NEW YORK – The Columbia men’s basketball will head up I-81 at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 23 to play Binghamton. The Lions (2-4) and Bearcats (2-2) meet for the third straight year on Thanksgiving Eve.
OPEN TIP-OFF
• Columbia begin with a three-game away swing after winning two of their last three competitions.
• The Lions win a 96-44 win over SUNY Maritime Sunday. All 13 active players saw action and 12 scored. Columbia also had four in the double digits, led by Blair Thompson’s 14.
• Sophomore Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa, currently ranked 20th in the NCAA for free-throw percentage (94.7 percent), has hit his last 17 attempts since Nov. 10 against UMass-Lowell.
NEWS/NOTES
BINGHAMTON’S STATUS
|The Bearcats lost 75-60 to Sacred Heart on Saturday. Binghamton took an early 12-1 lead but shot 39 percent from the field and 4 of 20 from 3-point range to give the Pioneers the advantage. John McGriff leads a balanced scoring attack averaging 12.0 PPG.
WITHIN THE SERIES
Columbia is 4-1 all-time against Binghamton and has won their last three encounters. Last year, the Lions closed a 16-point deficit with just over six minutes of play to force overtime and won 85-77 at home. Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa was playing high with 21 points, six assists and three steals, while Josh Odunowo had a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards.
COLUMBIA VS THE AMERICA EAST
The Lions are 21-27 against teams currently in the America East Conference. This season, Columbia plays five opponents (UMass-Lowell, Binghamton, New Hampshire, UMBC, Maine) from the conference. Columbia has relinquished its first two competitions to UMass-Lowell and Maine. The Lions went 2-2 with America East Schools in 2021-22, surpassing Binghamton and Maine and falling at UAlbany and UMBC.
THE CHILDREN ARE ALRIGHT
Columbia’s four first graders all make significant contributions, averaging over 15 minutes per game. Avery Brown and Zinou Bedri started every game and Blair Thompson joined the lineup on November 18. Bedri, Brown and Thompson have led the team as top scorer at least once this season. The Class of 2026 accounted for 44.5 percent of the team’s points in 2022-23. If you combine second graders (Geronimo De La Rosa, Jaden Cooper, Robbie Stankard, Jake Tavroff), that’s 71.5 percent of the team score, which comes from lower graders.
kleptomaniacs
On November 16 against Delaware State, the Lions set a new program record for steals with 15 steals. Geronimo Rubio Columbia currently ranks third in the Ivy League with 8.3 steals per contest.
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THE IVY LEAGUE ON ESPN+
All Columbia home games and most Ivy League street competitions will be broadcast on ESPN+ as part of the Ivy League’s new partnership with ESPN. ESPN+ is a new subscription-based service that offers monthly ($4.99) and yearly ($49.99) plans. Click here to subscribe to ESPN+ and start your free trial! Click here for Ivy League FAQs on ESPN.
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