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Cornell University Athletics

MBKB Seniors 2014-15

Men's Basketball

Men's Hoops Honors Seniors As Part of Final Ivy Homestand

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CORNELL INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics I History

HARVARD INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics

DARTMOUTH INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics

GAME INFORMATION
Game #27: Harvard at Cornell
Tip off: Friday, Feb. 27, at 6:30 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2014-15 Records: Harvard (19-5, 9-1 Ivy); Cornell (12-14, 4-6 Ivy)
Series Record: Cornell leads 90-77
Last Meeting: Harvard won 61-40, Feb. 14, 2015 in Cambridge, Mass.
Radio: 98.7 FM The Buzzer (Barry Leonard, Eric Taylor '05)
TV: CBS Sports Network (Sean Grande, Vince Curran)

Game #28: Dartmouth at Cornell
Tip off: Saturday, Feb. 28, at 6:00 p.m.
Site: Newman Arena (4,473), Ithaca, N.Y.
2014-15 Records: Dartmouth (10-14, 3-7 Ivy); Cornell (12-14, 4-6 Ivy)
Series Record: Cornell leads 105-104
Last Meeting: Cornell won 81-72 in OT, Feb. 13, 2015 in Hanover, N.H.
Radio: 98.7 FM The Buzzer (Barry Leonard, Eric Taylor '05)
TV: None

HEAD COACH BILL COURTNEY
Cornell head coach Bill Courtney is in his fifth season at Cornell (49-92, .348; 23-43 Ivy, .348) ... Courtney became the fifth Robert E. Gallagher '44 Coach of Men's Basketball at Cornell on April 23, 2010.
STORY LINES:
The Cornell men's basketball team will attempt to finish strong on its home court and honor its six seniors when it hosts four-time defending Ivy champion Harvard on Friday, Feb. 27 at 6:30 p.m. before attempting to complete the season sweep of Dartmouth on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. at Newman Arena. Friday's contest will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network with Sean Grande and Vince Curran on the call. Barry Leonard will provide coverage on 98.7 FM The Buzzer, with live video of Saturday's contest available on the Ivy League Digital Network.

Picked to finish eighth in the Ivy League preseason media poll, head coach Bill Courtney's Big Red team is one of the most improved in the country. Cornell is 12-14 a year removed from a 2-26 campaign. The Big Red has the looks of a team on the rebound, playing suffocating defense (.384 field goal percentage defense, .316 3-point percentage defense, 61.1 ppg. allowed, 5.0 blocked shots per game) in its 26 contests. The Big Red has limited foes to below 40 percent shooting in 15 of its 26 games. Half of its 14 losses this season have come by five points or less or in overtime.

The biggest difference from last year is the return of first-team All-Ivy selection Shonn Miller, who missed the 2013-14 season with a shoulder injury. The two-time Ivy League Player of the Week is second in the conference in scoring (16.2 ppg.) and rebounding (8.2 rpg.), and in the top 10 in free-throw percentage (fifth, .835) and blocked shots (third, 1.9 bpg.) to make him a contender for top Ivy League honors.

Other big differences in Cornell's quick turnaround include the return of senior Galal Cancer (9.9 ppg., 3.6 rpg., 3.0 apg., 1.0 spg.) after a year away from basketball, the move of senior Devin Cherry to point guard (10.4 ppg., 4.3 rpg., 3.5 apg., 0.8 spg.) and the maturation of sophomores Robert Hatter (11.5 ppg., 2.8 rpg., 1.4 spg.) and David Onuorah (2.2 ppg., 3.7 rpg., 1.5 bpg.). A number of other players have added key minutes as reserves over the first 26 contests. Among them are sophomore guards JoJo Fallas, who has become one of the conference's most dangerous shooters off the bench (3.2 ppg., 23 3-pointers, .354 3-point percentage), and Darryl Smith (2.8 pg., 1.9 rpg.). Together with the starting trio, the five make for one of the most talented and deepest backcourts in the Ancient Eight. The senior big man trio of Deion Giddens, Dave LaMore and Ned Tomic are combining to average 4.3 ppg. and 4.9 rpg. and have provided leadership on and off the court.

