QUICK HITS
• The Cornell men's basketball team will open its 2015-16 home slate when Binghamton visits Newman Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 6 p.m.
• The contest will be the first game of a doubleheader, with the women's team meeting Colgate at 8:30 p.m.
• Barry Leonard and former 1,000-point scorer Eric Taylor '05 will be on the radio call on 98.7 FM The Buzzer, while live video of the contest will be available on the Ivy League Digital Network.
• The contest will serve as the home opener for the Big Red — Cornell is 17-9 in home openers all-time at Newman Arena.
• Included was a win over Binghamton in the 2011-12 lid lifter in front of the Newman Nation crowd (76-61)
• Cornell evened its record with a 101-98 double overtime victory at Colgate on Monday evening to pick up its first win of the year.
• It was the Big Red's first time hitting triple digits against a Division I team since the 2009-10 season and the first double overtime game since the year before that.
• After being one of the most improved teams in the country both in the win column and by nearly all defensive metrics, the Big Red's improvement on the offensive end has been especially impressive so far in 2015-16.
• Nearly every offensive number is significantly improved this year, including ranking 45th nationally in scoring (91.0 ppg.) a year after sitting 291st in that category (62.3 ppg.).
• Junior Robert Hatter is averaging 26.0 points per game through two contests (19th nationally), scoring 52 points in 52 minutes of action.
• Freshman Matt Morgan isn't far behind, averaging 18.0 points in his first two collegiate contests, including scoring 12 of his 16 points in the two overtime periods.
• Defensively, the Big Red has sped up the tempo as well and is coming off a game in which it limited Colgate to 44 percent shooting from the floor and forced 16 turnovers with 11 steals and seven blocked shots.
• Cornell and Binghamton will meet for the 12th time on the hardwood with the Big Red leading 8-3.
 • Cornell head coach Bill Courtney is in his sixth season at Cornell (51-96, .347; 24-46 Ivy, .343).
• Courtney became the fifth Robert E. Gallagher '44 Coach of Men's Basketball at Cornell on April 23, 2010.

THE SERIES
• Cornell leads the all-time series 8-3 after last season's 68-54 triumph in Binhamton.
• The two teams first met in 1988 and have squared off every season since 2010-11.
• Cornell is 3-2 against Binghamton under head coach Bill Courtney.
 
ABOUT BINGHAMTON
• Binghamton enters the contest with an 0-2 record after season-opening losses at St. Bonaventure (63-53) and at home against Army (75-60).
• Through two contests, Binghamton is shooting 33 percent from the floor and 21 percent from 3-point range, but its defense is limiting opponents to 39 percent from the floor and 31 percent from beyond the arc.
• Binghamton returns its top three scorers from a season ago, all of whom were freshmen.
• All-rookie selection Willie Rodriguez (12.5 ppg., 7.0 rpg.), Dusan Perovic (10.5 ppg., 5.0 rpg.) and Romello Walker (5.5 ppg., 3.5 rpg.) were the only freshmen trio in the country last season to pace their team in scoring, and they are now 1-2-6 on the squad in scoring through two games.
• Freshman Everson Davis is also averaging double figures at 10.0 ppg., while freshman Thomas Bruce (6.5 ppg.) and sophomore Justin McFadden (6.0 ppg., 6.0 rpg.) have also made an impact.
• In all, the team returns 90 percent of its scoring from last year.
• Binghamton returns five starters and 10 letter winners from last season's 6-26 squad that was the youngest in the country.
• The Bearcats have been picked to finish fifth in the America East.
• Fourth-year head coach Tommy Dempsey enters the season with 223 wins in his 13 seasons as a head coach.

A WIN OVER BINGHAMTON WOULD ...
• make the Big Red 2-1 on the season.
• extend Cornell's lead in the all-time series to 9-3.
• be the second straight over the Bearcats.
• make Cornell 22-23 against America East Conference teams.
• be the 1,226th in program history (1,225-1,1370 in 117 seasons, .472).
 
