QUICK HITS
• The Cornell men's basketball team has an opportunity to give an early Christmas gift to itself when it welcomes mid-major darling Monmouth to Newman Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 23 at 6 p.m.
• The game will be broadcast live on the Ivy League Digital Network, as well as heard locally on 98.7 FM The Buzzer with Barry Leonard and Eric Taylor on the call.
• The Big Red will meet a Monmouth team that is receiving votes in the national polls thanks to its impressive 8-3 start and wins over teams from the ACC (Notre Dame), Big East (Georgetown), Big Ten (Rutgers) and Pac-12 (UCLA and USC), as well plenty of media attention for its bench theatrics.
• Both will be on display when Cornell meets a team ranked in the top 20 in the nation in the latest Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the first time Cornell has played a team that high in the RPI at home since a Georgia Tech team that eventually made it to the NCAA championship game visited Newman Arena on Nov. 23, 2003 (Georgia Tech won 90-69).
• After a 14 day break for final exams, Cornell finally got back to the court and held a second half lead at Syracuse before the Orange rolled late for a 67-46 victory.
• The Big Red is off to a 4-0 start at home, including two nice wins at Newman Arena prior to the two week exam break.
• Cornell had an impressive 81-80 victory over Siena on Dec. 1, rallying from 14 points down in the second half, then four days later handed defending Patriot League champion Lafayette a 75-57 loss.
• Junior guard Robert Hatter earned Ivy League Player of the Week on Dec. 7 after averaging 30.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.0 steals in the two wins while shooting 56 percent from the floor and 78 percent from both the free-throw line and the 3-point arc.
• 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.
• Against non-BCS opponents, Cornell is 5-2 while scoring 79.7 ppg. and shooting 46 percent from the floor and 36 percent from 3-point range.
• The Big Red is surrendering 74.0 ppg. on .413 shooting overall and .335 from 3-point range while blocking 4.6 shots and collecting 8.7 steals per contest in those seven games.
• The Big Red backcourt has been its strength, as Hatter (19.0 ppg., 4.5 apg., 3.3 rpg.) and freshman Matt Morgan (13.9 ppg., 3.3 rpg., 1.9 apg., 21 3-pointers) are the team's double figure scorers.
• Juniors Darryl Smith (9.6 ppg., 2.4 rpg.) and JoJo Fallas (3.9 ppg.) and freshman Troy Whiteside (4.6 ppg., 1.9 rpg.) have also made an impact in the backcourt.
• Junior center David Onuorah (6.3 ppg., 8.3 rpg., 1.6 bpg.) has been one of the most improved players in the Ivy League, while sophomores Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof and Wil Bathurst (9.4 ppg., 5.7 rpg., 1.6 apg., 1.1 spg., 0.9 bpg. combined) and freshmen Stone Gettings (3.0 ppg., 2.2 rpg.) and Joel Davis (3.3 ppg., 2.3 rpg.) have been frontcourt staples.
 • Cornell head coach Bill Courtney is in his sixth season at Cornell (55-100, .355; 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
• This will be the first-ever matchup between Cornell and Monmouth on the hardwood.
 
ABOUT MONMOUTH
• Monmouth brings an 8-3 record into the week with wins over schools from the Pac-12 (UCLA and USC), ACC (Notre Dame), Big Ten (Rutgers) and Big East (Georgetown) in its pocket.
• Sophomore guard Justin Robinson has played at an All-America level, averaging 19.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.4 steals per game.
• Also scoring in double figures is Micah Seaborn (13.2 ppg., 3.2 rpg., 2.3 apg.), while Deon Jones (9.1 ppg., 7.4 rpg., 1.1 bpg.), Je'lon Hornbeak (8.5 ppg., 3.5 rpg., 2.4 apg.) and Collin Stewart (8.4 ppg., 2.5 rpg.) are both averaging better than eight points per outing.
• As a team, the Hawks are shooting 80 percent from the free-throw line, with five players hitting better than 84 percent of their shots - led by Hornbeak at .971 (33-of-34).
• Defense has been Monmouth's calling card, allowing opponents to shoot just 39 percent from the floor and 30 percent from the 3-point line while forcing 13.4 turnovers per contest.
• Head coach King Rice, who played in a Final Four at North Carolina and graduated among the school's career assist leaders, is in his fifth season guiding the Hawks' program.

