STORYLINE
• After a break of more than two weeks, the Cornell men's basketball team will sprint to the holiday break with its first of four games in six days beginning with a visit to Niagara on Sunday, Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. at the Gallagher Center.
• The game will be broadcast live on the Niagara Sports Network.
• Cornell is off to a 4-4 start, including three true road wins (Binghamton, NJIT and Lafayette) and two competitive losses to national powers (UConn, Syracuse).
• The Big Red is coming off a 63-55 loss at Syracuse on Dec. 1 despite 26 points from Matt Morgan as Cornell rallied from a 15-point deficit to take a second half lead. 
• Senior guard Matt Morgan enters the week among the national leaders at 23.9 ppg. while adding 5.6 rpg., 2.1 apg., 1.3 spg. and 0.6 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 59 consecutive games, is coming off a 26-point effort in the Big Red's 63-55 loss at Syracuse on Dec. 1.
• 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 (4.5 ppg.), Steven Julian (3.0 ppg., 4.7 rpg., 2.9 apg.), Jack Gordon (5.0 ppg., 2.5 rpg., 2.1 apg.) and Joel Davis (2.0 ppg., 1.3 rpg.) join junior Josh Warren (7.9 ppg., 3.1 rpg., 2.4 apg.) and sophomore Terrance McBride (4.3 ppg., 2.0 rpg., 1.6 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 (11.4 ppg., 4.5 rpg.), the son of Naismith Hall of Fame Coach Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, and Jake Kuhn (4.5 ppg., 2.0 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. 

LAST TIME VS. OUT
• Senior Matt Morgan scored 26 points and Cornell erased a 15-point second half deficit, but Syracuse was able to pull through for a 63-55 win over the Big Red on Dec. 1 at the Carrier Dome. 
• Morgan scored 16 of his points after halftime as the Big Red led with under six minutes to play, including a personal 11-0 Morgan run that turned a nine-point deficit into the visitors' first lead since 19-17. 
• Tyus Battle drained a 3-pointer on the other end as Syracuse scored seven straight to put the upset bid to bed. 
• Morgan moved his career scoring total to 1,837 points - good for No. 8 all-time in Ivy League history. 
• It was the Orange's 39th consecutive victory over Cornell dating back to 1968.
• Jimmy Boeheim added nine points, six rebounds, four assists and a block in a much-ballyhooed matchup against the team coached by his father with his younger brother on the roster in his hometown. 
• Josh Warren scored eight points and Steven Julian had three points, five rebounds, six assists and two steals.
• Cornell shot 47 percent from the floor and assisted on 17 of the team's 20 baskets, patiently running offense against Syracuse's vaunted zone.
 

NOTES TO KNOW
• 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.
• Matt Morgan's 59 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's nine 30-point games is tied for fifth-most among active players: 25 - Mike Daum, South Dakota State; 19 - Chris Clemons, Campbell; 14 - Tyler Hall, Montana State and Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra; 9 - Morgan, Markus Howard, Marquette and Shamorie Ponds, St. John's.
• 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 seasons of eligibility.
• Senior Steven Julian has nine brothers and sisters.
• 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 837 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 883 of 887 games (5,740 3-pointers over that span).
• Dating back to the first overtime game against Penn way back in 1922, Cornell is 42-51 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 11-29 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.
• 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).

NEXT UP
• The Big Red returns to Ithaca for a 7 p.m. tip-off against Longwood on Monday, Dec. 17 at Newman Arena.
• Cornell has won both previous meetings against the Lancers, including a 69-62 victory last year in Farmville, Va.