A WIN OVER HARVARD WOULD:
• make the Big Red 13-14 overall and 5-6 in Ivy League play.
• snap a nine-game losing streak to the Crimson.
• give head coach Bill Courtney his 50th career victory at Cornell.
• improve the Big Red to 8-4 at home this season and 3-3 in Ivy play.
• give the Big Red a 91-77 lead in the all-time series between the programs.
• be the 1,224th in program history (1,223-1,366 in 116 seasons, .472).

ABOUT HARVARD:
• At 19-5 on the season and 9-1 in Ivy League competition, Harvard sits atop the conference standings with four games remaining. The Crimson holds a one-game lead over Yale.
• The Crimson have won eight in a row since being upset at home by Dartmouth, 70-61, on Jan. 24. It is coming off a home sweep of Penn (69-46) and Princeton (63-55) this past weekend.
• All-Ivy League staples Wesley Saunders (16.2 ppg., 6.1 rpg., 4.1 apg., 2.0 spg.) and Siyani Chambers (9.7 ppg., 4.2 apg., 1.5 spg.) lead the way again, with hot-shooting Corbin Miller (8.8 ppg., 55 3-pointers) and steady Steve Moundou-Missi (8.8 ppg., 6.8 rpg.) also playing key roles in the Crimson's success this season.
• The Crimson are allowing opponents to score just 56.6 points per game while shooting 39 percent from the floor and 33 percent from 3-point range. Harvard is outrebounding opponents by four per contest.
• Harvard has an impressive 11-1 record at home this season, including victories over Houston and Massachusetts.
• Eighth year head coach Tommy Amaker has won four consecutive Ivy League titles and has made three straight NCAA tournament appearances with second round wins in each of the past two seasons. He boasts a career record of 334-215, including 158-76 with the Crimson.

THE CORNELL-HARVARD SERIES:
• Cornell leads the series 90-77 dating back to the first meeting between the teams in the 1901-02 season.
• Harvard has a narrow is 14-11 in the last 25 contests thanks to its nine consecutive wins.

LAST TIME VS. HARVARD:
• A great start led Cornell to a halftime lead. A devastating Harvard run and tired legs erased it and led the Crimson to a 61-40 victory on Feb. 14 at Lavietes Pavilion.
• Cornell used smothering defense and opportunistic offense to build a lead of as many as eight points in the first half and brought a 24-21 advantage into the break. Harvard turned the tables in the second 20 minutes.
• A 24-2 Crimson run over the first 8:41 of the second half turned a three-point edge into a 19-point deficit in the blink of an eye, and Cornell could never recover.
• The Big Red starters didn't hit a second half field goal and the Big Red shot just 21 percent from the floor after halftime (24 percent for the game) in the loss.
• Senior Shonn Miller led the Big Red with 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, while classmate Devin Cherry added eight points and JoJo Fallas hit a pair of 3-pointers off the bench for his six.
• Harvard's Steve Moundou-Missi had 12 points and six rebounds to lead three double figure scorers, while Wesley Saunders had eight points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
• Both Siyani Chambers and Corbin Miller had 10 points.
• The Crimson shot 55 percent after halftime and 41 percent for the game and dominated the glass, outrebounding the Big Red 40-27.

ABOUT DARTMOUTH:
• Dartmouth enters Saturday's contest with a 10-14 overall record and a 3-7 mark in Ivy League play.
• The Big Green has won two of its last three games since dropping an 81-72 overtime decision to Cornell on Feb. 13.
• Both Alex Mitola (12.7 ppg.) and Gabas Maldunas (11.2 ppg., 7.0 rpg., 1.8 bpg., 1.3 spg.) are averaging double figures, while Connor Boehm (9.6 ppg., 4.9 rpg.) isn't far behind.
• Freshman Miles Wright has emerged as a top player for Dartmouth over the last three weekends with double figure efforts in six of his last seven games. Over his last six games, Wright is averaging 15.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals.
• The Big Green is shooting 43 percent from the floor and 35 percent from 3-point range this season, while outrebouding opponents 32.8-31.8. Opponents are hitting 43 percent of their shots and 36 percent from beyond the arc.
• Head coach Paul Cormier, in his second stop with the Big Green, has a 128-192 mark on the Big Green sidelines and is 214-303 all-time in 19 seasons as a head coach.

