STORYLINE:
• The Cornell men's basketball team will be challenged by the league's top two scoring offenses when Brown (Friday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m.) and defending Ivy League champion Yale (Saturday, Feb. 4 at 6 p.m.) visit Newman Arena this weekend.
• Barry Leonard and Eric Taylor '05 will provide the play-by-play locally on 96.3 FM The Buzzer, while live video of both games can be viewed on the Ivy League Digital Network.
• Cornell has won two of its last three conference games and will conclude its season-opening homestand (five of first six games at home).
• Sophomore Matt Morgan leads the Ivy League in scoring (18.1 ppg.) and 3-pointers (58), while ranking in the top 20 in minutes played (second, 33.1 mpg.), free-throw percentage (fifth, .855), 3-point percentage (12th, .384), assists (12th, 2.3 apg.) and rebounding (15th, 5.2 rpg.).
• Senior Robert Hatter became the 26th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau earlier this season and ranks second on the team in assists (2.5 apg.) and third in both scoring (11.7 ppg.) and rebounding (4.3 rpg.) while shooting 59 percent from inside the 3-point arc.
• Sophomore Stone Gettings continues to emerge as one of the top post players in the Ivy League and is averaging 12.4 ppg., 5.4 rpg. and 3.1 apg. while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range.
• Senior guard JoJo Fallas has started the last 18 games and ranks third on the team in 3-pointers (24), all the while posting a 2.27 assist:turnover ratio - the highest of any Cornellian who has played half the team's minutes in more than 35 years.
• Sophomore Troy Whiteside rounds out three sophomore starters has blossomed in his new role, shooting 64 percent (44-of-69) in his last 12 outings while averaging 9.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists over his last nine contests.
• Freshman Josh Warren has had a strong rookie campaign, averaging 5.8 ppg. and 4.3 rpg. while shooting 52 percent from the floor.
• Senior Darryl Smith (4.1 ppg., 2.7 rpg.), who ranks among the school's career leaders in field goal percentage, and junior Wil Bathurst (5.8 ppg., 3.5 rpg., 1.8 apg.) have both had explosive games, with Cornell going 2-1 since moving Bathurst into the starting lineup.
• Sophomore Jack Gordon (7.0 ppg., 2.4 rpg., 2.0 apg., 9-of-15 from 3-point range in last five contests) has earned his way into the rotation over the last several weeks.
• First-year head coach Brian Earl, one of the greatest players in Princeton basketball history, served as assistant and associate head coach at his alma mater and helped his program to a 143-69 overall mark, a 72-26 league mark and five postseason appearances since the 2009-10 season.
• Earl, the 1999 Ivy League Player of the year and a three-time Ivy champion, graduated with an Ivy League-record 281 3-pointers, a mark that stood until Cornell's Ryan Wittman '10 surpassed him in 2010, and closed his career ranked fifth all-time at Princeton with 1,428 points.
• In all, the Big Red returns better than 97 percent of its minutes, points, rebounds and assists from last season.
• Cornell enjoyed a 10-day foreign trip to Spain in August, going 3-0 and getting a chance to bond with its new coaching staff.
• A pair of sophomores played big roles during the team's trip to Spain, with Gettings (9.3 ppg., 4.3 rpg., 3.3 apg. in Spain) and Whiteside (7.0 ppg., 5.3 rpg.) showing that they likely will play more significant roles in the lineup in 2016-17.
• Cornell played outstanding defense throughout its three-game foreign tour, holding opponents to 61.3 ppg., while shooting 30 percent from the floor and 25 percent from the 3-point arc.

A WIN OVER BROWN WOULD:
• make Cornell 7-13 on the season and 3-2 in Ivy League play.
• be the second straight for the Big Red and making Cornell 3-1 in its last four contests.
• give Cornell a 76-50 lead in the all-time series, including a 19-6 record in the last 25 meetings.
• give the Big Red a 4-3 record in the 2017 calendar year.
• be the 1,241st in program history (1,240-1,399 in 117 seasons, .470).

