STORYLINE:
• The Cornell men's basketball team just a game out of fourth place in the Ivy League standings and a bid to the inaugural conference tournament look to make a final push and celebrate the senior who have helped get them there when Penn (Friday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.) and Princeton (Saturday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m.) visit Newman Arena for the Big Red's final home weekend.
• Live video of both contests will be available on the Ivy League Digital Network, with Saturday's game being televised on ESPN3.
• Barry Leonard and Eric Taylor '05 will provide the call on ILDN and locally on 98.7 FM The Buzzer.
• Sophomore Matt Morgan leads the Ivy League in scoring (17.6 ppg.) and 3-pointers (68), while ranking in the top 20 in minutes played (fourth, 32.4 mpg.), free-throw percentage (sixth, .851), assists (13th, 2.2 apg.) and rebounding (18th, 4.7 rpg.).
• Senior Robert Hatter became the 26th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau earlier this season and ranks third on the team in scoring (11.7 ppg.), assists (1.9 apg.) and rebounding (4.0 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 12.8 ppg., 5.8 rpg. and 3.1 apg. while shooting 38 percent from 3-point range.
• Sophomore Troy Whiteside rounds out three sophomore starters has blossomed in his new role, shooting 56 percent (60-of-107) in his last 18 outings.
• Freshman Josh Warren has had a strong rookie campaign (6.0 ppg. and 4.0 rpg.) and has started the last two contests.
• Senior JoJo Fallas (3.9 ppg., 26 3-pointers, 40:23 assist:turnover ratio) has started 22 games while providing steady leadership, junior Wil Bathurst (6.0 ppg., 3.7 rpg., 1.7 apg.) has had a number of explosive games and sophomore Jack Gordon (4.6 ppg., 2.4 rpg., 1.8 apg., 11-of-23 from 3-point range in Ivy League contests) has earned his way into the rotation over the last several weeks.

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD:
• make Cornell 8-18 on the season and 4-7 in Ivy League play.
• tie Cornell and Penn in the Ivy League standings in fourth or fifth place (depending on Columbia's result with Princeton on Friday evening).
• salvage a split in the season series with the Quakers.
• snap an eight-game skid against Penn.
• cut the Quakers' lead in the all-time series to 153-75.
• be the 1,242nd in program history (1,241-1,404 in 117 seasons, .469).

ABOUT PENN:
• The Quakers enter the weekend 11-12 overall and tied for fourth place with a 4-6 Ivy League record after four consecutive victories.
• Penn has won those four games by an average of 16.8 points, including a win over the Big Red at the Palestra (82-63) and road triumphs at Brown (96-72) and Yale (71-55).
• Out of conference, Penn earned wins over UCF, Drexel and La Salle.
• Freshman AJ Brodeur ranks among the league's scoring leaders at 14.0 ppg. to go along with 6.8 rpg., 2.1 apg., 2.7 bpg. and 0.9 spg., while Matt Howard is averaging 11.8 ppg., 6.7 rpg., 1.5 apg. and 1.1 spg. and rookie Ryan Betley is posting 10.3 ppg., 3.0 rpd. and 1.0 spg.
• Six other players are averaging at least 4.0 points per contest, including Darnell Foreman (8.5 ppg., 3.7 rpg., 3.1 apg.).
• Penn is limiting opponents to 41 percent shooting overall and is forcing 13.4 turnovers per night.
• Former Big Red coach Steve Donahue, who won 146 games and led Cornell to three Ivy championships and the 2010 NCAA Sweet 16, sports a 222-242 record in 16 seasons as a head coach.

THE CORNELL-PENN SERIES:
• Penn leads 153-74 overall in a series that dates back to the 1903-04 campaign.
• Penn has won eight straight and 10 of the last 11 meetings between the programs after a stretch of seven Big Red wins in eight games.
• Penn swept the season series last year, including a 79-67 Quaker win last season at the Palestra after a 92-84 victory in Newman Arena earlier in the year.