THE CORNELL-DARTMOUTH SERIES:
• Cornell leads the all-time series 105-104 after 209 games in a series that dates back to the 1900-01 campaign.
• Cornell has had the best of the series recently, having won 19 of the last 23 meetings.
• The two teams have split the season series each of the last two years, though the Big Red is looking to avoid that fate this season with its first season sweep since 2011-12.

LAST TIME VS. DARTMOUTH:
• For 40 minutes, it seemed as though nothing was going right for the Big Red. Cornell was in many ways, luck to be going to overtime with Dartmouth on Feb. 13 at Leede Arena.
• The Big Red took the lead five seconds into overtime after winning the tip ahead to Devin Cherry for a layup. Cornell dominated the five-minute extra session and stole an 81-72 victory over the Big Green.
• Shonn Miller had 15 points and 15 rebounds after sitting out nearly all of the first half after picking up his second foul and ended the contest with 17 points and 15 rebounds (matching a career high) to lift Cornell to its second straight conference victory.
• Robert Hatter scored a game-high 19 points and limited Dartmouth's leading scorer Alex Mitola to nine points on the other end.
• Senior guards Devin Cherry (15 points) and Galal Cancer (10 points, four rebounds, four assists) also were in double figures, but it was freshman Wil Bathurst whose spark off the bench seemed to turn the tide.
• The rookie ended with seven points, including five straight key points to stave off a Dartmouth run in the second half and added two steals and a block in 13 energy-filled second half minutes.
• After making its first four shots of the night, the Big Green connected on just 20-of-50 the rest of the way (40 percent), including 5-of-21 3-pointers (24 percent).
• Miles Wright had 19 points and five rebounds to lead Dartmouth, while Gabas Maldunas had 14 points and 12 rebounds and both Tommy Carpenter and Connor Boehm had 10 apiece.

SENIOR CLASS:
• Cornell will celebrate its six seniors in their final regular season home weekend.
• The Big Red will honor Galal Cancer, Devin Cherry, Deion Giddens, Dave LaMore, Shonn Miller and Ned Tomic prior to Saturday's contest against Dartmouth.
• Combined, the six players have accounted for 461 total games with 289 starts, 2,726 points, 1,402 rebounds, 547 assists, 221 blocked shots and 285 steals entering the weekend.

DEFENSIVE TURNAROUND:
• Cornell's defense has spearheaded the Big Red's turnaround, as its points per game allowed, field goal percentage defense overall and from 3-point range are significantly down, while its steals and blocked shots are way up over last season.
• The Big Red is limiting opponents to .384 shooting over its first 26 games. In all, Cornell recorded a .495 field goal percentage defense mark in 2013-14
• Cornell has allowed opponents to shoot 50 percent or better 15 times in 28 games a season ago, while this year it has held 15 of its first 26 opponents under 40 percent shooting and just one opponent has hit 50 percent of its shots.

