STORYLINE:
• The Cornell men's basketball team will close out the 2016-17 season while playing the role of spoiler when the Big Red hits the road to face defending Ivy champion Yale (Friday, March 3 at 7 p.m.) and Brown (Saturday, March 4 at 6 p.m.).
• Live video of both contests will be available on the Ivy League Digital Network, with Friday's game being simulcast on ESPN3, while Barry Leonard will provide the call locally on 98.7 FM The Buzzer.
• Though the Big Red has been eliminated from the Ivy League Tournament race, its results this weekend could still play a role in tiebreakers and could also directly impact Yale, who still needs a win to clinch a spot in the tournament.
• Sophomore Matt Morgan leads the Ivy League in scoring (17.8 ppg.) and 3-pointers (78), while ranking in the top 20 in free-throw percentage (fourth, .857), minutes played (fifth, 32.3 mpg.), assists (14th, 2.1 apg.), field goal percentage (14th, .444) and rebounding (17th, 4.6 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 (11.8 ppg.), assists (2.0 apg.) and rebounding (3.8 rpg.) while shooting 57 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., 5.9 rpg. and 3.0 apg. while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range.
• Sophomore Troy Whiteside rounds out three sophomore starters has blossomed in his new role, averaging 6.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting 52 percent from the field, while senior JoJo Fallas (3.8 ppg., 27 3-pointers, 42:28 assist:turnover ratio) has started 23 games while providing steady leadership.
• Freshman Josh Warren has had a strong rookie campaign (5.9 ppg. and 3.9 rpg.), junior Wil Bathurst (6.2 ppg., 3.9 rpg., 1.7 apg.) has had a number of explosive games and sophomore Jack Gordon (4.0 ppg., 2.4 rpg., 1.5 apg., 11-of-24 from 3-point range in Ivy League contests) has earned his way into the rotation over the last several weeks.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
• Seniors JoJo Fallas and Robert Hatter will each play in their 100th career games on Saturday if they see action in both weekend games, making them the 36th and 37th players in school history to reach that milestone.
• Sophomore Matt Morgan needs 28 points to become the school's 27th 1,000-point scorer and the first to reach that mark by the end of their sophomore year.
• Morgan also needs 38 points to reach 500 this season and would join Ryan Wittman '10 as the only players in school history to reach that mark twice in a career.
• Senior Robert Hatter is 19 points shy of joining the school's top 10 career scorers, entering the week with 1,213 points.
• The Big Red is 11 assists shy of posting a top 10 season mark in that category.

A WIN OVER YALE WOULD:
• make Cornell 8-20 on the season and 4-9 in Ivy League play.
• even the all-time series at 111-111.
• salvage a split in the season series with the Bulldogs.
• snap an eight-game skid against Yale.
• end a three-game losing streak overall.
• be the 1,242nd in program history (1,241-1,406 in 117 seasons, .469).

ABOUT YALE:
• Defending Ivy League champion Yale enters Friday night's game at Columbia with a 7-5 conference mark and 15-10 overall and is 1-4 in its last five contests.
• Seven players are averaging between 6.8 and 13.3 ppg., with Miye Oni (13.3 ppg., 6.6 rpg., 2.7 apg., 1.2 bpg.) and Alex Copeland (13.0 ppg., 2.1 apg.) leading the way.
• Sam Downey (11.9 ppg., 6.8 rpg.), Blake Reynolds (9.8 ppg., 5.0 rpg., 2.2 apg., 0.8 spg.),  Anthony Dallier (9.3 ppg., 4.1 apg., 3.6 rpg., 1.0 spg.), Jordan Bruner (8.4 ppg., 5.7 rpg., 2.4 bpg.) and Trey Phills (6.8 ppg., 2.9 rpg., 1.0 spg.) are at or near double figures.
• The Bulldogs control the glass (36.4-32.5 rebound advantage) and are limiting opponents to 33 percent shooting from 3-point range.
• Yale paces the league in field goal percentage (.466) and rebounding margin (+3.8) and is second in the league in assists (15.5), scoring offense (74.2 ppg.) and blocked shots (4.4 bpg.).
• Head coach James Jones, the dean of Ivy League coaches, has won three conference titles in his 18 seasons directing the Bulldogs with a 269-249 record (148-102 Ivy League).

THE CORNELL-YALE SERIES:
• Yale holds a narrow 111-110 overall in a series that dates back to the 1898-99 campaign.
• The two teams have played the last 12 seasons much the way they have the entire series - nearly right down the middle, with Yale holding a slim 12-11 lead.
• Yale had the better recently, winning nine of the last 10 meetings between the squads.

