QUICK HITS
• The Cornell men's basketball team, with one of the youngest rosters in the country, continued to show its growth by getting back into the Ivy League race and will face two big road challenges when it visits Brown and Yale this weekend.
• The Big Red will tip off with Brown on Friday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. from the Pizzitola Sports Center in a game that will be broadcast on the Ivy League Digital Network, then heads to Ivy leader Yale on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. from John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn. in a game that will be simulcast on ILDN and ESPN3.
• Cornell is coming off its first Ivy weekend sweep since topping Yale (68-61) and Brown (69-66) in February of 2013 and its first road sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth since the 2009-10 campaign.
• The Big Red rallied in the second half of both wins, coming back from deficits in the final five minutes for the win.
• Cornell trailed the Crimson by two points with 3:38 left before ending the game on a 13-0 run over that span (Morgan with six points) and was behind by nine with 3:43 left against the Big Green before posting a 16-3 run to end the game (Morgan with nine points).
• Barry Leonard will be on the call on 98.7 FM The Buzzer, while the games will be broadcast live on the Ivy League Digital Network.
• 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 9-6 while scoring 75.9 ppg. and shooting 44 percent from the floor and 34 percent from 3-point range.
• The Big Red is surrendering 73.7 ppg. on .412 shooting overall and .339 from 3-point range while blocking 4.5 shots and collecting 8.5 steals per contest in those 15 games.
• Among its non-BCS opponents, only two teams have shot better than 46 percent from the floor, with two posting fewer than 15 turnovers against the Big Red.
• The Big Red backcourt has been its strength, as junior Robert Hatter (19.9 ppg., 4.1 apg., 3.4 rpg., 1.4 spg.) and freshman Matt Morgan (18.5 ppg., 3.2 rpg., 1.9 apg., 1.5 spg.) are the league's top two leading scorers.
• Hatter, the Ivy League's leading scorer, was averaging 23.3 points over his last seven games before missing the first four conference games of the season and ranks among the conference's top 10 in assists (second, 4.1), steals (fourth, 1.4) and 3-pointers made (ninth, 1.9).
• Morgan, a four-time Ivy Rookie of the Week and one-time Ivy Player of the Week, is averaging 30.0 points in four games without Hatter and is posting 18.5 points per night, the fourth-highest scoring freshman in the country (59th overall).
• At 18.5 ppg., Morgan is posting the highest scoring average for an Ivy rookie in history (current leader Earl Hunt of Brown at 17.0 ppg. in 1999-2000).
• Juniors Darryl Smith (9.2 ppg., 3.0 rpg.) and JoJo Fallas (4.8 ppg.) and freshman Troy Whiteside (5.6 ppg., 2.1 rpg.) have also made an impact in the backcourt.
• Smith is shooting 65 percent from the floor for the season and has hit 22-of-27 field goals over his last six games (.815). He would rank eighth nationally in field goal percentage with enough attempts (would be only player 6-3 or shorter in the top 65).
• Junior center David Onuorah (5.7 ppg., 7.4 rpg., 1.6 bpg.) has been one of the most improved players in the Ivy League, while sophomores Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof (4.0 ppg., 3.6 rpg.) and Wil Bathurst (5.1 ppg., 2.7 rpg.) and freshmen Stone Gettings (2.3 ppg., 2.2 rpg.) and Joel Davis (2.9 ppg., 2.0 rpg.) have been frontcourt staples.
 • Cornell head coach Bill Courtney is in his sixth season at Cornell (59-104, .362; 26-48 Ivy, .351).
• Courtney became the fifth Robert E. Gallagher '44 Coach of Men's Basketball at Cornell on April 23, 2010.