NOTES TO KNOW:
• With the Big Red's next win, Bill Courtney will get his 50th career victory as head coach at Cornell.
• Cornell has already won 10 more games than the entire 2013-14 campaign when it went 2-26. Only seven teams in the country have won 10 or more games this season than they did all of last year (as of Feb. 23). UC Davis leads the way at +12 (9 to 21), while New Hampshire has improved by 11 wins (from 6 to 17). The Big Red's 10-win improvement is a school record.
• Cornell's 17 points in the overtime win over Dartmouth is tied for the third-highest OT scoring period in school history and the most since the Big Red scored a school-record 21 points at Bucknell is a 73-65 win on Jan. 2, 1993.
• Senior Shonn Miller has recorded 16 career double-doubles, a mark that ranks third all-time at Cornell. Bernard Jackson '91 and Mike Davis '80 each had 18 career games with double figures in scoring and rebounding.
• The Big Red's has limited opponents to .384 shooting. Cornell hasn't held opponents under 40 percent shooting in a season since the 1963-64 campaign.
• Miller had 15 rebounds in the second half and overtime of the win at Dartmouth. His 11 rebounds in the second half alone was the most by a Big Red player in a half under head coach Bill Courtney.
• Last weekend, both Galal Cancer and Devin Cherry jumped into the school's top 20 career assist list. Cancer is 17th with 229 assists, while Cherry is 18th with his 227.
• The Big Red has blocked  a single season school record 129 shots this season.
• Seniors Galal Cancer (589 points, 236 rebounds, 229 assists) and Devin Cherry (821 points, 311 rebounds, 227 assists) are just the 17th and 18th players in school history to register 500 points, 200 rebounds and 200 assists in a career.
• Senior Shonn Miller is approaching becoming the 22nd player in school history to score 1,000 points. He needs 18 in his last four regular season contests (4.5 ppg.).
• Over the team's last 14 games, Cornell is shooting an outstanding .788 from the free-throw line (271-of-344).
• In its last 12 contests, the Big Red has 125 assists and just 114 turnovers.
• Cornell's 78-point margin of victory against Alfred State (107-29) was the largest in school history, bettering a 71-point win over Rome Air Force Base in 1943.
• The team's 107 points against Alfred State made for the seventh-highest total in school history and the most in 22 years.
• Cornell allowed just 29 points against the Pioneers, the fewest surrendered in a contest since Sampson Naval Hospital scored 29 in a 68-29 Big Red victory on Dec. 1, 1945.
• The Big Red has posted three of the top 20 free-throw shooting percentage efforts in school history over the first 16 games. Cornell tied a school record with a 13-for-13 effort (one of eight perfect nights with at least 10 attempts) against UMass Lowell and had the best day with a miss in going 21-of-22 for .955 against Penn State. Cornell hit 26-of-28 free throws (.929) in the win over Howard.
• Cornell's 14-point margin of victory over Binghamton (68-54) was its largest in a road game under head coach Bill Courtney and the most by any Cornell team since a 79-59 victory at Yale on March 6, 2010. That mark didn't last long, as the Big Red dropped Siena by 17 (75-58) in Albany 23 days later.
• The rally from a 17-point deficit against Colgate was the largest overcome by a Big Red team this century. It is the largest overcome by a Bill Courtney-coached team, besting the 14-point first half deficit it rallied from in an 85-84 win over Yale on Feb. 10, 2012.
• When Cornell knocked off George Mason, the Big Red defeated its 35th program that has advanced to an NCAA Final Four. The Patriots reached the national semifinals in 2006.
• The Big Red hit 14 3-pointers in the win over Alfred State, the most in a game since hitting 16 in an 83-70 loss at Western Michigan on Nov. 29, 2013.
• Senior Shonn Miller blocked a pair of shots against George Mason to surpass the 100 career block milestone. He became the fifth player in Cornell history to reach that plateau and now has 149 to his name.
• Miller had three steals at Radford, pushing his career total to 101 (now at 122). In the process, he became the first player in Cornell history to post 100 career steals and 100 career blocks.
• Second-year assistant coach Jon Jaques was a starter and senior captain on the 2009-10 Cornell team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.
• Cornell will play 10 games against teams coming off 20-win seasons and 11 against teams who competed in postseason last year (three vs. NCAA teams, five vs. CIT teams, four vs. CBI teams).
• Dwight Tarwater '14 graduated from Cornell last spring with a degree in Applied Economics and Management and is playing an extra year at California-Berkeley.  Through 27 games (16-11), Tarwater is averaging 3.8 points and 2.9 rebounds while playing 18.9 minutes per game as a key reserve and spot starter. He has made nine starts for the Bears. He hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 20 seconds to play to lift Cal over UCLA on Feb. 7,
• It is the second straight year a Big Red men's basketball player has used his fifth and final year of eligibility at a BCS school, as Errick Peck '13 spent the 2013-14 campaign at Purdue. He served as a captain and part-time starter for the Boilermakers while averaging 4.6 points and 4.4 rebounds and shooting 48 percent from the floor in 32 contests (10 starts).
• Members of the Cornell basketball team represent 13 states and one Canadian province.
• Cornell has played in 46 different states, as well as in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Australia and France. The only states the Big Red has not played in are Alaska, North Dakota, Mississippi and Wyoming.