LAST TIME VS. YALE:
• Sophomore Stone Gettings scored a career-high 28 points, but Yale made all the plays over the final 10 minutes and earned a 78-71 victory over Cornell on Feb. 4 and 5 at Newman Arena.
• The contest picked up 89 seconds into the first half after being suspended due to a power outage on Saturday night.
• Gettings blew by his previous high of 23 points and added eight rebounds and four steals.
• He connected on 10-of-18 shots from the floor and had 16 of his points in a first half that ended knotted at 36-36.
• Against a big and tough Yale frontcourt, Gettings and freshman Josh Warren (12 points, seven rebounds) more than held their own.
• In all, the Big Red held a 36-29 rebounding edge against the Ancient Eight's best rebounding team.
• Sophomore Matt Morgan rounded out three Cornell scorers in double figures with 11 points along with five rebounds and three assists.
• Morgan's three-point play with 1:57 remaining brought the home team within one (70-69), but Alex Copeland and Anthony Dallier hit consecutive shots for the Bulldogs and Yale hit all four free throws in the final 23 seconds to take home the victory.
• Freshmen Miye Oni (19 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals) and Jordan Bruner (15 points, eight rebounds) led four double figure scorers for the Bulldogs.
• Dallier (11 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals) and Sam Downey (10 points) were also in double figures.
• Yale shot 47 percent from the floor and turned the ball over just 11 times while outscoring the Big Red 24-11 off turnovers.
• The Bulldogs limited Cornell to 37 percent shooting after halftime and to just 17 percent (4-of-24) from beyond the 3-point arc for the game.

ABOUT BROWN:
• Brown is 12-16 on the season and 3-9 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 (16.7 ppg.), rebounding (5.9 rpg.), assists (3.4 apg.) and steals (1.4 spg.) while shooting 49 percent from the floor, 38 percent from 3-point range and 87 percent from the free-throw line.
• Spieth is posting 18.5 points in league contests while shooting 47 percent overall and 39 percent from beyond the arc.
• Tavon Blackmon (11.1 ppg., 3.9 apg., 1.1 spg.) is also scoring in double figures, with Obie Okolie (8.9 ppg., 3.8 rpg.) and Joshua Howard (8.6 ppg., 4.0 rpg.) not far behind.
• The Bears are 8-6 at home this season, but have lost four straight.
• Brown is forcing its foes into 15.9 turnovers per contest and easily paces the circuit in steals (7.6 spg.) and scoring (75.3 ppg.).
• Opponents are shooting 50 percent from the floor overall and 52 percent in league play, including 61 percent from two-point range.
• Fifth-year head coach Mike Martin has guided his alma mater to a 61-83 record and directed the 2013-14 team to a spot in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

THE CORNELL-BROWN SERIES:
• Cornell leads the series 75-51 dating back to the first meeting between the teams in the 1949-50 season.
• The Big Red is 18-7 in the last 25 contests against the Bears.
• Brown ended Cornell's 13-game win streak in the series in March of 2014 and has gone 5-2 since.

LAST TIME VS. BROWN:
• Brown placed five players in double figures, shot 50 percent from 3-point range and held Cornell at bay from beyond the arc in collecting an 81-70 win last night at Newman Arena.
• Senior guard Tavon Blackmon scored a game-high 17 points for the Bears, who hit 10-of-20 shots from deep.
• Brandon Anderson had 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals, Obi Okolie had 13, Steven Spieth notched 11 points and six rebounds and Joshua Howard checked in with 10 points and 11 boards.
• Brown shot 48 percent overall, outrebounded Cornell 34-28 and controlled much of the game's final 30 minutes.
• Cornell junior Wil Bathurst scored 13 points and grabbed four rebounds, while both Matt Morgan and Troy Whiteside scored 10 apiece.
• The Big Red shot 49 percent overall, but was just 6-of-21 from 3-point range overall and 1-of-10 in the first half.
• Stone Gettings chipped in eight points, four assists and four blocked shots and Robert Hatter and Josh Warren scored seven points each.

THANK YOU SENIORS:
• Cornell's four seniors will all be playing their final collegiate games this weekend.
• 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:
• Princeton pulled away over the final eight minutes to remain unbeaten, knocking off Cornell 75-60 on Senior Day at Newman Arena on Feb. 25, 2017.
• The loss knocked the Big Red out of the Ivy League Tournament race, while the Tigers won their 15th consecutive game overall.
• Playing his final game in front of the Newman Arena crowd, senior Robert Hatter had a team-high 18 points and added four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
• He jumped up to 12th on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,213 points, surpassing Chris Wroblewski '12 (1,202) and Lenny Collins '06 (1,212).
• Sophomore Matt Morgan chipped in 14 points and four rebounds, while freshman Josh Warren scored nine and sophomore Stone Gettings netted seven.
• Junior Wil Bathurst had a game-high nine rebounds as Cornell won the battle of the boards 28-25.
• Devin Cannady drilled six 3-pointers on his way to 26 points, while Myles Stephens chipped in 17 and Steven Cook scored14.
• The Tigers connected on 11-of-29 3-pointers in the win and had 15 steals as part of a defensive effort that forced 23 Big Red turnovers.

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 42 of his last 43 games.
• With 972 career points, Morgan needs to average 14.0 points in his final two 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 7.7 rebounds over his last seven contests.
• 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 four games, Cornell has hit on 58-of-69 free throws (.841) after entering the previous weekend connecting on just 67 percent of its charity shots.
• 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).
• The Big Red has a positive assist:turnover ratio (395 assists, 390 turnovers) for the first time since posting a positive mark (380:377) in 2011-12.
• The Big Red has had at least three double figure scorers in 21 of the season's first 27 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 seven 3-pointers vs. Princeton on Feb. 25, 2017, its 799th 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 845 of 849 games, connecting on 5,453 treys, an average of 6.4 per game.

