QUICK HITS
• Few teams, in or out of conference, have had success at the Petersen Events Center at Pitt, but the Cornell men's basketball team will take its shot when the Big Red visits the Panthers on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. at Petersen Events Center in a game that will be broadcast on ESPN3.
• Pitt is 209-31 (.871) at home since the beginning of the 2002-03 season and 55-1 (.982) all-time at the Petersen Events Center in the month of November in non-league contests.
• The Big Red carries some momentum into the game as winners of three of its last four contests.
• That's the first 3-1 start for Cornell since the Big Red's Sweet 16 season in 2009-10.
• 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 among the top 100 nationally in scoring (79.2 ppg.) a year after sitting 291st in that category (62.3 ppg.).
• Pitt is the second straight unbeaten opponent Cornell has played and the fourth in six contests to start the year, though the Panthers are at a different level - literally and figuratively - than the Big Red's last opponent, Division III Penn State-Harrisburg.
• Cornell put away the Nittany Lions 76-47 on Monday night by limiting the visitors to 30 percent shooting.
• Junior Robert Hatter led the Big Red with 14 points and six assists, while classmate David Onuorah tied his career high with 15 rebounds and chipped in five blocked shots.
• Hatter is averaging 18.6 points, 5.2 assists and 3.0 rebounds through five games.
• After shooting just 38 percent from the floor in his first two seasons, Hatter is hitting on 50 percent of his shots from the floor.
• Hatter joins with freshman Matt Morgan to form the Ivy League's highest scoring backcourt, ranking third and fourth in the Ancient Eight.
• Hatter has 26 assists through five contests after recording just 19 assists in 28 games a season ago while primarily playing off the ball.
• Morgan, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week, is the first Big Red freshman to reach double figures in the scoring column in his first five games since Adam Gore in 2005-06.
• Onuorah ranks third in the league in rebounding (10.8 rpg.), first in blocked shots (2.6 bpg.) and fifth in field goal percentage (.600).
• Since allowing Georgia Tech to score 116 points and being outrebound it 48-24 in the opener, the Big Red is limiting opponents to 72.8 ppg. on 39 percent shooting and has outrebounded opponents by 2.0 per game.
 • Cornell head coach Bill Courtney is in his sixth season at Cornell (53-97, .353; 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
• Pitt leads the all-time series 11-5 dating back to their first-ever meeting in the 1920-21 season.
• Cornell won that first meeting 34-23 on Jan. 3, 1921 in Pittsburgh.
• Pitt has won the last five meetings between the schools.
• The Big Red and the Panthers last met on Dec. 21, 1992 in Pittsburgh, an 80-72 Panthers victory.
• Cornell's last win in the series came during the 1966-67 season, a 110-72 victory over the Panthers at Barton Hall in Ithaca — a game in which Cornell scored its second-most points in school history.
 
ABOUT PITTSBURGH
• Pittsburgh is off to a 2-0 start this season with wins over Saint Joseph's (Ind.) (84-43) and Detroit (95-79).
• The Panthers played a half against Gonzaga in Okinawa, Japan, taking a 37-35 lead, before the contest was called by officials for unsafe court conditions.
• Four players are averaging double figures in the scoring column, with Michael Young (18.5 ppg., 10.0 rpg., 3.5 apg., 2.0 bpg.) leading the way.
• Ryan Luther (11.0 ppg., 7.5 rpg., 2.0 bpg.), Jamel Artis (10.5 ppg., 3.5 apg.) and Sheldon Jeter (10.0 ppg., 7.0 rpg.) were also in double figures.
• The Panthers are averaging 89.5 ppg. and shooting 48 percent from the floor, but it is Pitt's defense - as usual - that sets it apart.
• Pitt is surrendering just 61.0 ppg. on 33 percent shooting overall and 29 percent from 3-point range while outrebounding foes by 14.5 per contest.
• Cornell fans will recognize backup center Rafael Maia, who is averaging 2.5 ppg. and 3.5 rpg. as a graduate transfer playing 11.0 minutes per game.
• Pitt is 55-1 all-time at the Petersen Events Center in the month of November and 209-31 (.871) at home overall since the beginning of the 2002-03 season.
• Head coach Jamie Dixon, in his 13th season on the Pitt sidelines, is a four-time national coach of the year who has led the Panthers to six conference titles with 10 NCAA tournament appearances in his last 12 seasons.
• Dixon has posted a 309-111 record with one Elite Eight and three Sweet 16 appearances.