CORNELL BEYOND THE ARC — 700 AND COUNTING:
• Cornell hit seven 3-pointers at Brown on Feb. 21, 2015 its 740th straight game with at least one made 3-point field goal.
• With six 3-pointers against Oberlin on Jan. 11, 2014, Cornell extended its streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 700.
• The last time Cornell did not hit a 3-pointer was against Denison in the 1988-89 season opener (0-for-2).
• Since the 3-point shot came into effect in NCAA play during the 1986-87 season, Cornell has hit at least one shot behind the arc in 786 of 790 games, connecting on 4,970 treys, an average of 6.3 per game.

CORNELL BASKETBALL HONORED BY NCAA ... AGAIN:
• Cornell University ranks among the best according to the annual NCAA Division I Academic Progress Report (APR) for 2012-13.
• The APR measures semester-by-semester records for every individual team in Division I with regard to each team members' continuing eligibility, retention and progress toward graduation.
• The NCAA "commends" teams that have APR scores in the top 10 percent within their sport, with the minimum necessary score ranging from 975 to a perfect mark of 1000 depending on the range of team scores within that sport.
• Eight Cornell teams received perfect scores of 1,000, with baseball, men's and women's basketball, field hockey, men's golf, women's gymnastics, women's lacrosse and volleyball each hitting that target.

NEXT UP:
• The Big Red closes the regular season at Princeton on Friday, March 6 and Penn on Saturday, March 7. Both games will tip at 7 p.m.
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Dwight Tarwater

#33 Dwight Tarwater

F
6' 6"
Senior
Devin Cherry

#13 Devin Cherry

G
6' 3"
Senior
JoJo Fallas

#25 JoJo Fallas

G
5' 11"
Sophomore
Deion Giddens

#50 Deion Giddens

F/C
6' 9"
Senior
Robert Hatter

#5 Robert Hatter

G
6' 2"
Sophomore
Dave LaMore

#4 Dave LaMore

F/C
6' 9"
Senior
Shonn Miller

#32 Shonn Miller

F
6' 7"
Senior
David Onuorah

#0 David Onuorah

F
6' 9"
Sophomore
Darryl Smith

#1 Darryl Smith

G
6' 2"
Sophomore
Wil Bathurst

#20 Wil Bathurst

G/F
6' 3"
Freshman
Galal Cancer

#23 Galal Cancer

G
6' 2"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Dwight Tarwater

#33 Dwight Tarwater

6' 6"
Senior
F
Devin Cherry

#13 Devin Cherry

6' 3"
Senior
G
JoJo Fallas

#25 JoJo Fallas

5' 11"
Sophomore
G
Deion Giddens

#50 Deion Giddens

6' 9"
Senior
F/C
Robert Hatter

#5 Robert Hatter

6' 2"
Sophomore
G
Dave LaMore

#4 Dave LaMore

6' 9"
Senior
F/C
Shonn Miller

#32 Shonn Miller

6' 7"
Senior
F
David Onuorah

#0 David Onuorah

6' 9"
Sophomore
F
Darryl Smith

#1 Darryl Smith

6' 2"
Sophomore
G
Wil Bathurst

#20 Wil Bathurst

6' 3"
Freshman
G/F
Galal Cancer

#23 Galal Cancer

6' 2"
Senior
G