LAST TIME VS. PENN:
• The Cornell men's basketball team dug itself a hole it couldn't shovel out of, dropping an 82-63 decision to Penn on Feb. 12 at the Palestra.
• Senior Robert Hatter had a game-high 22 points and sophomore Stone Gettings had 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists, but 22 turnovers overall and 22 percent shooting in the first half doomed the visitors, who trailed 42-14 at halftime.
• The Big Red came alive in the second half, shooting 52 percent and scoring 49 points, but it wasn't enough.
• Sophomore Matt Morgan scored 12 second half points and junior Wil Bathurst chipped in a career-best nine rebounds in the loss.
• Penn got great balance, with the freshman tandem of AJ Brodeur (15 points, four rebounds, five blocked shots, three assists and three steals) and Ryan Betley (22 points, eight rebounds, two steals) leading four double figure scorers.
• Devon Goodman had 13 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals and Matt Howard posted a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
• Penn had 14 steals and seven blocked shots to overcome 18 turnovers of its own.

ABOUT PRINCETON:
• Princeton is 17-6 (10-0 Ivy) and riding a 13-game win streak heading into Friday's contest at Columbia.
• Princeton has already claimed a spot in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament and is two games clear of second place Harvard for the regular season title.
• Four Tiger players are averaging double figures in scoring, led by Steven Cook (13.5 ppg., 5.3 rpg., 1.7 spg., 1.6 apg.).
• Devin Cannady (13.2 ppg., 3.4 rpg., 2.1 apg., 1.0 spg.), Spencer Weisz (11.3 ppg., 5.6 rpg., 3.8 apg., 1.5 spg.) and Myles Stephens (11.2 ppg., 4.2 rpg., 1.1 apg.) are all averaging at least 26 minutes per game.
• The Tigers lead the league in scoring margin (+9.3 ppg.), turnover margin (+2.74), assist:turnover ratio (1.4), 3-point field goals (10.2) and scoring defense (62.5 ppg.) and is third in 3-point percentage defense (.330) and steals (6.6).
• Sixth-year head coach Mitch Henderson has a 113-59 record while guiding the Tigers.

THE CORNELL-PRINCETON SERIES:
• Princeton leads the series 145-80 dating back to the first meeting between the teams in the 1901-02 season.
• Princeton has a 13-12 edge in the last 13 years.
• Princeton has won four straight matchups between the programs and 11 of the last 13 after the Big Red had gone 7-1 in the previous eight meetings.

LAST TIME VS. PRINCETON:
• Princeton remained unbeaten in Ivy League play with its 10th consecutive victory, a 69-60 triumph over Cornell on Feb. 10, 2017 at Jadwin Gymnasium.
• The loss spoiled the return of Big Red head coach Brian Earl, the 1999 Ivy League Player of the Year and longtime assistant and associate head coach at Princeton.
• Sophomore Matt Morgan scored a game-high 23 points and senior Robert Hatter added 18 points for the Big Red, who erased a 10-point halftime deficit and led by as many as five in the second half before the home team took control late.
• Sophomore Stone Gettings corralled a career-high 13 rebounds and added four points and four assists, while classmate Troy Whiteside had eight points and four rebounds.
• Cornell shot 45 percent from the floor and turned the ball over just 11 times, but shot just 4-of-18 from beyond the 3-point arc.
• Spencer Weisz had 21 points and seven rebounds to lead Princeton.
• Devin Cannady and Myles Stephens each had 14 points for the Tigers, who also struggled from beyond the arc (30 percent, 7-of-23).
• Princeton used a 14-3 first half run to erase a 14-13 Big Red deficit, then a 12-5 spurt in the final 4:14 after Cornell got within 57-55 late in the contest to seal the win.

