Niagara (6-6, 0-0 MAAC) at Cornell (5-4, 0-0 Ivy)
December 23, 2017 • 1:00 pm
Ivy League Network (Barry Leonard, Eric Taylor '06)
Ithaca, N.Y. • Newman Arena (4,473)
QUICK HITS
• Cornell will attempt to give Newman Nation an early holiday gift when it welcomes Niagara to Newman Arena on Saturday, Dec. 23 at 1 p.m.
• The game will be broadcast on The Ivy League Network with Barry Leonard and Eric Taylor '06 on the call.
• The Big Red will attempt to start 4-0 at home for just the fourth time this century (2007-08, 2008-09 and 2015-16) and extend its recent success to 5-1 in its last six contests when it meets the high-flying Purple Eagles.
• Since Cornell last met Niagara in January 1993, the Big Red has played 17 of the other 20 Division I programs in New York (as well as non-Division I schools Alfred State, Clarkson, Cortland, Elmira, Hobart, Ithaca, Keuka, Old Wetbury and Skidmore in the Empire State). The only programs in the state with longer stretches since meeting the Big Red are Fordham (1979-80), LIU Brooklyn (1971-72) and Manhattan (1970-71)
• Junior
Matt Morgan has been one of the hottest scorers in college basketball, averaging 24.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists over his past eight games, including claiming Ivy League Player of the Week Honors twice.
• Morgan has reached double figures in 32 consecutive games, tied for the ninth-longest active streak by a Division I player in the country entering the week.
• The 32 consecutive double figure scoring games is tied for the second-best in Cornell history with Ryan Wittman (2009-10), behind only John Sheehy's 34 straight (1953-55).
• He is the only player in school history to put together two streaks of at least 20 consecutive games scoring in double figures (also a 21-game streak from 2015-16).
• Now averaging 23.4 points per game, Morgan's scoring average would be the highest ever by a Cornell player in maintained (Chuck Rolles '56 averaged 23.0 points in 1955-56).
• Morgan is the first Big Red player to post eight consecutive 20-point games.
• The junior has hit multiple 3-point shots in 14 consecutive games dating back to last season and has connected on at least one trey in 19 straight.
• After missing much of the preseason due to injury, junior
Stone Gettings is averaging 12.2 ppg., 4.9 rpg. and 2.0 apg. in just 20.3 minutes per contest.
• In his last six games, spanning 128 minutes, Gettings has scored 79 points, grabbed 29 rebounds, dished 17 assists and collected four steals and three blocks.
• Junior forward Steven Julian paces the Ancient Eight in rebounding (7.3 rpg.) and ranks among the circuit's top 10 in steals (1.3 spg.) and blocked shots (1.7 bpg.).
• Julian has at least five rebounds in all nine of his games with the Big Red and has led the team in that category seven times.
• Since inserting junior
Jack Gordon into the lineup six games ago (4-2), Cornell's offense has averaged 75.2 points per game while shooting .499 from the floor (170-of-341).
• The game will feature two of the nation's top 10 scorers, as Niagara's Matt Scott is tied for third at 24.0 ppg., and Cornell's
Matt Morgan not far behind in eighth at 23.4 ppg.
• Purple Eagles guard Kahlil Dukes isn't far behind that duo at 21.4 ppg., making the Niagara senior guards the highest scoring duo in the country (45.4 ppg.).
HEAD COACH BRIAN EARL
•
Brian Earl is in his second season as the Robert E. Gallagher '44 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Basketball (13-25, .342; 4-10 Ivy, .286).
• He became Cornell's 22nd head coach in April of 2016.
• Earl helped his alma mater, Princeton, return to national prominence during nine seasons as an assistant and associate head coach.
• The Tigers had posted a 143-69 overall record and a 72-26 record in Ancient Eight games since 2009-10, never finishing lower than third place and winning 20 or more games five times.
• His Ivy League peers voted him as the league's top assistant coach in a November 2010 FoxSports.com poll, earning the recognition prior to a 2011 season in which Princeton won the Ivy League title and returned to the NCAA Tournament.
