STORYLINE
• After a week-long break for Thanksgiving, the Cornell men's basketball team will get back to action when it visits Lafayette on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at the Kirby Sports Center. 
• Senior guard Matt Morgan enters the week among the national leaders at 25.5 ppg. while adding 7.2 rpg., 2.3 apg., 1.5 spg. and 0.8 bpg.
• If maintained, Morgan's scoring average would be the highest ever by a Cornell player (the late Chuck Rolles '56 averaged 23.0 points in 1955-56).
• Morgan, who has reached double figures in scoring in 57 consecutive games, is coming off a 26-point effort in the Big Red's 91-74 loss at Connecticut on Nov. 20.
• He scored 38 points with 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 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.
• Seniors Troy Whiteside (5.5 ppg.), Steven Julian (2.8 ppg., 4.7 rpg., 3.3 apg.), Jack Gordon (4.7 ppg., 2.3 rpg., 2.3 apg.) and Joel Davis (2.3 ppg., 1.5 rpg.) join junior Josh Warren (6.3 ppg., 2.5 rpg., 2.5 apg.) and sophomore Terrance McBride (4.2 ppg., 2.2 rpg., 1.8 apg.) as players who have spent significant time as starters and are expected to again play key roles for Cornell in 2018-19.
• Sophomore forwards Jimmy Boeheim (13.0 ppg., 5.0 rpg.), the son of Naismith Hall of Fame Coach Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, and Jake Kuhn (4.7 ppg., 1.8 rpg.) have also been significant contributors off the bench.
• 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. 
• Lafayette enters the contest with a 2-3 record on the season under longtime head coach Fran O'Hanlon, the all-time winningest coach in Patriot League history.

A WIN OVER LAFAYETTE WOULD
• make Cornell 4-3 on the season.
• even the all-time series between the programs at 11-11.
• make the Big Red 148-124 all-time against current members of the Patriot League.
• give Cornell a 4-1 road record in its last five contests.
• extend the Big Red's win streak to four games against Lafayette, including two straight in Easton, Pa.
• be the 1,258th in program history (1,257-1,427 in 118 seasons, .469).

LAST TIME VS. OUT
• Connecticut went on a 13-0 run midway through the first half to erase a Cornell lead and held off the Big Red despite a game-high 26 points from Matt Morgan as the Huskies earned a 91-74 victory at the XL Center. 
• Morgan's 26 came on 11-of-15 shooting and he added four rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal in a losing effort. 
• In the process, he moved into ninth on the Ivy League's all-time scoring list. 
• Josh Warren scored 10 and both Troy Whiteside and Jack Gordon scored eight points, with Gordon adding four assists. 
• The Big Red shot 46 percent overall and assisted on 17 of the team's 24 made baskets. 
• Jalen Adams scored 21 points and Christian Vital chipped in 19 and had three of the team's 12 steals on the day to lead UConn. 
• Tarin Smith (12), Alterique Gilbert (11) and Tyler Polley (10) also reached double figures for the home team. 
• Connecticut connected on 51 percent from the floor and held a 35-29 edge on the glass.

NOTES TO KNOW
• 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.
• Random useless fact — Cornell has scored exactly 86 points in each of the teams last four wins (dating back to last year). Prior to that, the last time Cornell had scored exactly 86 points in a win was 2010.
• Matt Morgan's 57 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.
• 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 835 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 881 of 885 games (5,724 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
• The Big Red will visit Syracuse to close out the semester on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. at the Carrier Dome.
• The Orange holds a 38-game win streak in the series after a 77-45 victory last November.