NEW YORK- Columbia men's basketball (6-19, 1-9) welcomes Harvard (12-12, 3-7) on Friday, February 17 and Dartmouth (9-15, 5-5) on Saturday, February 18. Both games are slated for 7 p.m. on ESPN+ with Friday's also airing on SNY.
OPENING TIP-OFF
• Columbia returns home this weekend for the first time in a month for this season's final back-to-back against Harvard and Dartmouth. The first 1,000 fans in attendance for Friday's game vs. Harvard will receive a free t-shirt. Saturday's game vs. Dartmouth is Heroes Day.
• The Lions look to snap a nine-game losing streak.
• Next Saturday, Columbia's three-game home stand concludes with the final home game of the season against Brown at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
CU BLACK EXCELLENCE - JOSH ODUNOWO
IVY LEAGUE BASKETBALL LEGEND
Leonard "Buck" Jenkins '93CC has been chosen as the 2023 Columbia men's basketball legend. Jenkins is Columbia's all-time leading scorer and was a three-time first-team All-Ivy League honoree. All 16 representatives will be formally honored at the 2023 Ivy League Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments on March 10-12 at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton, N.J.
NEWS/NOTES
HARVARD'S STATUS
The Crimson are coming off its fourth-straight loss, an 80-72 defeat to Penn at home last Saturday. Harvard sits in seventh place in the Ivy League standings, two games up on Columbia. Guard Chris Ledlum is averaging a team-best 18.5 points per game. The Crimson rank second in the conference in steals (7.58 per game) and third in blocked shots (4.04 per game). Harvard is 6-5 on the road this season.
INSIDE THE SERIES - HARVARD
Columbia leads the all-time series with Harvard, 98-89. Earlier this season in Cambridge, Mass., the Crimson downed the Lions 73-51. Columbia's last victory over Harvard came in New York on February 2, 2018.
DARTMOUTH'S STATUS
The Big Green picked up a come-from-behind win over Princeton at home last Saturday, 83-76. Dartmouth has a mix of scorers, with Dame Adelekun, Ryan Cornish, and Dusan Neskovic all averaging double-figures. Adelekun leads the Ivy League with 44 blocks (1.9 per game) and ranks fourth with 7.0 rebounds per game.
INSIDE THE SERIES - DARTMOUTH
The Lions are 114-107 all-time against Dartmouth. The Big Green have won five-straight in the series, including a 83-73 victory last month at Leede Arena. Columbia's last win over Dartmouth came in New York on March 8, 2019.
LAST TIME OUT NOTABLES
Columbia fell 99-68 at Yale last Saturday. Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa led the Lions with 19 points. Avery Brown (14 points) and Blair Thompson (12 points) were the other Lions to chip in double-figures scoring. Brown went a career-best 8-8 from the free throw line. Zine Bedri collected a career-high 10 rebounds in the loss. He is the third Lion this season to have 10 or more boards in a game along with De La Rosa and Jake Tavroff.
CRASHING THE OFFENSIVE GLASS
The Lions lead Ivy League teams with 271 offensive rebounds, which is 13 more than Penn, who has the second-most. Josh Odunowo leads Columbia with 33 offensive boards and ranks 12th among Ivy League players in that category. Zine Bedri also ranks in the top 15 for offensive rebounds.
STARTING FIVE
Coach Jim Engles has rolled out four different starting lineups this season. Every combination has included Zine Bedri, Avery Brown, and Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa. Zavian McLean has recently made his first six starts of the season in the last seven games. In those starts, McLean is averaging 10.0 points per game, 3.1 points higher than his regular average.
MIDDLE OF THE PACK
Through 25 games this season, Columbia sits in the top five of several stat categories among Ivy League teams. The Lions are third in free throw shooting (70.4%), fourth in steals (6.8 per game), fourth in turnover margin (-0.60), and first in offensive rebounds (10.8 per game).
FREE THROW SHOOTING
Columbia's ability to get to the foul line has been a strength this season. The Lions are leading the Ivy League, averaging 12.4 made free throws per game and are third in the conference in free throw percentage (70.4). Columbia went 17-of-17 from the stripe against UMES to bolster that average. Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa ranks first in the conference and 21st nationally in free throw percentage, converting at an 88.5 percent clip. The Lions have attempted a league-high 439 free throws.
NUTHIN' BUT A G THANG
There's been no sophomore slump for Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa this season. He has played a strong all-around game, leading the Lions and ranking among the Ivy League leaders in scoring (13.0), rebounding (5.8) and steals (1.4). De La Rosa recorded his 18th double-figures scoring game at Yale last Saturday. The sophomore's season also includes nine selections to the Ivy League Weekly Honor Roll.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT
Columbia boasts one of the youngest rosters in the country with four first-years averaging over 15 minutes per game. It is believed only VMI is playing more freshmen consistently (five averaging 20+ MPG) than the Lions this season. Avery Brown and Zinou Bedri have started every game and Blair Thompson entered the lineup on Nov. 18. Brown leads all Ivy League first year players in minutes per game (30.3). The class of 2026 has comprised 46 percent of the team's scoring in 2022-23. When you combine the sophomore class (De La Rosa, Cooper, Robledo, Stankard, Tavroff) - that represents 76 percent of the team scoring coming from underclassmen.
RECORD BOOK WATCH
Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa is on record book watch. His 88.5 percent mark from the free throw line this season would rank third all-time in a single season behind Brian Barbour, who did it twice (.917, 2010-11 and .901, 2011-12).
KLEPTOMANIACS
Against Delaware State on November 16, the Lions established a new program record for steals with 15. Columbia then tied that mark two weeks later when it posted 15 steals against Sarah Lawrence.
DECEMBER TO REMEMBER
Columbia turned another corner in the final month of 2022. The Lions finished December 4-3, marking the first winning month for the program since January 2017 when they went 5-1. Columbia has already eclipsed its 2021-22 win total (four) on December 12.
BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER
The Lions return nearly 75 percent of its scoring from 2021-22, highlighted by
Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa. The guard averaged 12.3 points per game, which was the third highest total for a first-year in program history.
LIONS PICKED EIGHTH IN PRESEASON IVY LEAGUE POLL
The Lions were predicted to finish eighth in the preseason Ivy League poll, conducted by selected members of the media.
TICKETS TO UPCOMING HOME GAMES
Tickets for all Columbia home games are on sale now and can be purchased by
clicking here or calling 888-LIONS-11.
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