ABOUT BROWN
• Brown enters the weekend with a 6-12 overall record (1-3 Ivy), including 5-4 at home at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
• The Bears have been led by senior Cedric Kuakumensah, the Ivy League's all-time leader in blocked shots (286), who is averaging 13.7 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per night.
• Tavon Blackman (12.4 ppg., 5.3 apg., 2.1 rpg., 1.3 spg.) and Steven Spieth (10.8 ppg., 7.5 rpg., 3.6 apg.) are also averaging double figures, while JR Hobbie (9.3 ppg.) isn't far behind.
• The Bears are scoring 73.8 points per game and shooting 35 percent from beyond the arc while hitting 8.3 3-pointers per game.
• Brown is surrendering 83.3 points per game and 48 percent shooting in Ivy League games.
• Fourth-year head coach Mike Martin has guided his alma mater to a 47-59 record and directed the 2013-14 team to a spot in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

A WIN OVER BROWN WOULD ...
• make Cornell 10-9 on the season, including 6-6 in road contests (5-1 in its last six road games).
• push its Ivy League record to 3-2 on the season.
• be the 75th for the Big Red in the series against the Bears (Cornell leads 74-49).
• be the 1,234th in program history (1,233-1,378 in 117 seasons, .472).

THE SERIES
• Cornell leads the series 74-49, dating back to the first meeting between the teams in the 1949-50 season.
• The Big Red is 17-5 in the last 22 contests against the Bears.
• Brown ended Cornell's 13-game win streak in the series in March of 2014 and has won three of four since.
 • Brown led for all of 32 seconds in a game controlled by the Big Red throughout, but it was the last 1.8 seconds that mattered the most as the Bears rallied past Cornell 57-56 on Feb. 21, 2015 at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
• Brown rallied from a 17-point second half deficit to take its first and only lead on a circus shot by Cedric Kuakumensah with 1.8 seconds left.
• His off-balanced runner in the lane hit every part of the rim before dropping in for the game-winner.
• He ended the night with 11 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots to overcome a dominant 27point, eight-rebound effort from Cornell's Shonn Miller.
• Miller hit 10-of-17 shots from the floor, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range, and added the eight rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal.
• With his effort, he moved within 18 points of becoming the school's 25th 1,000-point scorer.
• Senior Galal Cancer had 13 points and sophomore David Onuorah had three of Cornell's four blocked shots, helping Cornell establish a new single-season record for swats with 129.
• Tavon Blackmon had 17 points to lead four Brown double figure scorers, with JR Hobbie scoring 12 and both Steven Spieth and Kuakumensah notching 11.
• Rafael Maia had 11 rebounds for the Bears, who held a 36-28 edge on the backboards.



ABOUT YALE
• Yale enters Friday night's game with fellow Ivy unbeaten Columbia with a 13-5 overall record and an eight-game win streak in tow.
• The Bulldogs are a perfect 8-0 at home this season, winning its games by an average of 21.8 points per contest.
• Makai Mason (15.7 ppg., 4.1 apg., 2.7 rpg.,), Justin Sears (15.4 ppg., 6.7 rpg., 3.0 apg., 1.6 bpg.) and Brandon Sherrod (11.3 ppg.,  7.6 rpg., 1.2 apg.) are all scoring in double figures, while Jack Montague (9.4 ppg., 2.7 apg., 2.5 rpg., 1.2 spg.) isn't far behind.
• Sherrod, who missed last season's Ivy League title, enters the weekend having hit 25 consecutive shots - just on shy of the NCAA record.
• Yale is limiting opponents to 40 percent shooting and 32 percent from beyond the arc while pounding teams on the backboards (+11.2 per game).
• Offensively, Yale shoots 47 percent from the floor and 53 percent in Ivy play.
• Head coach James Jones, the dean of Ivy League coaches, has won two conference titles in his 17 seasons directing the Bulldogs with a 244-237 record (132-96 Ivy League).

THE SERIES
• Cornell leads 110-108 overall in a series that dates back to the 1898-99 campaign.
• Cornell has had the best of the series recently, winning 11 of the last 20 meetings.
• Yale has won six of the last seven meetings between the teams and four of the last five in New Haven, Conn.
 • Senior Galal Cancer tied his career high with 19 points and classmate Devin Cherry added 17, but Yale's dominance on the glass led the first-place Bulldogs to a 62-51 win on Feb. 20. 2015 at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
• Yale held a dominant 46-26 edge on the backboards and limited the Big Red to 32 percent shooting, never allowing Cornell into the game after pulling away midway through the first half.
• Cancer hit 6-of-9 shots from the floor and added three rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal, while Cherry added seven rebounds and two assists.
• Senior Shonn Miller had nine points, seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal despite being limited to 20 minutes while saddled with foul trouble.
• Javier Duren had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists to lead three double figure scorers.
• The other two, Justin Sears (12 points, 12 rebounds) and Armani Cotton (10 points, 11 rebounds), each recorded double-doubles.



