HEAD COACH BRIAN EARL
• Brian Earl is in his second season as the Robert E. Gallagher '44 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Basketball (14-29, .326; 4-11 Ivy, .267).
• 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-PRINCETON SERIES
Overall: Princeton leads 146-80
In Princeton, N.J.: Princeton leads 84-28
Current Streak: Princeton, 5 games
Last Meeting: Princeton won 75-60, 2/25/17 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Earl vs. Princeton: 0-2
Series Notes: Series dates back to the 1901-02 season • the two teams have split the meetings down the middle over the last 13 seasons (13-13) • the Tigers have the better of the recent meetings, claiming five straight victories and 12 of the last 14 after the Big Red had gone 7-1 in the previous eight matchups

A WIN OVER PRINCETON WOULD
• push Cornell's record to 7-8 on the season and even its Ivy record at 1-1.
• cut the Tigers' edge in the all-time series to 146-81. 
• snap a five-game skid against Princeton.
• give Cornell its first win in Princeton since the 2009-10 season.
• be the 1,249th in program history (1,248-1,416 in 118 seasons, .468).

LAST TIME OUT
• Cornell cut a 15-point first half deficit to two, but Penn was able to escape with a 69-61 victory on Friday evening at the Palestra.
• Junior Stone Gettings had 20 points and a career-best 17 rebounds and classmate Matt Morgan chipped in 13, but Penn's 16-1 first half run proved decisive - leaving Cornell in a hole it could never climb all the way out of. 
The visitors held a 41-35 edge on the backboards, but 16 turnovers and a 4-of-19 shooting night from beyond the 3-point arc (19 percent) was too much to overcome.
• AJ Brodeur led the Quakers with 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists, while Ryan Betley had 13 points and four assists and Darnell Foreman chipped in 12 points and five boards. 
• The Quakers shot 48 percent in the first half and assists on 17 baskets in the victory.

LAST TIME VS. PRINCETON
• 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 scored 14. 
• 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
• After having teammates score 30 points in the same game just once in the first 119 years of Cornell basketball, juniors Matt Morgan and Stone Gettings reached that milestone in consecutive games against Niagara and Delaware.
• Prior to the Niagara contest, the only previous time two Cornellians scored more than 30 points in the same game was on March 2, 1956 at the famed Palestra in Philadelphia when Bo Roberson (32) and Chuck Rolles (30) did so against Penn.
• In between, Cornell played 1,611 games over those ensuing 61 seasons.
• Morgan, the nation's sixth-leading scorer, has been on a tear, averaging 24.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists over his past 13 games, including twice claiming Ivy League Player of the Week honors.
• Morgan has reached double figures in 37 consecutive games, the fifth-longest active streak by a Division I player in the country entering the week.
• The 37 consecutive double figure scoring games surpassed John Sheehy's 34 straight (1953-55) for a school record that had held for 62 years.
• 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 24.1 points per game, Morgan's scoring average would be the highest ever by a Cornell player if maintained (Chuck Rolles '56 averaged 23.0 points in 1955-56).
• Morgan was the first Big Red player to post 12 consecutive 20-point games (previous Cornell record was six), a streak that ended with 13 at Penn.
• The junior has connected on at least one trey in 24 straight (fifth-longest streak at Cornell).
• Morgan is averaging 25.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists while hitting 3.4 3-pointers per contest over his last five games.
• Morgan became the first Cornell player to declare early for the NBA Draft during the spring of 2017, withdrawing before the early entry deadline to preserve his final two seasons of eligibility.
• After missing much of the preseason due to injury, junior Stone Gettings is averaging 16.1 ppg., 6.6 rpg. and 2.6 apg. in just 23.2 minutes per contest. 
• The only games by a Cornellian with more than Gettings' 39 points against Delaware were 47 scored by George Farley against Princeton in 1960 and 42 by Chuck Rolles at Syracuse in 1956.
• In his last 11 games, spanning 270 minutes, Gettings has scored 195 points, grabbed 78 rebounds, dished 35 assists and collected eight steals and five blocks — 28.9 ppg., 11.6 rpg., 5.2 apg. per 40 minutes.
• Over his last five contests, Gettings is averaged 23.2 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
• Junior forward Steven Julian paces the Ancient Eight in rebounding (6.6 rpg.) and blocked shots (1.8 bpg.) and is sixth in steals (1.2 spg.).
• The junior college transfer has at least three blocked shots in five of his last seven games and seven of his last 10 starts.
• Since inserting junior Jack Gordon into the lineup 11 games ago (5-6), Cornell's offense has averaged 78.5 points per game while shooting .476 from the floor (314-of-660).
• Gordon, a career 44 percent 3-point shooter, tied a single-game school record for 3-point percentage in a game, joining Ryan Wittman '10 (2010 vs. Bryant) as the lone Cornellians to hit five 3-pointers in a game without a miss when he did so against Central Penn.
• Gordon's career-best 10 rebounds against Niagara obliterated his previous career best of four.
• With Gordon and Gettings each registering double digit rebounds vs. Niagara, the juniors became the first Big Red teammates to accomplish that feat since Louis Dale '10 (11) and Jeff Foote '10 (10) did so against Dartmouth during the 2007-08 campaign.
• Cornell is 3-1 after moving freshman point guard Terrance McBride into the starting lineup seven games ago, but was 0-3 when he went out with an injury.
• Members of the Cornell basketball team represent 10 states and the District of Columbia.

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• The Big Red's streak of scoring 75 or more points ended after six games with 61 points against Penn, its longest stretch since stringing together six consecutive contests spanning the final three contests of 2006-07 and the first three of the 2007-08 seasons. (Last time with seven straight, 1/19/66-2/18/66).
• After turning the ball over 23 times in a loss at Northeastern on Dec. 2, the Big Red has piled up 116 assists with just 88 turnovers in seven games since.
• 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.
• 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 815 consecutive games (11th-longest streak in Division I) 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 861 of 865 games (5,582 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 40-50 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 10-28 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.
• Are Cornell Student-Athletes on Scholarship? The easy answer is no. Cornell student-athletes are awarded need-based financial aid, just as any other student who applies to the school. That package can come in the form of student loans and grants. The basic intent of the original Ivy League agreement of 1954 was to improve and foster intercollegiate athletics while keeping the emphasis on such competition in harmony with the educational purpose of the institutions. The Ivy League is nationally recognized for its level of success — absent of athletic scholarships — while rigorously maintaining its self-imposed high academic standards. The Ivy League has demonstrated a rare willingness and ability, given the current national pressures on intercollegiate success, to abide by these rules and still compete successfully in Division I athletics. 

#ROADTOIVYMADNESS RETURNS
• The Ivy League men's and women's basketball tournaments return to Philadelphia, where they will take place Saturday and Sunday, March 10-11, 2018.
• 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 tickets and more information please visit IvyMadness.com.

NEXT UP
• Cornell concludes its three-game, season-opening Ivy road swing when it visits Columbia on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. at Levien Gymnasium.
• The Lions lead the all-time series 128-100 after each team won on the road a year ago.