A WIN OVER MONMOUTH WOULD ...
• make the Big Red 6-5 on the year.
• extend Cornell's home win streak to five.
• give Cornell a 65-54 record all-time against current members of the MAAC.
• be the first-ever win over the Hawks.
• be the 1,230th in program history (1,229-1,374 in 117 seasons, .472).

CORNELL VS. THE METRO ATLANTIC ATHLETIC CONFERENCE
• Cornell is 64-54 all-time against current members of the MAAC, but will be playing its first-ever contest against Monmouth.
• The Big Red has also played Canisius (26-18), Fairfield (0-2), Iona (0-2), Manhattan (1-1), Marist (2-3), Niagara (27-20), Quinnipiac (2-2), Rider (3-0), Saint Peter's (0-3) and Siena (3-3).
• This is the third of four games Cornell is scheduled to play against MAAC schools this season. The Big Red lost at Canisius 87-62 on Nov. 21 and defeated Siena 81-80 at home on Dec. 1. Cornell will visit Saint Peter's on Dec. 28.

LAST TIME OUT
• Syracuse used a dominant effort on the backboards and an explosive second half run to quiet a Cornell upset bid, rallying from a second half deficit for a 67-46 victory on Dec. 19 at the Carrier Dome.
• Cornell took a 32-30 lead less than a minute into the second half with a quick 6-0 spurt, but Syracuse answered in a big way, holding Cornell scoreless over the next 4:11 during an 11-0 Orange run.
• SU methodically built the lead over the final 10 minutes thanks to its dominance on the glass, particularly on the offensive boards.
• The Orange held a 48-27 edge on the glass, including 17-9 on the offensive end, and scored 17 big second chance points.
• Robert Hatter had 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and four steals to lead the Big Red, but was the lone double figure scorer on the day for the visitors.
• Matt Morgan added nine points and Darryl Smith had seven points, four assists and two rebounds.
• Tyler Roberson had 15 points and 12 rebounds, eight on the offensive glass, while Malachi Richardson had 15 points and eight boards.
• Michael Gbinije scored 12 points with eight assists and seven rebounds and Trevor Cooney rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points.
• Tyler Lydon had nine points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots off the bench.
• As a team, the Orange had nine rejections.
 
PLAYER NOTES TO KNOW
• Robert Hatter has 45 assists this season and has already more than doubled his total of 19 assists during the entire 2014-15 season when he played off the ball.
• 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 before Hatter was when Devin Cherry had 10 against Brown in the 2013-14 campaign.
• 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).
• In his last four games, Hatter is 11-of-22 from 3-point range (50 percent).
• 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 89.
• In the five games that he has played at least 28 minutes, Onuorah is averaging 12.0 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game, while he is averaging 4.6 rebounds and doesn't have a block in the other five contests.
• Onuorah is averaging 8.9 rebounds over his last nine games, including a career-high 15 wins over Binghamton and Penn State-Harrisburg after averaging 3.6 per game entering the season.
• 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 eight of his 10 games this season.
• Onuorah is averaging 1.7 blocks over his last seven 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 five of his nine games and has averaged 10.7 points over that span, including hitting 8-of-15 from 3-point range (53 percent).
• Smith is shooting 53 percent from 3-point range (8-of-15) and 89 percent from the free-throw line (16-of-18) so far this season.
• Over his last five contests, Smith has made 32-of-49 shots from the floor (65 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 was 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 15 assists and six turnovers over his last six games, spanning 152 minutes of action.
• In his last three games, rookie Joel Davis is averaging 5.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 0.7 blocks in 15.3 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
• Cornell has scored at least 76 points in regulation in seven of 10 games this season, something the Big Red did just once all last year — that coming against Division III Alfred State.
• 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.
• In all, Cornell has hit double figure 3-pointers in five of its 10 games.
• 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 (6-3) in 2015-16 (11.8 ppg., 5.4 rpg., 1.2 bpg., 0.8 spg.), while Galal Cancer '15 (4.2 ppg., 2.7 rpg., 2.3 apg., 1.1 spg.) is suiting up for Kent State (7-2). 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 six 3-pointers at Syracuse on Dec. 19, 2015 its 754th 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 800 of 804 games, connecting on 5,080 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 visit Saint Peter's on Monday, Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. before kicking the 2016 portion of the slate at home against Albany on Saturday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. in Newman Arena.
• The Big Red will be looking for its first-ever win over the Peacocks, trailing the series 3-0.