A WIN OVER PITTSBURGH WOULD ...
• make the Big Red 4-2 on the season.
• cut Pitt's lead in the all-time series to 11-6.
• be the first win over a team in the ACC on the road since defeating Wake Forest during the 1951-52 season, 58-51.
• be the first by the Big Red over the Panthers since a 110-72 victory on Feb. 1, 1967 at Barton Hall in Ithaca, N.Y.
• make the Big Red 39-134 against current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
• be the 1,228th in program history (1,227-1,371 in 117 seasons, .472).

CORNELL VS. THE ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE
• The Big Red is 38-134 against current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, including 5-11 against Pittsburgh.
• The Big Red has faced Boston College (0-3), Clemson (0-2), Duke (0-5), Georgia Tech (0-4), Maryland (0-2), Miami (FL) (0-1), North Carolina (0-3), North Carolina State (0-5), Notre Dame (1-8), Pittsburgh (5-11), Syracuse (31-89) and Wake Forest (1-1).
• Cornell has never faced Florida State, Virginia or Virginia Tech.
• This game is the second of three scheduled meetings between the Big Red and ACC teams this year.
• The Big Red dropped a 116-81 decision at Georgia Tech in the season opener.
• Cornell's last win over a team in the ACC at the time of the game came against Wake Forest during the 1951-52 season, a 58-51 victory on the road.
• Since then, the Big Red has lost 28 consecutive games to current members of the ACC by an average margin of 24.9 points per game.
• Only five of those 28 games have been decided by single digits.

LAST TIME VS. PITTSBURGH
• Pittsburgh rallied from a 13-point second half deficit to pull past the Big Red 80-72 on Dec. 21, 1992 at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse.
• Jeff Gaca scored 20 points to lead three Big Red scorers in double figures, with Pax Whitehead adding 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals, while Zeke Marshall had 14 points, nine rebounds and three steals.
• The Panthers outscored Cornell 48-32 after halftime, shot 62 percent from the floor and limited Cornell to 32 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.
• Pitt got 17 points and 10 rebounds from Eric Mobley, who hit 7-of-8 shots from the floor.
• Jerry McCullough (16 points, four rebounds, four steals), Antoine Jones (16 points, three assists, two blocks, two steals) and Garrick Thomas (13 points) also scored double digits.
• Cornell led until Jones hit a free throw with 5:52 remaining, then closed it out with a 7-0 spurt to push the advantage to eight less than two minutes later.
• The Big Red led 40-32 at halftime and scored the first five points of the second half to build the edge to 13 before Pitt's rally.

LAST TIME OUT
• In its annual matchup against a Division III program, Cornell men's basketball cruised to a 76-47 victory over Penn State Harrisburg at Newman Arena on Monday night.
• Junior Robert Hatter led the Big Red with 14 points and six assists, while classmate David Onuorah tied his career high with 15 rebounds and chipped in five blocked shots as Cornell improved to 3-2.
• Hatter led three double figure scorers with his 14 points and added four rebounds and two steals to his six assists.
• Matt Morgan, fresh off being named Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Monday, added 12 points, three rebounds, two rebounds and two steals for his fifth straight double figure scoring game to open his career.
• Darryl Smith hit for 10 points and Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof had nine points and four rebounds.
• Onuorah, who is now averaging 12.5 rebounds over his last four games, scored seven points and anchored a defense that limited its Division III foe to 30 percent shooting overall and 21 percent from 3-point range to go along with 19 turnovers.
• PSU-Harrisburg got 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals from Jourdon Wilson, but no other player scored more than five points.
• Gbolahan Alliyu had seven rebounds and three blocked shots in the loss, while Austin Ghimuma notched six points and two assists in just 13 minutes of action.
• Cornell outscored the smaller Nittany Lions 43-24 in the paint and 12-4 on second chance points despite PSU-Harrisburg outrebounding the Big Red 14-11 on the offensive boards.


 
MORGAN NAMED IVY LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
• Big Red freshman Matt Morgan was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Nov. 23 after helping Cornell to a 2-1 mark.
• Morgan averaged 17.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.0 assists in three contests, including wins at Colgate and at home against Binghamton.
• Morgan opened the week with 16 points in a double overtime victory at 2015 Patriot League runner-up Colgate, including scoring 12 points in the two extra sessions.
• He scored a career-high 24 points with four rebounds and two steals against Binghamton, hitting five 3-pointers.
• Morgan scored a team-high 12 points with two assists and a blocked shot at Canisius.
 
