When the Crimson basketball team meets Cornell tonight at 8 p. m. in the IAB, it will be working to climb out of a last-place tie with the Big Red in the Ivy League standings.

Cornell, which topped Brown in Ithaca for its sole Ivy victory in eight starts, has a 4-13 record overall. Two of those wins came in the Quaker City Tournament during winter vacation when Cornell beat Brigham Young. 68-62, and Villanova 63-38.

Against Penn in Ithaca two weeks ago, the Big Red were ahead until the final minutes, when a Quaker burst gave Penn a 64-60 triumph. So, even though Brown upended Cornell last weekend in Providence by 15 points, the Big Red have proved they can stay with some of the best teams in the country.

Great Winter

Though Cornell has had only, limited success this season, its leading scorer and rebounder, 6' 5" center Bill Schwarzkopf, is having a great winter. Besides being the seventh-leading scorer in the Ivy League with a 17.2 point average. he paces the league in rebounding with almost 14 grabs per game.

If Harvard expects to defeat the Big Red. it will have to stop Schwarzkopf. Coach Bob Harrison has put a new wrinkle in his defense to stop him, but most of the responsibility for holding Schwarzkopf will probably fall to captain Ernie Hardy. who is second to the Cornell center in rebounding in the Ivies with ??-5 snatches a game.

The Big Red's two guards. 6' 3" Ken Wiens and 6' Paul Frye, are the second and third leading scorers on the squad, and direct Cornell's pick-and-roll offense. Last year, when the Crimson played Cornell in Ithaca. Frye hit nine of nine from the floor in the first half to pace the Big Red to a 92-72 victory.

Breathing Spells

Harrison plans to shuffle in reserves to give his starters occasional two-minute rests, thereby keeping pressure on the Big Red's scoring threats. The breathing spells will also help the Crimson fast break.

"We absolutely have to run." said Harrison. "I feel that Carnell is a team that we can run right off the floor. And the more we run, the more cautious they become on offense. If that happens, they will play right into our hands defensively." he explained.

Promotion

Junior guard Joe Stanislaw, who has played the last two games as a reserve and still scored on eight of 15 shots, will start tonight to give Harvard added speed.

In an afternoon game on Wednesday at Andover. Harvard's freshman team squashed the Andies, 123-66, to run its record to 11-2. Coach John Harvey substituted throughout the game, and reserve guard Dave O'Leary, making 11 or 14 shots from the floor, paced the freshmen with 22 points. On Saturday, the freshmen face Exeter at the IAB in a 6 p. m. preliminary to the 8 p. m. varsity game against Columbia.