The 2009–10 Cornell Big Red men's basketball team represented

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in the 2009–10 college basketball season. This was coach Steve Donahue's tenth season at Cornell. The Big Red competed in the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

and played their home games at Newman Arena. They went 13–1 in Ivy League play to win the championship for the third year in a row and received the league's automatic bid to the

2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2009– ...

. They earned a 12 seed in the East Region. They upset 5 seed and AP #12

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in the first round for the first tournament win in school history. They continued their success by upsetting 4 seed and AP #16

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

to advance to their first Sweet Sixteen where they lost to 1 seed and AP #2

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

to finish their season at 29–5. The Cornell Big Red were the first

team to reach the Sweet Sixteen since the 1978–79 Penn Quakers and set an Ivy League record with 29 wins. The team is the only Cornell basketball team to finish the season ranked in the polls and the only team to defeat two ranked opponents in a season. During the season they were able to give number-one ranked

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

a real challenge at

Allen Fieldhouse Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena on the University of Kansas (KU) campus in Lawrence, Kansas. It is home of the Kansas Jayhawks men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is named after Phog Allen, a former player and head coach for th ...

where Kansas was unable to secure the lead for good until just 41 seconds remained.

Roster

Source

Schedule and results

Source *All times are

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, - !colspan=9, Regular Season , - !colspan=10,

Rankings

*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings
^Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll.

Awards and honors

* Ryan Wittman – Ivy League Player of the Year, Honorable Mention AP All-American

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Cornell Big Red men's basketball team

Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

Cornell Big Red men's basketball seasons