PLAYER NOTES TO KNOW
• Robert Hatter's 11 assists against Binghamton nearly doubled up his previous career high of six set against Western Michigan as a freshman.
• The last time a Cornell player had double figure assists in a game was when Devin Cherry had 10 against Brown in the 2013-14 campaign.
• Hatter has 26 assists this season and has already surpassed his total of 19 assists during the entire 2014-15 season when he played off the ball.
• 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).
• David Onuorah became the eighth player in school history to reach 75 career blocks with three in the win over Colgate and is now up to 84.
• Onuorah is averaging 12.8 rebounds over his last four games, including a career-high 15 wins over Binghamton and Penn State-Harrisburg.
• Onuorah is just the fourth Big Red player since 1977 to have consecutive games with at least 14 rebounds (Bernard Jackson in 1988-89; Greg Barratt in 2000-01 and Shonn Miller is 2012-13) after he had 14 at Colgate and 15 vs. Binghamton.
• Onuorah's 15-rebound games tie for 12th in a single game in school history.
• The junior center has shot at least 50 percent in all five games this season.
• Onuorah is averaging 4.5 blocks over his last two games after blocking four shots total in his first three contests of the year.
• After going scoreless in the opener against Georgia Tech, Darryl Smith has reached double figures in three of four games and has averaged 12.0 points over those four contests, including hitting 6-of-7 from 3-point range.
• Smith is shooting 86 percent from 3-point range (6-of-7) and 91 percent from the free-throw line (10-of-11) so far this season.
• Over his last three contests, Smith has made 12-of-16 shots from the floor (75 percent).
• 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.
• He is the first Big Red freshman to hit for double figures in each of his first five collegiate games since Adam Gore '09 during the 2005-06 campaign (most this century - Ka'Ron Barnes '04 with 7 in 2000-01).
• Morgan has hit at least one 3-pointer in each of his first five collegiate games.
• Junior forward Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof has also hit at least one 3-pointer in all five contests this season.
• In his last two games, rookie Joel Davis is averaging 6.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, a block and a steal in 15.5 minutes per contest.
• 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
• Since allowing Georgia Tech to score 116 points and being outrebound it 48-24 in the opener, the Big Red is limiting opponents to 72.8 ppg. on 39 percent shooting and has outrebounded opponents by 2.0 per game.
• Cornell has scored at least 76 points in regulation in four of five games this season, something the Big Red did just once all last year — that coming against Division III Alfred State.
• After shoot .427 from 3-point range and averaging 11.7 makes per game in its first three contests, Cornell has shot just 14-of-46 from beyond the arc over the last two (.304).
• Over its last four contests, the Big Red has averaged 6.5 blocks per game.
• Penn State-Harrisburg's .299 field goal percentage is the lowest by an opponent since Cornell upset eventual Ivy champion Harvard by limiting the Crimson to .254 shooting on Feb. 27, 2015.
• 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 when it scored 101 in a double overtime win at Colgate.
• The Big Red had last played a multiple overtime game in a 79-76 double overtime victory at home over Dartmouth during the 2008-09 campaign.
• 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.
• Cornell reached double figures in 3-point field goal makes in each of its first three games, the first time it had reached that mark three games in a row since it hit the mark four straight times in non-league matchups with Lehigh, Albany, Illinois and Penn State during the 2011-12 campaign.
• 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.
• 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 is playing as a graduate student at Connecticut in 2015-16 (12.7 ppg., 6.3 rpg., 1.3 bpg., 1.3 spg., 1.0 apg.), while Galal Cancer '15 (5.0 ppg., 3.7 apg., 3.0 rpg., 0.7 spg.) will suit up for Kent State. Both are starting.
• 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.
 
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 eight 3-pointers vs. Penn State-Harrisburg on Nov. 23, 2015 its 749th 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 795 of 799 games, connecting on 5,041 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
• The Big Red will visit Pittsburgh (Wednesday, Nov. 25) and UMass-Lowell (Saturday, Nov. 29) before returning home to meet Siena on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• Cornell will play a pair of home games before the final exam break, meeting Siena and reigning Patriot League champion Lafayette on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 2 p.m.