THANK YOU SENIORS:
• Prior to Saturday's contest against Princeton, Cornell will honor its four seniors for their hard work and dedication to Big Red basketball.
• Braxston Bunce has suffered through injuries that have kept him out of all but 13 games during his five varsity seasons. Despite that, the 6-11 center from British Columbia was an integral presence at practice, on the sidelines and in the locker room while diligently rehabbing his injuries.
• JoJo Fallas emerged from a deep reserve who played just 56 minutes as a rookie to a starter as a senior. The 5-9 guard from Los Angeles, Calif. has been a deadly 3-point marksman who will graduate among the school's career leaders by percentage. Fallas has consistently been one of the most competitive players in practice and games on both ends of the floor.
• Desmond Fleming has been an efficient distributor (nearly 3:1 assist:turnover ratio), a high-percentage shooter (61 percent from the floor) and a defensive stopper off the bench in his four seasons. He has played in more than 60 career games and brings the same passion to the court as he does on the sidelines and locker room.
• Robert Hatter is not only a 1,000-point scorer, but he has been a dynamic playmaker and one of the most confident competitors in the program's history. Hatter's speed and athleticism can be dazzling, but it is his competitive fire that stands out to fans watching from the stands. The 6-1 guard from Houston, Texas ranks among the school's all-time leaders in points, assists, field goals made and attempted, 3-point field goals made and attempted, steals and free throws made.

LAST TIME OUT:
• Harvard shot 60 percent from the floor overall and from beyond the 3-point arc to take a 20-point halftime lead and held off a Cornell surge for an 87-75 win on Feb. 18 at Lavietes Pavilion.
• Four Cornell players reached double figures, including sophomore Jack Gordon who matched his career high with 13 points.
• Classmate Matt Morgan added 13 as well, while Stone Gettings and Josh Warren had 11 points apiece.
• The Big Red set a single-game school record by making all 20 free throw attempts, the most of any Cornell team without a miss.
• Senior Robert Hatter added nine points, Wil Bathurst had eight points and four assists and JoJo Fallas recorded seven points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
• Harvard got a game-high 21 points from Seth Towns as four Crimson players reached double digits.
• Bryce Aiken added 17 points, Zena Edosomwan had 14 and Chris Lewis chipped in 10 points to go along with nine rebounds.
• Harvard shot 50 percent overall, held a 35-28 rebounding edge and got to the line 33 times, connecting on 26 attempts.

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.
• The sophomore has reached double figures in scoring in 40 of his last 41 games.
• With 932 career points, Morgan needs to average 17.0 points in his final four games to reach 1,000 by the end of his sophomore year, something no player in school history has ever accomplished.
• 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 19 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).
• Gettings is averaging 8.2 rebounds over his last five contests.
• Sophomore Troy Whiteside is shooting .561 (60-of-107) from the floor over his last 18 games, averaging 8.1 points over that span.
• 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's 20-of-20 effort from the free-throw line against Harvard was the most makes without a miss in a game in school history, surpassing 19-of-19 efforts against Columbia in 1967 and Buffalo in 1977.
• In its last two games, Cornell has hit on 39-of-43 free throws (.907) after entering last weekend connecting on just 67 percent of its charity shots.
• The Big Red has connected on 32 straight free throws spanning two games.
• The Big Red's sweep of Dartmouth gave Cornell its first Ivy season sweep of an opponent since winning home-and-home games against both Dartmouth and Brown during the 2011-12 campaign.
• 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).
• For the season, the Big Red is scoring 77.9 points on 48 percent shooting at home while averaging 17.8 assists per game vs. 65.5 ppg., 42 percent shooting and 12.9 apg. in true road games.
• The Big Red has a positive assist:turnover ratio (375 assists, 354 turnovers) for the first time since posting a positive mark (380:377) in 2011-12 and is +31 over its last 16 games (291:260).
• The Big Red has had at least three double figure scorers in 21 of the season's first 25 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.

CORNELL BEYOND THE ARC — 700 AND COUNTING:
• Cornell hit nine 3-pointers at Harvard on Feb. 18, 2017, its 797th 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 843 of 847 games, connecting on 5,436 treys, an average of 6.4 per game.

NEXT UP:
• The Big Red will close out the 2016-17 regular season when it visits Yale (Friday, March 3) and Brown (Saturday, March 4).
• Cornell will attempt to salvage season splits and sweep the New Haven-Providence road swing for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign.
• Both contests will be available on the Ivy League Digital Network.