8 percent of their total points, which is 16th in the nation, according to KenPom. The Lions' 263 makes are 18nd highest in the NCAA. In addition, their 9.7 makes per game put them 16th in that category.
NUTHIN' BUT A “G” THANG
Grant Mullins is playing his best at the right time. He notched a career-high six steals against Penn (Feb. 12), posted 19 points and 12 rebounds for his first career double-double against Princeton (Feb. 13) and had a team high 17 points against Dartmouth (Feb. 20). Mullins has shown no signs of rust after missing all of last season due to injury. The senior guard has scored in double-figures in all but five games this season, including a a quartet of 20+ point outbursts at Northwestern (22), Longwood (23), Central Penn (21) and Brown (25).
DOUBLE (DOUBLE) THE FUN
After registering just one double-double all of 2014-15 (Jeff Coby vs. Lehigh), Columbia has five this season. Alex Rosenberg notched 10 points and 10 boards in the season opener against Kean. Luke Petrasek accomplished the feat with 16 points and 11 rebounds against Howard. Jeff Coby posted back-to-back double-doubles against Central Penn (20 points,13 boards) and Cornell (13 points, 11 rebounds). Grant Mullins joined the club with 19 points and 12 boards against Princeton.
IRON MAN
Alex Rosenberg eclipsed the 40-minute plateau for the fourth time in his career after logging 40 minutes in an overtime game against Princeton. He logged 41 minutes at Northwestern on Nov. 20 and has played 43 minutes twice, at Colgate (Dec. 30, 2013) and against Harvard (Feb. 14, 2014).