CORNELL-NIAGARA SERIES
Overall: Cornell leads 27-20, first meeting in 1908-09
In Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell leads 24-11
Current Streak: Niagara, 2
Last Meeting: Niagara, 80-66 (1/9/1993 in Niagara Falls, N.Y.)
Earl vs. Niagara: First meeting
Series Notes: The Purple Eagles have won two straight and four of the last five meetings • after the first meeting between the programs on Christmas Eve 1908, the Big Red hosted the Purple Eagles 13 consecutive times in Ithaca before heading back to Niagara Falll in 1929, followed by 14 more contests on the Cornell campus • Cornell is 66-57 all-time against current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, including 59-48 against its New York schools (Canisius, Iona, Manhattan, Marist, Niagara and Siena)
LAST TIME OUT
• The junior class combined for 64 of Cornell's 80 points and the Big Red won its second straight game with an 80-71 triumph over Lafayette on Wednesday evening at Newman Arena.
• Junior
Matt Morgan scored a game-high 26 points, his school-record eighth consecutive game of at least 20 points, to move from 15th all the way to 12th on Cornell's career points list (1,226).
• He made 11 of 19 shots on the evening, including 9-of-10 from inside the arc.
• Junior
Joel Davis had a career-high 14 points, including a monster second half dunk, and classmates
Stone Gettings (13 points, nine rebounds) and
Jack Gordon (11 points, six assists) rounded out four double figure scorers.
• Junior Steven Julian didn't score, but collected eight rebounds, blocked three shots and was credited with two steals.
• Freshman Terrance McBride also had a career scoring high with seven points, all coming in the first half, and Josh Warren chipped in four points and six rebounds.
• Matt Klinewski had 21 points to lead the Leopards, with Kyle Stout adding 17 points and eight rebounds and Alex Petrie netting 12 off the bench.
• The Leopards hit 10 3-pointers, including four apiece for Klinewski and Stout.
LAST TIME VS. NIAGARA
• Behind double-doubles from Rob Robinson (22 points, 13 rebounds) and Brian Clifford (22 points, 10 rebounds), Niagara improved to 8-1 on the season with an 80-66 victory over Cornell on Jan. 9, 1993 at the Niagara Falls Convention Center.
• Pax Whitehead had 17 points off the bench and Zeke Marshall chipped in 15.
• The Purple Eagles ran out to a 45-28 halftime lead and cruised, shooting 51 percent from the floor for the game.
NOTES TO KNOW
• After turning the ball over 23 times in a loss at Northeastern on Dec. 2, the Big Red has piled up 33 assists with just 14 turnovers in two games since.
• Cornell's 4-1 stretch is its best five-game since also winning four of five contests in January of 2015.
 • Four of Cornell's five wins have come by single digits and the fifth came by 10 points.
•
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.
• Fifth-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 10 states and the District of Columbia.
• 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 last year.
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 810 consecutive games dating back to a contest 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, the Big Red has hit at least one shot behind the arc in 856 of 860 games (5,536 3-pointers over that span).
• The Big Red returns 72 percent of its scoring, 74 percent of its rebounding and 71 percent of its assists from last season — one of just 16 Division I teams nationwide to bring back 70 percent of its scoring, rebounding and assists from 2016-17.
• Dating back to the first overtime game against Penn way back in 1922, Cornell is 40-49 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 29-19 in home overtime games, 2-2 in neutral contests and 10-27 in road games.
• The Big Red ranks among the best according to the annual NCAA Division I Academic Progress Report (APR) for 2015-16 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. Cornell has been recognized nine times in the 12 years since the APR began, including seven consecutive.
NEXT UP
• After a short holiday break, Cornell returns to action on Thursday, Dec. 28 when it visits Delaware at 2 p.m., then heads to Auburn on Saturday, Dec. 30 for a 3:30 p.m. matchup.
• The Big Red is 1-1 all-time against Delaware, winning at home in 2010-11 and falling on the road in 2011-12.
• It will be the first-ever meeting against Auburn on the hardwood.
Â
