Men's Basketball 3/5/2018 1:51:00 PM

Big Red, Harvard Vie For Spot In Ivy Tournament Final

Cornell (12-15, 6-8 Ivy) vs. Harvard (17-12, 12-2 Ivy)
March 10, 2018 • 12:30 pm
ESPNU (Mike Couzens, Dalen Cuff)
Philadelphia, Pa. • The Palestra (8,722)

QUICK HITS
• The wait to get on the on-ramp for the #RoadtoIvyMadness couldn't have been longer for the Cornell men's basketball team, but now they've officially merged onto the postseason highway.
• The Big Red will play in its first-ever Ivy League Men's Basketball Tournament when it heads to The Palestra in Philadelphia, Pa. this weekend for a semifinal matchup with Harvard on Saturday, March 10 at 12:30 p.m.
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPNU with Mike Couzens and Dalen Cuff on the call.
• Cornell waited in the locker room for the last of 56 regular season conference games to conclude before it was able to celebrate its first-ever appearance in the Ivy postseason.
• The Big Red knocked off Dartmouth on the road, 86-75, but also needed both Columbia and Princeton to lose to claim a sole share of fourth place and the final berth in the tournament.
• From the locker room, Cornell's players watched as Princeton sent the game into overtime and took an early lead before Yale rallied for the win.
• Coupled with Harvard's win over the Lions moments earlier, the Big Red was able to celebrate in the locker room knowing they'd have another week, and at least another game, together.
• Now, if the third time's a charm, then Cornell will have a chance to play for its first-ever Ivy League Tournament title on Sunday after dropping a pair of tight regular season contests to the league champion Crimson.
• At 6-8 in Ivy play, Cornell made a two-game jump in conference play during head coach Brian Earl's second season at the helm of the program.
• Since opening the Ivy season 0-3, the Big Red is 6-5 in its last 11 games.
• Junior Matt Morgan has been on a tear all season for the Big Red, averaging 22.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists this year.
• Morgan, the ninth-leading scorer in the country entering the week, has now reached double figures in scoring in a school-record 50 consecutive games after scoring 16 points at Dartmouth b— the fourth-longest streak of any player in the country.
• He enters the game with 611 points this season, surpassing Ryan Wittman's previous school-record 596 points in 2009-10.
• Wittman will be honored this weekend as a Legend of Ivy League Basketball at the tournament.
• Morgan upped his career scoring total to 1,627 points, a total that ranks tied for 20th all-time in Ivy history.
• He is 36 points shy of second place all-time at Cornell, currently held down by John Bajusz '87.
• After missing much of the preseason due to injury, junior Stone Gettings is averaging 17.0 ppg. (fifth in Ivy), 6.7 rpg. (third in Ivy) and 2.8 apg. (ninth in Ivy) — one of two Ivy players ranked in the top 10 in all three categories (Yale's Miye Oni is the other).
• Earlier in the year he posted a career-high 39 points at Delaware - the third-most points ever by a Cornell player and among the top 10-most by any Division I player in a game this year - and 17 rebounds at Penn, the most by a Cornell player since 2009-10.
• The Big Red also features Steven Julian, who ranks second in the Ancient Eight in blocked shots (1.5 bpg.), fourth in steals (1.2 spg.) and seventh in rebounding (5.9 rpg.).
• Junior Joel Davis has started 10 of the team's last 11 games (6-5), averaging 5.9 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 0.9 assists and 0.5 blocks per game over that span.
• Junior guard Jack Gordon, a career 44 percent 3-point shooter, is averaging a career-high 7.2 points per game.
• Freshman Terrance McBride sports a 2.71:1 assist:turnover ratio, a mark that would obliterate a single-season school record if maintained (current record, 2.28 by Derek Williams in 1984-85).
• He has been a breakout star over his last five games, averaging 9.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 0.9 steals while shooting 62 percent from the floor and 58 percent from beyond the arc.

HEAD COACH BRIAN EARL
• Brian Earl is in his second season as the Robert E. Gallagher '44 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Basketball (20-36, .357; 10-18 Ivy, .357).
• He became Cornell's 22nd head coach in April of 2016.
• Earl helped his alma mater, Princeton, return to national prominence during nine seasons as an assistant and associate head coach.
• The Tigers had posted a 143-69 overall record and a 72-26 record in Ancient Eight games since 2009-10, never finishing lower than third place and winning 20 or more games five times.
• His Ivy League peers voted him as the league's top assistant coach in a November 2010 FoxSports.com poll, earning the recognition prior to a 2011 season in which Princeton won the Ivy League title and returned to the NCAA Tournament.