ABOUT BROWN:
• Brown is 10-10 on the season and 1-3 in Ivy League play after dropping a pair of hotly-contested games with reigning conference champion Yale.
• Senior Steven Spieth is playing at an All-ivy level, ranking among the conference's leaders in scoring (16.3 ppg.), rebounding (6.2 rpg.), assists (3.8 apg.) and steals (1.5 spg.) while shooting 51 percent from the floor, 40 percent from 3-point range and 86 percent from the free-throw line.
• Spieth is posting 20.3 points in league contests while shooting 53 percent overall and 46 percent from beyond the arc.
• Tavon Blackmon (10.6 ppg., 3.9 apg., 1.2 spg.) is also scoring in double figures, with Obie Okolie (9.5 ppg., 3.8 rpg.) and Joshua Howard (9.1 ppg., 3.9 rpg.) not far behind.
• The Bears are 8-2 at home, but just 2-8 away from the Pizzitola Sports Center.
• Brown is forcing its foes into 16.6 turnovers per contest and easily paces the circuit in steals (8.2 spg.) and scoring (77.1 ppg.).
• Opponents are shooting 49 percent from the floor overall and 54 percent in league play, including 57 percent from two-point range.
• Fifth-year head coach Mike Martin has guided his alma mater to a 59-77 record and directed the 2013-14 team to a spot in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

THE CORNELL-BROWN SERIES:
• Cornell leads the series 75-50 dating back to the first meeting between the teams in the 1949-50 season.
• The Big Red is 18-6 in the last 24 contests against the Bears.
• Brown ended Cornell's 13-game win streak in the series in March of 2014 and has gone 4-2 since.

LAST TIME VS. BROWN:
• Matt Morgan and his teammates did all they could to send Robert Mischler out with a win in his final collegiate game, and the senior captain did his part too.
• Cornell used all the emotions of Senior Day to hold off Brown 75-71 on March 5, 2016 at Newman Arena.
• Morgan scored 25 points, becoming the first Ivy League freshman to reach the 500-point plateau for a season and added four rebounds, four assists, a block and a key late steal that sealed the victory.
• Darryl Smith, who broke a 52-year old single-season school record for shooting percentage (.649), added 13 points, four rebounds and two steals and Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof and JoJo Fallas each had eight points.
• Robert Hatter had a strong all-around floor game with seven points, seven assists, four rebounds, three steals and just two turnovers.
• But it was the six points, one rebound and one steal in Mischler's second career start that got Cornell's competitive juices flowing, especially after a slow start that saw the home team fall behind 9-0 less than four minutes into the contest.
• It was Mischler's 3-pointer that got the Big Red on the board and breathed life into a team that would collect nine steals, block six shots and limit its turnovers (eight) while hitting half its shots from beyond the arc (9-of-18).
• Brown placed all five starters in double figures with Cedric Kuakumensah scoring 21 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking three shots.



ABOUT YALE:
• Defending Ivy League champion Yale enters Friday night's game at Columbia with a 3-1 conference mark and 11-6 overall having won five of its last six contests.
• Six players are averaging between 9.8 and 13.1 ppg., with Alex Copeland leading the way at 13.1 ppg. on 50 percent shooting.
• Miye Oni (12.4 ppg., 7.1 rpg., 2.4 apg., 1.2 bpg.), Sam Downey (12.2 ppg., 6.5 rpg.), Anthony Dallier (10.4 ppg., 4.5 apg., 3.8 rpg.), Jordan Bruner (10.1 ppg., 6.3 rpg., 2.6 bpg.) and Blake Reynolds (9.8 ppg., 5.1 rpg., 2.1 apg., 1.0 spg.) are at or near double figures.
• The Bulldogs control the glass (38.1-33.4 rebound advantage) and are limiting opponents to 31 percent shooting from 3-point range.
• Yale paces the league in field goal percentage (.469), 3-point percentage defense (.310), rebounding margin (+4.7) and assists (16.5 apg.) and is second in the league in scoring offense (75.2 ppg.), scoring margin (+7.1), field goal percentage defense (.410), blocked shots (4.5 bpg.) and 3-point field goal percentage (.379).
• Head coach James Jones, the dean of Ivy League coaches, has won three conference titles in his 18 seasons directing the Bulldogs with a 265-245 record (144-98 Ivy League).