LAST TIME OUT
• Trailing by nine at the final media timeout, Cornell went on a 16-3 run to end the game and sweep the New England road trip for the first time since 2010 after a 77-73 victory over Dartmouth on Jan. 30 at Leede Arena.
• For the second straight night, freshman Matt Morgan posted a 30 point game, ending the night with 32 to go along with two blocks and a rebound.
• He finished 17-of-23 from the free-throw line, the third-most attempted in a game in school history and the fourth-most made.
• Morgan became the first Big Red freshman to score 30 points twice in a season and the first Big Red player to score at least 32 points in consecutive games ever.
• Junior Darryl Smith added 13 points, four rebounds and three assists and classmate JoJo Fallas had nine points and two steals.
• Freshman Troy Whiteside had eight points, David Onuorah (seven) and Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof (six) combined for 13 rebounds and three steals and the Big Red overcame 25 percent shooting from the floor after halftime.
• Cornell's never say die attitude was personified by senior captain Robert Mischler, who hit a pair of first half 3-pointers, including one at the buzzer to send the visitors into the break up six.
• Dartmouth freshman Evan Boudreaux had 24 points and 16 rebounds and Connor Boehm hit 8-of-10 shots on his way to 22 points.
• The Big Green outrebounded the Big Red 39-30 and overcame the halftime deficit to take a 12-point second half lead before watching Cornell rally late.



PLAYER NOTES TO KNOW
• Freshman Matt Morgan's 29 points against Columbia are the most by a Big Red player in an Ivy opener and the most by a Cornell freshman in an Ivy League debut.
• His 33-point night at Harvard bested the school's freshman single-game scoring record.
• Over his last seven contests, Morgan is averaging 25.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals while connecting on 26-of-69 3-pointers.
• 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 29 assists and 21 turnovers over his last 13 games, spanning 385 minutes of action.
• Over his last seven contests before his injury, junior Robert Hatter was averaging 23.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game while hitting 16 3-pointers.
• Hatter has 57 assists this season and has tripled 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).
• Darryl Smith had a span of 14 consecutive field goals to start Ivy League play and has connected on 59-of-89 shots (.663) in his last 12 games.
• After going scoreless in the opener against Georgia Tech, Smith has reached double figures in 10 of his 17 games and has averaged 9.8 points over that span, including hitting 12-of-21 from 3-point range (57 percent).
• David Onuorah became the sixth player in school history to reach 100 career blocks with one in the win at Howard and now has 102 for his career.
• In the seven games that he has played at least 28 minutes, Onuorah is averaging 10.4 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game, while he is averaging 5.5 rebounds and has seven total blocks in the other 11 contests.
• 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 12 of his 16 games this season.
• 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 sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth on the road was the first for a Big Red team since knocking off Brown and Yale during the 2012-13 campaign.
• Over the team's last 11 contests, the Big Red is averaging 9.1 steals per contest.
• Cornell is averaging 4.5 blocks over its last eight games.
• The Big Red has forced 199 turnovers (16.6 per game) over its last 12 games.
• Cornell has scored at least 76 points in regulation in 10 of its 18 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 10 of its 18 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 (15-6) in 2015-16 (13.3 ppg., 5.8 rpg., 1.1 bpg., 1.0 spg.), while Galal Cancer '15 (3.8 ppg., 2.2 rpg., 1.5 apg., 0.9 spg.) is suiting up for Kent State (14-5). Miller has started every game for UConn, while Cancer has been in the Golden Flashes' lineup in 11 of its 21 contests.
• 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's eight freshman is the second-most of any Division I program (Bradley - 10).

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 seven 3-pointers at Dartmouth on Jan. 30, 2016, its 762nd 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 808 of 812 games, connecting on 5,145 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 begin a four-game home stand at Newman Arena when Princeton visits Ithaca on Friday, Feb. 12 at 6 p.m.
• The game will be broadcast on the American Sports Network and simulcast on the Ivy League Digital Network.
• The Tigers lead the all-time series 142-80, though Cornell leads 12-10 over the last 11 years.