Men’s Basketball Hosts Penn State Abington on Wednesday to Close Out 2025

Wednesday, December 31

New York, N.Y.

2:00 P.M.

Columbia

Penn State Abington

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics / Stockton Photo, Inc.

Men’s Basketball Hosts Penn State Abington on Wednesday to Close Out 2025

12/30/2025 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Columbia Game Notes

The Lions face a final tune-up before conference play commences

NEW YORK — Columbia men's basketball wraps up non-conference action when it welcomes Penn State Abington on Wednesday for a New Year's Eve showdown. Tip-off from Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium is set for 2 p.m.

Wednesday's matchup between the Lions (10-3) and Nittany Lions (1-11) can be followed via live stats or watched live on ESPN+. Lance Medow (play-by-play) and Doug Feinberg (analyst) will have the call. Click here to purchase tickets.

News/Notes

Opening Tip-Off

Columbia has the sixth-best rebounding margin in the country and is inside the top 15 nationally in rebounds per game and defensive rebounds per game.

The Lions meet Penn State Abington for the first time on Wednesday. Columbia looks to go undefeated at home in non-conference play for the second straight season.

Kenny Noland (Player of the Week) and Miles Franklin (Rookie of the Week) swept the Ivy League weekly awards on Monday.

Columbia is in action on New Year's Eve for just the fifth time since 1950.

Kevin Hovde is the first Columbia head coach in his debut season to win 10 of his first 13 games since Lou Rossini started 20-0 in his first season in Morningside Heights in 1950–51.

Last Time Out

Columbia grinded out a 90-82 victory over North Florida in its penultimate non-conference game of the season on Sunday afternoon from UNF Arena.

Kenny Noland matched his career-high with 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Miles Franklin had a career-best 19 points and tied his career-high with seven rebounds. Blair Thompson (12 points) and Ryan Soulis (11 points) rounded out Columbia's double-figure scorers.

After going toe-to-toe for most of the second half, a late 7-0 run helped the Lions pull away. Noland made the front end of a one-and-one with 3:10 remaining, then got his own rebound off a miss on the second. Franklin scored on the possession to put Columbia (10-3) ahead 73-69. With 2:03 to go, Soulis fed Noland for a layup and the Lions led by eight.

With just under a minute to go, Franklin hit four free throws to practically put the game away. North Florida (2-11) was unable to get the margin lower than five in the final minute. The Ospreys started the game on a 7-0 run.

Offensive Fireworks

On Nov. 26, the Lions scored 106 points at Fairfield, marking their first 100-point game against a Division I opponent since Nov. 15, 2010 (108 vs. Maryland Eastern Shore) and their first on the road since Dec. 8, 2009, at Wagner. Columbia shot an impressive 62.5 percent from the field against the Stags—their first road game shooting over 60 percent since Feb. 27, 2016, at Penn. The Lions are clicking from deep, ranking 45th nationally with a 37.6 percent three-point clip.

Columbia averaged 93.8 points over a four-game span from Nov. 21 to Nov. 29. Columbia last averaged 90-plus points over a four-game span during the 1976-77 season.

In the Nov. 29 win over Sarah Lawrence, six Lions reached double-figures in scoring, marking the first time the program had that many players notch 10 or more points in a game since Dec. 4, 2017, vs. Quinnipiac.

Six of Columbia's wins have come by 15 or more points.

Breaking The Glass

In addition to having the sixth-best rebounding margin (12.8) in the country, the Lions lead Ivy League teams in combined rebounds per game (42.6), defensive rebounds per game (30.0), and offensive rebounds per game (12.7). Columbia has out-rebounded its opponent in all 10 wins this season.

The Lions have out-rebounded an opponent by more than 20 boards four times this season (plus-23 vs. UMass Lowell on Nov. 13, plus-25 at Lehigh on Nov. 21, plus-38 vs. Sarah Lawrence on Nov. 29, and plus-20 vs. UAlbany on Dec. 6). The plus-25 margin against the Mountain Hawks is Columbia's largest against a Division I opponent since Nov. 15, 2010, vs. Maryland Eastern Shore, when the Lions were 44-21 on the boards against the Hawks. Columbia notched 49 rebounds at Stony Brook on Dec. 9. Previously, the pair of 48-rebound performances against UMass Lowell and Lehigh were the most boards in a game for Columbia against a Division I foe since Dec. 12, 2022 (at Lafayette). The last time Columbia recorded multiple 40-rebound games in a season against Division I opponents came in 2017-18.

Columbia also had 23 offensive rebounds on Nov. 13, marking the first time the Lions secured over 20 offensive boards since Jan. 16, 2023, vs. Cornell.

Leading rebounder Blair Thompson is 22 boards away from the 500-rebound mark for his career. Thompson would be the first Lion to record 500 career rebounds since Mark Cisco did in 2012-13.

Noticing Noland

Senior guard Kenny Noland is off to a strong offensive start to 2025-26, averaging a team-best 17.5 points per game. Noland leads the Lions in assists, field goals made, three-point field goals made, and minutes per game. Noland's 227 points this season rank third among Ivy League scorers and his 36 three-pointers are the second-most in the league.

The Apex, N.C. native has trumped his career-high in points twice already this year and has recorded six 20-point performances. Noland went off for a career-best 27 points in a win at Lehigh on Nov. 21, where he went 11-18 from the field. He then matched the 27-point mark on Sunday at North Florida

At 41-42 (97.6 percent) from the charity stripe, Noland has the second-highest free throw percentage in the country among qualified players.

Noland has earned back-to-back Ivy League Player of the Week honors and was added to the Lou Henson Award Early Season Watch List on Dec. 18, which recognizes the top mid-major players in Division I college basketball.

How Many Miles Can He Go?

First-year guard Miles Franklin shined in his collegiate debut in the Nov. 7 season opener. The Vienna, Virginia native came off the bench and in 18 minutes of action tallied 13 points on 5-5 shooting from the floor. Franklin knocked down two three-pointers and recorded three rebounds, two blocks, and a steal.

Franklin followed up on Nov. 10 at No. 3 UConn with a 10-point showing (eight in the second half) on 5-8 shooting. His performance included a posterizing dunk over Silas Demary Jr. with 8:42 remaining in the game.

Franklin poured in a career-best 19 points on 6-12 shooting on Sunday at North Florida and has scored double-figures in seven of this season's 13 games. His five steals on Nov. 23 vs. Longwood are the most by a Lion since Avery Brown had five on Nov. 15, 2023, against SUNY Delhi.

Franklin has been named Ivy League Rookie of the Week three times this season (Nov. 10, Dec. 8, and Dec. 29).

1,000 Points Watch

Columbia's Kenny Noland (972 points) and Avery Brown (862 points) are each closing in on the 1,000-point mark for their careers. The last Lion to reach 1,000 points was Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa on Feb. 23, 2024. Columbia has 30 all-time 1,000-point scorers.

Series History - Penn State Abington

Columbia meets Penn State Abington for the first time on Wednesday.

Up Next

Columbia begins Ivy League play at Cornell on Monday. Tip-off from Newman Arena is set for 5 p.m.

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