CORNELL-HARVARD SERIES
Overall: Cornell leads 93-81
At Neutral Sites: Series tied 1-1
Current Streak: Harvard, 5 games
Last Meeting: Harvard won 98-88 in 2OT, 3/2/18 in Cambridge, Mass.
Earl vs. Harvard: 0-4
Series Notes: Series dates back to the 1901-02 season • Harvard has won five of the last seven contests between the teams overall • prior to that, the Crimson had won nine straight meeting • the teams have split two previous neutral site meetings • Cornell topped the Crimson 22-18 on Feb. 22, 1905 in Auburn, N.Y. • Harvard won the only other meeting, topping the Big Red 84-73 on Dec. 30, 1960 in Bangor, Maine as part of the Downeast Classic

A WIN OVER HARVARD WOULD
• advance the Big Red to Sunday's championship game at noon against the winner of the Penn-Yale game with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
• give Cornell a win in its first-ever Ivy League Tournament appearance.
• snap a five-game losing streak to the Crimson.
• be the first neutral site win over a fellow Ivy League school since topping Princeton 46-44 in a one-game Ivy League playoff on March 9, 1954 at The Palestra— nearly 64 years to the date of this year's semifinal.
• make the Big Red 2-2 in postseason play over its last four games (2-1 at NCAA Tournament in 2009-10).
• improve Cornell's record to 13-15 on the season.
• be the 1,255th in program history (1,254-1,423 in 118 seasons, .468).

LAST TIME VS. HARVARD
• Harvard and Cornell spent all night throwing mighty shots at each other, but the preseason Ivy favorite Crimson regained its spot atop the conference standings with a 98-88 double overtime victory over the Big Red on March 2, 2018 at Lavietes Pavillion.
• Junior Matt Morgan tied his career high with 34 points and classmates Stone Gettings (23 points, six rebounds, four assists) and Steven Julian (10 points, 12 rebounds, three assists) all made huge contributions.
• The Big Red remained in the fight despite shooting under 40 percent from the floor (.394), being outrebounds 41-32 and allowing the Crimson to shoot 53 percent overall and hit 12 3-pointers.
• Jack Gordon had eight points and four assists off the bench and Joel Davis netted seven points.
• In all, the junior class combined for 82 of the team's 88 points on the night.
• Chris Lewis scored 29 points to lead four Crimson players with at least 18 points.
• Christian Juzang had a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, Seth Towns scored 20 and Justin Bassey recorded 18 along with seven rebounds and five assists.
• Harvard was hurt by 19 turnovers and allowed the Big Red to get to the free-throw line 29 times.
• Morgan's conventional three-point play with 4.8 seconds left in regulation sent the game into overtime after the Crimson led by as many as 10 in the second half.

LAST TIME OUT
• They waited not so patiently in their locker room at Leede Arena 10 minutes after closing its regular season with an 86-75 win over Dartmouth.
• They were rewarded minutes later, celebrating when Princeton's final errant shot missed to give Yale a 94-90 overtime win and the Big Red a berth in the Ivy League Men's Basketball Tournament for the first time.
• Cornell's win, coupled with Columbia's loss at Harvard and Princeton's defeat at Yale, propelled the Big Red into the fourth and final spot.
• The Big Red shot .633 from the floor, the eighth-highest single-game percentage in school history, and used a well-balanced offensive attack with five players in double-digits.
• Matt Morgan and Jack Gordon paced the Big Red with 16 points apiece, with Morgan extending his double-digit streak to 50 consecutive games.
• He also became the school's single-season scoring king with 611 points, surpassing Ryan Wittman (596 points in 2009-10) and becoming the 22nd Ivy League player to score 600 points in a season.
• Steven Julian (11), Josh Warren (11) and Stone Getting (10) were also in double-figures, with Gettings pulling down a team-high six rebounds and adding five assists.
• Miles Wright scored 19 points in his final collegiate game for Dartmouth, while Taylor Johnson had 16 points on Senior Night.
• The Big Green shot 50 percent from the floor, but couldn't overcome a second half deficit of 16 points with eight minutes to play.

NEXT UP
• With a win over Harvard, Cornell would advance to play in Sunday's championship game at noon against the winner of the second semifinal between Penn-Yale.
• A loss would send the Big Red into the offseason ready to make another significant jump with the return of seniors Matt Morgan, Stone Gettings, Steven Julian, Jack Gordon, Joel Davis and Troy Whiteside.

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