THE CORNELL-YALE SERIES:
• The series is tied 110-110 overall in a series that dates back to the 1898-99 campaign.
• The two teams have played the last 11 seasons much the way they have the entire series - right down the middle at 11-11.
• Yale, though, has had the better recently, winning eight of the last nine meetings between the squads.

LAST TIME VS. YALE:
• Yale's balanced offense and blazing shooting in the second half allowed the Bulldogs to top Cornell 88-64 on March 4, 2016 at Newman Arena.
• The Bulldogs clinched a share of its second straight Ivy title coupled with Harvard's 73-71 win over Princeton, while the Big Red dropped its ninth straight.
• The visitors shot 54 percent from the floor for the night and placed six in double figures.
• Yale won its 16th game in 17 starts by hitting 11-of-23 treys and shooting 69 percent after halftime after entering the break with an 18-point lead.
• Six Bulldogs scored in double figures, not including reigning Player of the Year Justin Sears (five points, 10 rebounds, four assists).
• Brandon Sherrod hit all six of his field goals on the way to a game-high 18 points, with Khaliq Ghani and Makai Mason chipping in 12 points apiece.
• Anthony Dallier had 11 and both Alex Copeland and Sam Downey scored 10.
• Matt Morgan had 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Big Red, while Darryl Smith hit all five of his field goals en route to 11 points.
• Cornell shot 43 percent from the floor as a team, but connected on just 3-of-18 3-pointers on the night and was outrebounded 39-26.
• Robert Hatter chipped in nine points, as did senior Robert Mischler.



LAST TIME OUT:
• Sophomore Matt Morgan led four double figure scorers with 22 points and Cornell evened its Ivy record with a 75-62 victory over Dartmouth on Jan. 28 at Newman Arena.
• Morgan added a team-high seven rebounds to the cause, matching classmate Stone Gettings' total.
• Gettings added 15 points and four assists.
• Junior Wil Bathurst notched 16 points, four rebounds and three assists, while sophomore Troy Whiteside had 11 points and six boards.
• Senior Darryl Smith had four points and five rebounds off the bench.
• Cornell shot 46 percent from the floor and limited the Big Green to 41 percent shooting overall and just 4-of-21 from the 3-point arc.
• Dartmouth's Evan Boudreaux had 23 points and 14 rebounds to lead Dartmouth, but was the lone double figure scorer.
• Guilien Smith had nine points, both Brendan Barry and Taylor Johnson scored six and Miles Wright scored seven to go along with his six rebounds.
• The Big Green shot 48 percent in the second half after hitting on just 32 percent of its shots in the first 20 minutes.



