ITHACA, N.Y. - Columbia men's basketball (7-21, 2-11) travels to Cornell (16-10, 6-7) on Saturday for the final game of the 2022-23 season. Tip-off from Newman Arena at Bartels Hall is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
OPENING TIP-OFF
• The Lions are coming off an 84-73 loss to Brown last Saturday at home.
Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa led with 18 points and five rebounds. Columbia shot over 50 percent from the field for the third time in a game this season.
•With a win, Columbia will eliminate Cornell's chance of earning the fourth and final spot in the Ivy League Tournament next weekend.
NEWS/NOTES
NEWEST MEMBER OF THE PROGRAM
Columbia men's basketball head coach
Jim Engles announced a new team member, signing 7-year-old Jorel Marmur through Team IMPACT. View the full release
here.
Jorel, who lives with a chronic kidney condition, was officially introduced at a signing day press conference prior to the game on Saturday, Feb. 25 inside Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium. He will participate in many activities with the team including games, practices, and other team events.
CORNELL'S STATUS
The Big Red dropped a 76-58 decision at Yale last Saturday. Cornell sits in fifth place in the Ivy League standings with one game remaining. The Big Red need a win and a Brown loss to reach its third Ivy League Tournament in program history. Greg Dolan and Nazir Williams lead the team with 13.3 points per game each.
INSIDE THE SERIES - CORNELL
The Lions are 131-104 all-time against Cornell. The Big Red swept last season's series and took the first game of this year's in New York, 105-82.
LAST TIME OUT NOTABLES
Columbia fell to Brown, 84-73 on Senior Day last Saturday.
Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa once again led the Lions with 18 points and five rebounds. Columbia shot over 50 percent from the field for the third time this season.
Liam Murphy,
Avery Brown, and
Noah Robledo all added double-figures scoring in the loss.
CRASHING THE OFFENSIVE GLASS
The Lions are tied for the league lead with Harvard in offensive rebounds with 291.
Josh Odunowo leads Columbia with 34 offensive boards and ranks 14th among Ivy League players in that category.
STARTING FIVE
Coach
Jim Engles has rolled out five different starting lineups this season. In last Saturday's game,
Liam Murphy returned to the first five for Columbia and scored 11 points in 18 minutes. It was Murphy's first start since the Delaware State game on Nov. 11.
MIDDLE OF THE PACK
With one game remaining, Columbia sits in the top five of several stat categories among Ivy League teams. The Lions are third in free throw shooting (71.3%), fourth in steals (6.8 per game), fourth in turnover margin (-0.68), and tied for second in offensive rebounds (10.4 per game).
FREE THROW SHOOTING
Columbia's ability to get to the foul line has been a strength this season. The Lions are averaging 12 made free throws per game and are third in the conference in free throw percentage (71.3).
Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa ranks first in the conference and 23rd nationally in free throw percentage, converting at an 88.5 percent clip.
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 (13.7), rebounding (5.8) and steals (1.4). De La Rosa recorded his 21st double-figures scoring game last Saturday. De La Rosa is averaging 14.9 points per game in Ivy League games this season. He has scored in double-figures in 11 out of the team's 13 Ivy League games this season. The sophomore's season also includes 11 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. Brown leads all Ivy League first year players in minutes per game (30.1). The class of 2026 has comprised 45 percent of the team's scoring in 2022-23. When you combine the sophomore class (De La Rosa, Cooper, Robledo, Stankard, Tavroff) - that represents 77 percent of the team scoring coming from underclassmen.
ANOTHER LION IN THE PROS
Randy Brumant '21CC signed a professional contract on Feb. 16 with CSM Targu Jiu in Romania. Brumant played 64 games for the Lions over three seasons from 2017-20. His senior season was canceled due to COVID-19. Brumant joins eight other Columbia men's basketball alumni that are currently playing professionally.
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.
RECORD BOOK WATCH
Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa is on record book watch. His 89.4 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.
FOLLOW THE LIONS
For the latest on Columbia men's basketball, follow @CULionsMBB on Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook, or on the web at
GoColumbiaLions.com.
