Mar. 4 • vs. Brown • 7 p.m. | Mar. 5 • vs. Yale • 7 p.m.
Brown
Columbia
Yale
YALE GAME IS SOLD OUT!
Saturday night's game is officially a SELL OUT! A limited number of standing room only tickets will be available at the box office on 120th Street and Broadway beginning at 6 p.m. on game night. Students - admission is FREE with a valid Columbia University or Barnard College ID, but seating is limited so be sure to arrive early.
Tickets are still available for Friday, March 4 when the Lions host Brown at 7 p.m. Don't miss the great atmosphere in Levien Gymnasium, featuring fan-friendly promotions and performances by the Columbia dance team, cheerleaders and band!
PURCHASE COLUMBIA FOOTBALL SEASON TICKETS ON SATURDAY
Fans can also purchase their 2016 Columbia football tickets in the Levien lobby before and during the men's basketball game against Yale on Saturday night. Don't miss this first opportunity to see what year two of the Al Bagnoli era has in store!
THE STORYLINES
COLUMBIA'S STATUS
The Lions bounced back from a tough loss at Princeton with a resounding win at Penn the next night. Columbia picked up its first win at the Palestra since 2010 and the 28-point margin of victory was the most lopsided Lion win ever in the series with the Quakers. Alex Rosenberg exploded for a season-high 26 points, including the first 11 of the game for Columbia.
BROWN'S STATUS
The Bears edged Dartmouth, 84-83, in overtime before dropping a nine-point decision to Harvard Saturday in their final home weekend.
Cedric Kuakumensah is averaging 13.9 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game to lead Brown. Kuakumensah is the Ivy League's all-time leading rebounder. Tavon Blackmon is putting up 13.3 points and 5.5 assists.
SERIES HISTORY... BROWN
Columbia improved to 71-65 against Brown all-time after its 77-73 win at the Pizzitola Sports Center last month. The Lions have won four-straight against the Bears, which is their longest current winning streak against an Ivy League foe.
YALE'S STATUS
The Bulldogs swept Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend to move to 11-1 in Ivy League play. Yale can clinch at least a share of the conference title for the second consecutive year with two wins in the final regualr season weekend.
Justin Sears is registering 16.7 plints and 7.4 rebounds and is joined in the front court with Brandon Sherrod, who checks in at 12. points and 7.0 rebounds per contest. Makai Mason has had a breakout sophomore campaign, posting 15.7 points and 3.8 assists.
SERIES HISTORY... YALE
Columbia is 125-105 against the Bulldogs all-time, including this season's 86-72 defeat in New Haven earlier this season. The Lions will look to salvage a season split with the Bulldogs for the third consecutive year.
HONORING THE SENIORS
Prior to Saturday's game against Yale, Columbia will honor the four members of its senior class. As a group, these four seniors have compiled 66 victories, the most of any graduating class since the Class of 1953 (78 wins). They are also the first collection of Columbia players to win at every Ivy League venue since the Class of 1993.
REACHING NEW HEIGHTS
Columbia reached the 20-win plateau for just the second time since 1969-70, the last time coming during the 2013-14 campaign. The have a chance to win 21 regular season wins for the first time since 1950-51 (23). The nine Ivy League victories are the most for the program since 1993. The last time Columbia won 11 conference games was in 1978 when they went 11-3.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Lions have five Ivy League road wins, tying a program record last accomplished in 1993. In addition, Columbia's three-game road winning streak from Jan. 23-30 was the longest since 2010-11 when they topped Maine, Lafayette and Cornell and the longest in Ivy League play since 1998 when they knocked off Dartmouth, Harvard, Brown and Yale away from home.
THE SMITH ERA
Over the last five-plus seasons with Kyle Smith as the Lions' head coach, Columbia has won 96 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 2.3 steals and ranks 11th in the nation in that category. The Berlin native's 66 takeaways this season already puts him third on Columbia's single-season list and is two shy of tying Sean Couch's record of 68.
FROM DOWNTOWN
Columbia has been relient on the 3-point shot this season with 45.1 percent of its attempts coming from beyond the arc. The long-ball comrpises 37.3 percent of their total points, which is 23rd in the nation, according to KenPom. The Lions' 277 makes are 18nd highest in the NCAA. In addition, their 9.6 makes per game put them 19th 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).
