The Big Red competed in the Ivy League 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.

They upset 5 seed and AP #12 Temple in the first round for the first tournament win in school history.

[1][2][3] The Cornell Big Red were the first Ivy League team to reach the Sweet Sixteen since the 1978–79 Penn Quakers and set an Ivy League record with 29 wins.

[5] During the season they were able to give number-one ranked Kansas a real challenge at Allen Fieldhouse where Kansas was unable to secure the lead for good until just 41 seconds remained.