I'm always looking for afternoon games that allow for a doubleheader with an evening game nearby. Such was the case on MLK Day, when Cornell played at 2, while new Division I school Le Moyne, which is in Syracuse, had a 7 p.m. start. Cornell, an Ivy League school, is based in Ithaca and I was able to convince my wife that a family trip would be nice, as there are a few things to see in town. I rented a car for cheap (prices are slowly returning to normal) and we drove the four hours from our home on Saturday afternoon, spending a busy Sunday and Monday morning doing family things. On Monday afternoon, I drove over to Newman Arena, home of Big Red basketball.
The venue is part of Bartels Hall, an athletics complex that includes the school's hockey home, Lynah Rink. There is a large parking lot right across the street, where you will pay $10. There might be free parking nearby, but I did not want to drive around campus looking for it. The picture above was taken from atop the staircase that leads from the parking lot. Newman Arena opened in 1990 and has a capacity of 4,473. It is named for Floyd R. Newman, an alumnus and major benefactor.
The box office is just inside the main entrance and general admission tickets are $10, while the reserved chairbacks are $13. This is similar to Denver in that the reserved seats are the lower rows in the middle sections, but in this case, they are only on one side. Thus, the other side is entirely general admission and you can sit very close if you want.
Along the hallways before you enter the gym is a series of photos highlighting key events in Cornell athletics history, such as their national title in ice hockey in 1970. Along the top of the wall, each sport that is contested at Cornell is pictured. What is interesting here is the number of smaller sports such as rowing and polo, both of which I have yet to see live.
To get into the gym, you need to take one of two staircases; the one on the left takes you to the side with the chairbacks, so if you want to sit low with your GA ticket, use the staircase to the right. Between the two staircases is a small display case that has football and baseball memorabilia mostly. I did not see any trophy cases, though they could be elsewhere in the building.
There are a few rows of bleachers behind each basket, and the only way to get from one side to the other is to walk on the floor (or use the staircases outside). There was no band or cheerleaders on this day. The center hung scoreboard shows video, but there are no team or player stats to be seen.
Big Red basketball has four Ivy titles and a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2010, and those are some of the banners on display.
That's about it for Newman Arena, a simple spot on a beautiful campus. Ithaca is a bit far from the major highways, but if you are in Central New York and the Big Red have a home game, it is worth the trip to see some good quality mid-major basketball, and if you are lucky, maybe some hockey too.
The Game
The Penn Quakers were the visitors with both teams having won their Ivy League openers, although Cornell sported a much better overall record of 11-3, while the Quakers were 9-7.
The Big Red led the nation in two-point FG percentage at 68.3%, but you wouldn't have known it from the way they jacked up threes on nearly every possession, missing their first five before a make by Keller Boothby knotted the game at 9. Still undeterred by their bricklaying excellence, Cornell continued to miss from long range, allowing Penn to remain in the game. There were seven ties and five lead changes in the frame that saw Cornell go 4-18 from long range (Penn was 6-13) and trail 31-28. The officials were excellent, letting the teams play and calling only 9 fouls.
Cornell started the second half with the ball and Chris Manon immediately drained a trey to tie it up and quickly followed with another for the lead. Nazir Williams (#1 below) added a jumper to make it 36-31 and Penn called timeout.
The Quakers scored a couple of baskets to get back within one, but a Manon (#30 below) jumper started a 14-5 run highlighted by three Cornell treys in under a minute. Shortly thereafter, they duplicated the triple triples feat, this time as part of an 11-4 run that extended their lead to 61-44 and had the crowd of 1,462 standing.
They pushed the lead up to 22, and the rest of the game was uneventful as Cornell cruised to a 77-60 win. That's Manon spinning the basketball to celebrate on the scoreboard.
I thought that Cornell was making a mistake relying on the threeball so much, but they shot 10-21 from beyond the arc in the second half (Penn was 4-15), a surprising turnaround from the first half. Penn did not help themselves with 17 turnovers, leading to 26 Cornell points, compared to just 6 off 8 Big Red miscues. There were only ten fouls called in the second half, and Cornell finished with just a single free throw, which they made (Penn was 4-6). A great game to watch from down low, and it finished quickly enough that I was able to drive to Syracuse in plenty of time for the nightcap.
Notes
This visit completes the Ivy League gyms, making it the first conference for me to finish. Of course, it is the easiest with just eight schools, all in the northeast. Next up will be the Big East, where I have seen 17 of 19 home courts (Georgetown women and Xavier are left). The Ivy League basketball gym rankings:
1. Penn
2. Princeton
3. Yale
4. Columbia
5. Harvard
6. Cornell
7. Brown
8. Dartmouth
This is the 1,500th post on the blog, which has been around for nearly 15 years. Blogs have fallen out of favour in that time, but I enjoy going back and reading about stadium visits that I have nearly forgotten. I'm on the tail end of my sports travels, but I'm hoping to do this for about five more years before retiring. Hope you all have enjoyed following along so far.
Best,
Sean
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