League-leading Barnes turns Big Red into Ivy contenders

At 6 feet, 190 pounds, Cornell point guard Ka'Ron Barnes is hardly an imposing physical specimen. But don't let his size deceive you.

The senior currently leads the Ivy League in scoring with 20.8 points per game and is 20th in all of Division I. He has scored 20 or more points in over half of Cornell's games and is shooting almost 37 percent from the three-point arc.

And the credentials don't end there.

The versatile guard also leads the league in assists (4.89 per game) and steals (2.16 per game). A second-team All-Ivy selection in his junior year, Barnes is arguably the leading candidate to win Ivy League Player of the Year.

But the wily guard can do more than just score, shoot, pass and defend. The speedy senior ripped down an impressive 13 rebounds in a loss to Penn last year. He is also coming off a 28-point performance in a 96-81 Cornell victory over Brown last weekend.

"Ka'Ron just brings versatility to this game," teammate Cody Topper said. "He has the ball in his hands practically the whole game. The team has learned to feed off of the things that he does and work with him to create a versatile offense."

Barnes' only weakness may lie in his tendency to turn the ball over, something he did 14 times in a loss to St. Francis (N.Y.) in December. Barnes averages 4.5 turnovers a game.

Cornell (10-9, 5-1 Ivy) will place its hopes for a league championship on Barnes' shoulders when they take on Penn and Princeton this weekend and attempt to seize first place in the league.

Penn coach Fran Dunphy praised Barnes' well-rounded skill set, emphasizing that containing the Buffalo, N.Y., native will be critical to Penn's success on Saturday night in Ithaca.

"He's really a good player," Dunphy said. "We have to try to stay in front of him as much as we can."

Dunphy also stressed that Barnes' ability to penetrate, pass and shoot from the perimeter makes him a particularly formidable defensive matchup.

"He's as good of a player as we've got in the league," Dunphy said. "He's gotten better and better every year and has matured physically. He's going to be a tough matchup."

Dunphy said that Penn guard Charlie Copp -- a proven defensive stopper -- will likely start the game on the prolific scorer, but Dunphy noted that the Quakers may rotate different defenders to thwart the Big Red's elusive point guard.

He also noted that the presence of Cornell's three-point specialist Cody Toppert -- who is ranked ninth in Division I with an average of 3.4 three-point field goals per game and ninth in the Ivy League in three-point percentage at 38.3 percent -- will hinder Penn's ability to double- team and play zone.

The explosive backcourt tandem of Toppert and Barnes combined for 73 points, scoring 29 and 28 points, respectively, in the Big Red's impressive 96-81 victory last weekend over a Brown team which beat Penn in overtime earlier in the season.

Dunphy hopes to devise a defensive game plan that will stifle Barnes' ability to penetrate and limit Toppert's perimeter shot opportunities.

However, the coach asserted that the team's defensive strategy will not change markedly in what should be a decisive battle in the Ivy League race.

"We don't know exactly what we are going to do yet," he said. "We're just trying to win the game."

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