CORNELL IN OVERTIME:
• 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.

CORNELL BASKETBALL HONORED BY NCAA ... AGAIN:
• Cornell University ranks among the best according to the annual NCAA Division I Academic Progress Report (APR) for 2014-15 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 eight times in the 11 years since the APR began, including six consecutive years.

BIG RED HOOPS ENJOYS FOREIGN TRIP TO SPAIN:
• Cornell University has one of the broadest reaches of any educational institution in the world, and that reach was evident when the men's basketball team made a goodwill tour of Spain in August.
• First year head coach Brian Earl and his staff had their first extended opportunity to work with the team when it took a 10-day trip overseas that included three contests.
• Starting with a five-day training camp in Ithaca prior to leaving, the team visited Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona prior to the new semester beginning.
• The Big Red enjoyed time in all three cities, visiting the Royal Palace of Madrid, attending a Barcelona soccer match, and touring the country's former capital of Toledo as well as the Valencia bullfighting museum.
• Seventeen players and eight staff members in total made the trip to Europe.
• The Big Red went 3-0 on the trip, defeating Eurocolegio Casvi 67-52 in Madrid, Valencia Select 69-63 and Sant Julia Select 72-69 in Barcelona.
• With minutes nearly evenly split among the 13 players who saw action on the trip, rising sophomore Matt Morgan led the team in scoring (14.0 ppg.), rebounding (7.0 rpg.) and steals (1.7 spg.), while senior Robert Hatter (13.3 ppg., 6.7 rpg., 3.7 apg.) also filled the stat sheet.
• Sophomores Stone Gettings (9.3 ppg., 4.3 rpg., 3.3 apg.) and Troy Whiteside (7.0 ppg., 5.3 rpg., 1.7 apg.) ranked third and fourth among the team's top scorers.
• Defensively, the Big Red allowed its three opponents to shoot just 30 percent from the floor, 25 percent from 3-point range and outrebounded opponents by 7.7 boards per game.
• Cornell has previously made foreign trips to play in places like Cuba and Australia, with the last escape coming in the spring of 2007 when the Big Red visited France.

MILLER '15 SPENDS SUMMER WITH UTAH JAZZ:
• Former Cornell All-Ivy forward Shonn Miller '15 signed an NBA summer league deal to play for the Utah Jazz's entry in the Salt Lake City Summer League.
• He averaged 2.8 points and 1.8 rebounds in five games for the Jazz, including an eight-point, five-rebound performance in a win over the Portland TrailBlazers.
• Miller ranked second in the Ivy League in scoring (16.8 ppg.), rebounding (8.5 rpg.) and free-throw percentage (.834) and among the top 10 in blocks (fourth, 1.8) and steals (eighth, 1.3) en route to earning unanimous first-team all-league and second-team NABC all-district honors as a senior in 2014-15.
• He was one of 26 finalists for the Lefty Driesell Award as the nation's Defensive Player of the Year.
• he became the first Cornellian and fifth Ivy player to record 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 100 blocks and 100 steals in a career.
• He sits in the top 20 all-time in scoring (19th, 1,065), rebounding (14th, 608), steals (11th, 126), blocked shots (fourth, 154), free throws made (13th, 266) and free-throw percentage (18th, .785).
• Following his graduation, Miller played one season at the University of Connecticut as a graduate transfer, earning American Athletic Conference honorable mention accolades.
• Miller was taken in the first round of the NBA D-League draft (13th overall) by the Greensboro Swarm, an affiliate of the Charlotte Hornets.

CORNELL SEVENTH IN IVY PRESEASON POLL:
• The Cornell men's basketball team, under the direction of first-year coach Brian Earl, was picked seventh in the 2016-17 Ivy League media preseason poll.
• The media poll was made up of 17 voters - two from media covering each of the conference's eight schools and one from a national media member.
• Princeton was picked first with 12 first place votes and 130 points, while Harvard was a close second with five first place votes and 123 points.
• Defending champion Yale was slotted third (101) and Penn was picked fourth (72). Rounding out the field was Columbia (61), Dartmouth (48), the Big Red (42) and Brown (35).
• Cornell was picked to finish eighth two seasons in a row only to finish fifth and sixth, respectively.
• For a third straight season, the Big Red is expecting to upset the preseason rankings.
• Finishing fourth would give Cornell a spot in the first-ever Ivy League men's basketball tournament, and it has the weapons to challenge for a spot to compete for the automatic NCAA bid.

#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.

HOW TO FOLLOW CORNELL:
• There are numerous ways to follow the Big Red through the 2016-17 basketball season.
• Men's basketball games will be broadcast on 96.3 FM The Buzzer. 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 Brian Earl's team throughout the season.
• 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.
• 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.

NEXT UP:
• The 2016-17 is complete and the team will resume practice for the 2017-18 campaign in October.