CORNELL VS. THE AMERICA EAST
• Cornell is 21-23 all-time against current members of the America East, including 8-3 against Binghamton.
• The Big Red has also faced Albany (2-3), Hartford (0-3), Maine (0-1), UMass-Lowell (1-0), New Hampshire (1-3), Stony Brook (4-4) and Vermont (5-6).
• Cornell has never played UMBC.

LAST TIME OUT
• Cornell surrendered a 19-point lead, lost three starters to fouls, including leading scorer Robert Hatter, as well as all the momentum that came with both.
• Then, despite all of that, the Big Red persevered.
• In one of the most exciting games imaginable, with last second shots, epic runs and impressive individual performances, Cornell escaped with its first win of the 2015-16 season in double overtime over Colgate 101-98 at Cotterell Court.
• Robert Hatter led the Big Red with 33 points on 11-of-20 shooting in just 27 minutes and added five rebounds, two assists and two steals before fouling out.
• Matt Morgan, despite shooting just 4-of-14 shots, netted 16 points, seven rebounds and two steals and both Bathurst and Darryl Smith had 14 points.
• Bathurst added seven rebounds and two blocked shots and Smith had three rebounds and three assists.
• Onuorah played a career-high 37 minutes, including nearly both overtimes with a pair of fouls, and had nine points, 14 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
• Cornell held a 51-45 edge on the glass and connected on 45 percent of its shots.
• Colgate's Swopshire had 19 points and seven rebounds and both Malcolm Regisford (17 points, eight rebounds) and Alex Ramon (17 points, four rebounds, three assists) were among four Raiders in double figures.
• Austin Tillotson rounded out the group with 15 points and 11 assists.
• The Raiders shot 44 percent from the floor and connected on 12-of-32 shots from 3-point range.
 
PLAYER NOTES TO KNOW
• Robert Hatter's career high 33 points at Colgate came in just 27 minutes.
• Hatter is averaging 26.0 points in 26.0 minutes per game through two games.
• Hatter ranked 70th nationally in free-throw percentage a year ago (.833) after making just 46 percent from the line as a freshman (19-of-41).
• Junior David Onuorah became the eighth player in school history to reach 75 career blocks with three in the win over Colgate.
• David Onuorah's 14 rebounds at Colgate were a career high and the most by a Big Red player since Shonn Miller had 15 in the home win over Harvard last February.
• Darryl Smith's 3-pointer late in regulation to tie the Colgate game was his first trey of the season, while freshman Troy Whiteside's 3-pointer in double overtime to put Cornell in the lead for good was the first of his career.
• Freshman Matt Morgan scored 20 points against Georgia Tech, the most by a Cornell freshman in a season opener since Nolan Cressler put in 20 in a win over Western Michigan to kick off the 2012-13 campaign.
• Morgan was the first Big Red freshman to start a season opener since - current Big Red juniors Robert Hatter and David Onuorah were out for the tip at Syracuse in 2013-14.
• The last freshman to average at least 18.0 ppg. in his first two collegiate contests since current teammate Robert Hatter was averaging 20.5 ppg. in his frist two games in 2013-14.
• Junior JoJo Fallas competed for Team USA at the 14th European Maccabi Games in Berlin, Germany from July 27-August 5. Fallas was one of the leaders on a team that won a silver medal, going 4-0 before dropping the gold medal game to Russia 98-87 despite a game-high 28 points. The event was the largest gathering of Jewish people in Berlin since World War II, as more than 2,000 Jewish athletes from 36 countries attended.
• Senior center Braxston Bunce was a two-year member of Team Canada's Under-18 national team, including competing at the 2012 FIBA Americas Championship in Brazil. Canada went 4-1, with Bunce averaging 1.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in two contests.
• The Big Red lost 47 percent of the team's scoring, 59 percent of its rebounding, 73 percent of its assists, 51 percent of its steals and 49 percent of its blocked shots to graduation.
• Cornell's roster features eight freshmen, the most on a Big Red roster since the 2001-02 season when there were also eight rookies, including future 1,000-point scorers Eric Taylor'05 and Cody Toppert '05.
 
TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• The Big Red's 182 points through two games is the most in any season since putting up 183 points ito open the 1971-72 campaign (108-90 win over Scranton; 99-75 loss at Penn State).
• Cornell's 51 rebounds against Colgate were the most by a Cornell team since piling up 56 in a win over Clarkson in 2010.
• The Big Red hit the 100-point mark against a Division I team for the first time since scoring 104 in a 104-98 overtime win at Bucknell during the 2009-10 season.
• The Big Red last played a multiple overtime game in a 79-76 double overtime victory at home over Dartmouth during the 2008-09 campaign.
• The rally from a 17-point deficit against Colgate last season 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.
• The Big Red made 13 3-pointers in the opener against Georgia Tech, a mark that ranks 13th in a single game in Cornell history.
• When Cornell knocked off George Mason to open the 2014-15 campaign, the Big Red defeated its 35th program that has advanced to an NCAA Final Four. The Patriots reached the national semifinals in 2006.
• Cornell won 11 more games a year ago than the entire 2013-14 campaign when it went 2-26.  The Big Red's 11-win improvement was a school record.
• The Big Red limited opponents to .389 shooting a season ago (18th nationally), the first time Cornell held opponents under 40 percent shooting in a season since the 1963-64 campaign.
• The Big Red blocked a single-season school record 143 shots last season.
• In 2014-15, the Big Red ranked 18th in free throw percentage, 34th nationally in fewest turnovers, 39th in blocked shots per game and 47th in total defense (among 345 Division I teams).
• Third-year assistant coach Jon Jaques was a starter and senior captain on the 2009-10 Cornell team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.
• For the third straight year a Big Red men's basketball player will use his fifth and final year of eligibility at a BCS school.
• 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).
• Dwight Tarwater '14 played his final season as a graduate student at California in 2014-15. Tarwater averaged 3.4 points and 2.9 rebounds while playing 18.8 minutes per game as a key reserve and spot starter in 33 games (13 starts). He hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 20 seconds to play to lift Cal over UCLA.
• Shonn Miller '15 will play as a graduate student at Connecticut in 2015-16, while Galal Cancer '15 will suit up for Kent State.
• Members of the Cornell basketball team represent 11 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.
 
DEFENSIVE TURNAROUND/OFFENSIVE TURNAROUND
• A year ago, Cornell's defense spearheaded the Big Red's turnaround, as its points per game allowed, field goal percentage defense overall and from 3-point range were significantly down, while its steals and blocked shots were way up over the previous season.
• The Big Red limited opponents to .389 shooting for the season (18th nationally, lowest mark by a Cornell team in 50 years), an amazing turnaround after ranking 341st nationally (out of 345 Division I teams) after allowing opponents to shoot .495 in 2013-14
• Cornell allowed opponents to shoot 50 percent or better 15 times in 28 games in 2013-14, while it held 16 of its 30 opponents under 40 percent shooting and just two opponents hit 50 percent of its
• This season it is the offense that has had a makeover, significantly improving across the board.
• The Big Red's scoring, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and points per possession are all significantly up from a year ago.
 
CORNELL EIGHTH IN IVY PRESEASON POLL
• The Cornell men's basketball team was picked to finish eighth when the 2015-16 Ivy League preseason media poll was announced during the annual conference call with the league's eight head coaches.
• Yale, which shared last season's conference title with Harvard and lost in a one-game playoff with the Crimson, took five first place votes and 117 points overall to take the preseason poll.
• Columbia (114) and Princeton (108) weren't far behind, and each actually had more first place votes than the Bulldogs with six apiece.
• Harvard rounded out the top half with 96 points.
• The Big Red received 25 points, finishing behind Brown (54), Dartmouth (50) and Penn (48).
• Two media members from each school and one national representative voted in the poll.
 