PLAYER NOTES TO KNOW:
• Sophomore Matt Morgan, a four-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week, averaged 22.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.3 blocks while shooting 43/34/81 in Ivy League play last season.
• Morgan's 34 points in the win over Northeastern tied a Cornell record at Newman Arena, matching a 34-point effort by Nolan Cressler in an overtime loss to Brown in 2014 (record is Brown's Jason Forte with 36 points during the 2004-05 season.
• He has hit at least one 3-pointer in 19 consecutive games (dating back to last season), the eight-longest streak in school history.
• Morgan is averaging 3.7 made 3-point field goals per game over his last 12 contests.
• The sophomore has reached double figures in scoring in 34 of his last 35 games.
• Morgan is averaging 5.2 rebounds per game -  mark that if maintained would be the most by a Cornell guard over a full season since Gerry Newby '73 averaged 5.3 rpg. as a senior in 1972-73.
• Sophomore Stone Gettings has already set career highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots, field goals, 3-point field goals and free throws.
• Gettings has 15 double figure scoring efforts after hitting that mark just once as a freshman.
• Getting's eight assists at Lafayette and at home against Columbia are the most by a non-guard since Adam Wire had eight at Albany in the 2010-11 season at Albany.
• His 12 points, eight rebounds and eight assists made Gettings just the fourth player to have at least 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in the same game (Zeke Marshall vs. Cortland in 1993, 12-10-8; Louis Dale vs. Toledo in 2009, 14-9-9; Chris Wroblewski vs. Yale in 2012, 18-8-10).
• Sophomore Troy Whiteside is shooting .638 (44-of-69) from the floor over his last 12 games, averaging 8.9 points over that span.
• Senior JoJo Fallas has 34 assists and 15 turnovers so far this season, and his 2.27 assist:turnover ratio would rank first all-time among Cornell players who saw half the team's minutes in a season.
• Fallas has 32 assists and just 10 turnovers over his last 13 games (311 minutes).
• After shooting .423 from the field over his first two seasons (83-of-196), senior Darryl Smith is shooting .617 (124-of-201) over the last two years.
• Junior Wil Bathurst is just the second player since 1978 to post a line score of at least 14-5-7 off the bench for the Big Red when he did so against Fisher (Mass.) - Chris Wroblewski posted 21-5-12 in a 2010 win over Wofford.
• Senior JoJo Fallas competed for Team USA at the 14th European Maccabi Games in Berlin, Germany from July 27-August 5, 2015. 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 his 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.
• Fifth-year 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 returns better than 97 percent of its minutes, points, rebounds and assists from last season.

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW:
• Cornell has posted four of the school's top 11 single game 3-point field goal contests, including games of 16 against both Troy and Fisher (Mass.) (No. 3 all-time).
• Over its last six home games, Cornell is averaging 82.8 points on 50 percent shooting with 65 3-pointers and 126 assists on 181 baskets (70 percent of its field goals).
• For the season, the Big Red is scoring 80.0 points on 49 percent shooting at home and averaging 18.9 assists per game (vs. 66.2 ppg., 41 percent shooting and 13.9 apg. in true road games).
• The Big Red has a positive assist:turnover ratio (301 assists, 274 turnovers) for the first time since posting a positive mark (380:377) in 2011-12 and is +37 over its last 12 games (217:180).
• The Big Red has had at least three double figure scorers in 17 of the season's first 19 contests.
• Brian Earl and his brother Dan (VMI) one of five active sets of brothers directing Division I programs, joining Scott (Baylor) and Bryce (Vanderbilt) Drew; Bobby (Arizona State) and Danny (Rhode Island) Hurley; Joe (Yale) and James (Boston University) Jones; and Sean (Arizona) and Archie (Dayton) Miller.
• Fourth-year assistant coach Jon Jaques was a starter and senior captain on the 2009-10 Cornell team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.
• Members of the Cornell basketball team represent nine states and one Canadian province.
• Cornell has played in 47 different states, as well as in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Australia, France and Spain. The only states the Big Red has not played in are Alaska, North Dakota and Mississippi after crossing Wyoming off the list late last week.
• This year's schedule features 17 games away from home and more than 12,700 miles of travel —more than halfway around the earth (circumference of 24,901 miles).
• Including the Big Red's August trip to Spain and Cornell basketball will log more than 21,000 miles of travel in just eight months.
• You could travel back and forth between New York City and Los Angeles three times and still have enough mileage left over to cycle to entire Tour de France course – twice.
• Cornell hit 233 3-pointers as a team last season, good for fourth in a single season — nine of the last 10 seasons rank in the top 10.

#IVYMADNESS:
• The inaugural Ivy League men's and women's basketball tournaments will take place Saturday and Sunday, March 11-12, 2017, at the Palestra in Philadelphia.
• The top four teams will earn berths to the tournament, with the semifinals on Saturday and the championships on Sunday.
• All six games will be broadcast live on ESPN's networks.
• For more information, visit www.IvyMadness.com.

NEXT UP:
• The Big Red hits the road for the always treacherous Princeton-Penn road trip.
• Cornell visits Princeton on Friday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. on ESPN3, then heads to Penn on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. on the American Sports Network.