STORYLINE
• Cornell will attempt to start a season 3-0 for the first time in more than two decades when it welcomes Central New York rival Colgate on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m. at Newman Arena. 
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with Barry Leonard and Eric Taylor '05 on the call.
• Cornell will have a chance to start a season 3-0 for the first time since the 1996-97 season after consecutive wins at Binghamton (86-75) and SUNY Canton (86-44) to kick off the season.
• Cornell's Brian Earl will coach against his best friend from eighth grade, eight-year Colgate head coach and 2018 Patriot League Coach of the Year, Matt Langel.
• The pair were not only great friends, but later found themselves on opposite sides of the great Princeton-Penn rivalry.
• 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. 
• Langel was part of two Ivy League titles at Penn, where he scored 1,191 points and hit 201 3-pointers, good for fourth all-time for the Quakers.
• Senior guard Matt Morgan, who is on track to pass Earl on the Ivy League career 3-point list, posted career highs of 38 points, 13 rebounds and four steals in the Big Red's season-opening win at Binghamton, climbing to No. 2 on the school's career scoring list.
• Morgan is averaging 30.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 2.5 assistsin just 25.0 minutes per game this season.
• A three-time All-Ivy pick, including a first-teamer last spring, Morgan has extended his streak of consecutive games in double figures to 53.
• Morgan is one of four returning starters for the Big Red, who went 12-16 in 2017-18 and earned the program's first-ever bid to the Ivy League Men's Basketball Tournament.
• Sophomore forwards Jimmy Boeheim (14.5 ppg., 7.0 rpg.) and Jake Kuhn (8.5 ppg., 2.5 rpg.) have also been significant contributors.
• Third-year head coach Brian Earl will look to continue the program's upward swing, as the Big Red made a two-game jump in conference play a year ago.
• Gordon, Julian and Morgan will serve as team tri-captains for 2018-19. 

A WIN OVER COLGATE WOULD
• push Cornell to its first 3-0 start to a season since the 1996-97 season.
• make the Big Red 3-0 in the Central New York Hoop Classic.
• be the team's third straight road win dating back to last year's regular season finale at Dartmouth (86-75).
• be the 1,257th in program history (1,256-1,424 in 118 seasons, .469).

LAST TIME VS. OUT
• Cornell men's basketball rolled to its first 2-0 start in nearly a decade, pulling away midway through the first half and cruising to an 86-44 win over Division III SUNY Canton Nov. 8 at Newman Arena. 
• A 23-0 first half run and suffocating defense throughout allowed Cornell to pull away. 
• The Kangaroos shot just .238 from the floor, missed all 10 second half 3-point attempts (and hit just 2-of-19 for the game) and never threatened the home team, who took a 42-18 edge into halftime.
• Senior Matt Morgan had 22 points, four rebounds, three steals, two assists and a blocked shot in just 21 minutes to pace the Big Red. 
• Jake Kuhn added 11 points, Jimmy Boeheim had nine points and seven rebounds, Terrance McBride scored seven and seven others had at least three. 
• The Big Red shot 43 percent overall and connected on 13 3-pointers, while outrebounding its opponent 53-41. 
• Danny Santana had 15 points and Andrew Fitch ripped down a game-high 10 rebounds in the loss for the Kangaroos. 

NOTES TO KNOW
• Overall, Cornell is 47-102 in tournament play during the regular season. 
• The program last won an in-season tournament when it dropped Davidson and St. John's to capture the 2009-10 MSG Holiday Classic. 
• Matt Morgan's 53 consecutive double figure scoring games has surpassed John Sheehy's 34 straight (1953-55) for a school record that had held for 62 years.
• Morgan became the first Cornell player to declare early for the NBA Draft during the spring of 2017 (and again in 2018), withdrawing before the early entry deadline to preserve his final two seasons of eligibility.
• The Big Red will have three junior college transfers (Steven Julian, Chaz Mack and Thurston McCarty) on its roster for the first time in program history in 2018-19.
• The trio are the first junior college transfer to suit up for the Big Red since Drew Ferry (2010-11 and 2011-12 after playing at Palm Beach State College) and first JUCOs who did not first attend a Division I school since Jason Hartford (Chemeketa CC).
• Senior Steven Julian has nine brothers and sisters.
• Sophomore Jimmy Boeheim is the eldest son of Syracuse head men's basketball coach and Naismith Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim.
• Head coach 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 (Connecticut) Hurley; Joe (Yale) and James (Boston University) Jones; and Sean (Arizona) and Archie (Indiana) Miller.
• Sixth-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.
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 831 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 877 of 881 games (5,698 3-pointers over that span).
• Dating back to the first overtime game against Penn way back in 1922, Cornell is 41-51 in games that go an extra period. Cornell is 7-10 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 30-19 in home overtime games, 2-2 in neutral contests and 10-29 in road games.
• The Big Red ranks among the best according to the annual NCAA Division I Academic Progress Report (APR) for 2016-17 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 10 times in the 13 years since the APR began, including eight consecutive.

NEXT UP• Before completing the Central New York Hoops Classic next weekend, the Big Red will complete a three-game home stand against Delaware on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• Last year the two teams met in an overtime thriller in Newark, Del., with the Blue Hens escaping with a 97-96 overtime victory.
• The Blue Hens lead the all-time series 2-1.