RED-WHITE GAME
• Junior Robert Hatter hit a runner in the lane just before the buzzer to cap a 25-point night as Cornell's White team topped the Red squad 75-73 at the annual Red-White Game on Oct. 24 at Newman Arena.
• Hatter added eight assists, five rebounds and five steals in the win.
• Freshman Matt Morgan chipped in 22 points, six rebounds and four assists in his first appearance as Hatter's backcourt mate, while sophomore Wil Bathurst had seven points and six rebounds.
• Four players went for double figures for the Red team, including junior David Onuorah's 20 points and 12 rebounds.
• Freshmen Donovan Wright (14 points, 10 rebounds, four steals) and Troy Whiteside (14 points) and junior Darryl Smith (10 points, six rebounds) also hit for double figures.
• The Red team led by 12 (69-57) with five minutes to play before the White team ended on a 18-4 run.
• Hatter had eight points and Morgan had six during the game-ending run, including consecutive 3-pointers to knot the score at 73-73.

HOW TO FOLLOW CORNELL
• There are numerous way to follow the Big Red through the 2015-16 basketball season.
• Men's basketball games will be broadcast on 98.7 FM The Buzzer for the 2015-16 season. Longtime voice of the Big Red Barry Leonard returns on the call with the play-by-play, while former All-Ivy center Eric Taylor '05 is on board to do color analysis.
• A half-hour pregame show and postgame analysis will enable Big Red fans to follow Coach Bill Courtney's team throughout the season.
• The audio of all games will also be available as part of the IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork subscription service.
• The Big Red's home contests will all be broadcast live with streaming video as part of the IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork subscription service. Visit www.IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork.com for all the latest information on Cornell broadcasts.
• Cornell will use SIDEARM Live Stats for each of the Big Red's home games in 2015-16. Visit www.CornellBigRed.com for all of the official statistics.
• You can follow the team on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Highlights, interviews and features on all 37 of Cornell's varsity sports can be found at www.youtube.com/cornellathletics, www.facebook.com/cornellathletics or www.twitter.com/cornellsports.
 
CORNELL BASKETBALL HONORED BY NCAA ... AGAIN
• Cornell University ranks among the best according to the annual NCAA Division I Academic Progress Report (APR) for 2013-14 that was released this past May.
• 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.
• Men's basketball has been recognized seven times in the 10 years since the APR began, including five consecutive years.
 
CORNELL BEYOND THE ARC - 700 AND COUNTING
• Cornell hit 10 3-pointers at Colgate on Nov. 16, 2015 its 746th 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.
• Matt Morgan hit the program's 5,000th 3-pointer when he hit a long 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer at Georgia Tech on Nov. 13, 2015.
• 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 792 of 796 games, connecting on 5,015 treys, an average of 6.3 per game.
 
CORNELL IN OVERTIME
• Head coach Bill Courtney's record is 6-4 in overtime games during his six seasons, including 1-0 this year after its 101-98 double overtime victory at Colgate.
• Cornell went 3-1 in overtime in 2011-12, matching a school record for most overtime games in a season.
• All-time, dating back to the first overtime game against Penn way back in 1922, Cornell is 40-48 in games that go an extra period.
• Cornell is 6-9 in multiple overtime games, with the longest game for the Big Red being a five overtime contest against Princeton, won by the Tigers 66-61 on Feb. 24, 1979 at Barton Hall.
• Cornell is 29-18 in home overtime games, 2-2 in neutral contests and 10-27 in road games.
 
60TH SEASON OF IVY LEAGUE ATHLETICS
• Throughout the 2015-16 season, the Ivy League will be celebrating its 60th season with impactful content across IvyLeagueSports.com, The Ivy League Digital Network and the League's social media outlets.
• Be on the lookout for the #IvyAt60 hashtag to keep up the coverage of the League's 60th season.
 
NEXT UP
• Cornell will hit the road to face Canisius at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21 in Buffalo, N.Y.
• The game, a rematch of last season's 67-60 Big Red victory last November in Ithaca, will be broadcast on ESPN3.
• The Big Red returns home to play its annual Division III game against Penn State-Harrisburg at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 23 in Newman Arena.
• The contest will be part of a doubleheader, as the women will face Saint Francis (Pa.) at 6 p.m.