Yale (12-14, 5-5 Ivy) at Cornell (10-13, 4-6 Ivy)
February 23, 2018 • 7:00 pm
ESPN3/Ivy League Network (Barry Leonard, Eric Taylor '06)
Ithaca, N.Y. • Newman Arena (4,473)
QUICK HITS
• The Cornell men's basketball team will play one of its most consequential home weekends in recent memory beginning on Friday, Feb. 23 when Yale visits Newman Arena for a 7 p.m. tip.
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN3 and simulcast on the Ivy League Network with Barry Leonard Eric Taylor '06 on the call.
• Cornell enters its final home weekend in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Ancient Eight standings at 4-6 and will meet a Bulldog team a game ahead in third at 5-5.
• The Big Red is also set to meet Brown, one of the two teams it is tied with, a night after the Bears and Columbia (the third team tied at 4-6) match up.
• With four games to go, the race for the final two spots in the Ivy League playoff could become clearer by watching the four games in the Empire State.
• Cornell is coming off a home split with defending Ivy League champion, a wild 107-101 triple overtime win that saw the home team rally from 22 down in the second half, and a 79-71 loss at the hands of current conference leader Penn.
• Junior
Matt Morgan has been on a tear all season for the Big Red, averaging 22.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists this year.
• Morgan, the ninth-leading scorer in the country, has now reached double figures in scoring in a school-record 46 consecutive games after scoring 12 points against Penn.
• Last weekend, Morgan became the third Cornellian to reach 1,500 career points — doing so in 77 games, 15 games fewer than Ryan Wittman '10, the school's all-time leading scorer.
• He also reached the 500-point mark for the third year in a row, becoming the only player in school history to reach that mark three times (Wittman did it twice).
• After missing much of the preseason due to injury, junior
Stone Gettings is averaging 17.3 ppg., 6.7 rpg. and 2.6 apg.
• Gettings had strung together six consecutive 20-point games before registering 11 points and seven rebounds against Penn.
• Earlier in the year he posted a career-high 39 points at Delaware - the third-most points ever by a Cornell player and among the top 10-most by any Division I player in a game this year - and 17 rebounds at Penn, the most by a Cornell player since 2009-10.
• Cornell brought a 6-7 non-conference record into the 62nd season of Ivy play after starting off the 2018 calendar year on the right note by snapping a three-game losing skid with a 93-69 win over Central Penn on Friday, Jan. 5.
• The six non-league wins were a two-game improvement over last season (4-11) for second-year head coach
Brian Earl.
• The Big Red also features Steven Julian, who ranks second in the Ancient Eight in blocked shots (1.4 bpg.), sixth in rebounding (5.8 rpg.) and 11th in steals (1.1 spg.).
• The junior college transfer has reached double figures in three of his last four games after having just one double figure scoring game in his first 19 contests (10.0 ppg. over that stretch).
• Junior
Joel Davis has started the last six games (4-3), averaging 6.0 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.7 steals, 1.4 assists and 0.6 blocks per game over that span.
• Junior guard
Jack Gordon, a career 43 percent 3-point shooter, is averaging a career-high 6.6 points per game.
• Freshman Terrance McBride sports a 2.70:1 assist:turnover ratio, a mark that would be a single-season school record if maintained (current record, 2.28 by Derek Williams in 1984-85).
• He had a breakout weekend against Princeton and Penn, averaging 11.5 points, 4.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals while shooting 82 percent from the floor and 80 percent from beyond the arc.
• Cornell continues to play without starting guard
Wil Bathurst (7.1 ppg., 3.6 rpg., 3.1 apg. in seven starts this season) and forward
Troy Whiteside (6.6 ppg., 3.1 rpg., 1.4 apg. in 2016-17) and dressed just 11 healthy players its first five weekends of conference play.
HEAD COACH BRIAN EARL
•
Brian Earl is in his second season as the Robert E. Gallagher '44 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Basketball (18-34, .346; 8-16 Ivy, .333).
• 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-YALE SERIES
Overall: Yale leads 113-110
In Ithaca, N.Y.:Â Cornell leads 64-45
Current Streak:Â Yale, 10 games
Last Meeting: Yale won 74-65, 2/10/17 in New Haven, Conn.
Earl vs. Yale:Â 0-3
Series Notes: Yale was Cornell's first intercollegiate opponent when the two teams met on Feb. 25, 1899 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (Yale won 49-7) • the two teams have played the last 13 seasons much the way they have the entire series - nearly right down the middle, with Yale holding a slim 14-11 lead • Yale has had the better of it recently, winning 11 of the last 12 meetings between the squads, including 10 straight
A WIN OVER YALE WOULD
• improve Cornell's record to 11-13 on the season
• push the Big Red's record to 5-6 in Ivy play (surpassing last season's league win total when it went 4-10).
• keep the Big Red in the top four in the conference standings.
• make the Big Red 5-3 in its last eight conference games.
• make Cornell 8-3 at Newman Arena this season (4-2 in Ivy League play).
• be the 1,253rd in program history (1,252-1,421 in 118 seasons, .468).
LAST TIME VS. YALE
 • Cornell couldn't overcome a slow start, clawing its way back into the game several times after facing double digit deficits, but Yale ultimately held off the Big Red 74-65 on Feb. 10 at Newman Arena.
• Junior
Stone Gettings led four double figure scorers with 20 points and eight rebounds, while classmate
Matt Morgan added 13 points and seven rebounds.
• Both Steven Julian and Terrance McBride scored 10 points apiece, with Julian adding three steals and three rebounds and McBride tallying four rebounds and two assists without a turnover.
• The Big Red held a 37-34 edge on the backboards, with seven of the rebounds being credited to
Joel Davis.
• Davis added eight points, two blocks and a steal in the loss.
• Miye Oni had 19 points, six rebounds and six assists in the win for a Yale team that had 21 assists as a team and made 11 3-pointers.
• Azar Swain had 11 points off the bench and both Paul Atkinson and Trey Phills had 10 points apiece.
• The Bulldogs' bench outscored Cornell's reserves 25-4.
LAST TIME OUT
 • Ryan Betley and AJ Brodeur combined for 44 points and a quick second half start for Penn allowed the first-place Quakers to remain in that spot, topping Cornell 79-71 on Feb. 17, 2018 at Newman Arena.
• Betley hit six 3-pointers on his way to 23 points and Brodeur connected on 8-of-10 shots form the floor as part of a 21-point effort.
• The Quakers hit on 11 3-pointers, assisted on 20 of its 26 baskets and generally controlled the second half after forcing the home team into a scoring drought of nearly four minutes to take control.
• Penn connected on three 3-pointers in the span of four possessions to go from a two-point deficit to a seven-point lead and never trailed over the final 18 minutes.
• Four Cornell players reached double figures, led by a career-high 14 points from Terrance McBride.
• The freshman connected on all six shots from the field and added four assists.
• Junior
Matt Morgan had 12 points, five assists and five rebounds, classmate
Jack Gordon made all five of his shots en route to 12 points and five boards, and
Stone Gettings had 11 points and seven rebounds in a balanced effort.
• Cornell shot 50 percent from the floor, but made just 6-of-21 shots from beyond the arc.
PLAYER NOTES TO KNOW
• Junior
Matt Morgan, the nation's ninth-leading scorer, has been on a tear all season, averaging 22.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists this year, including claiming Ivy League Player of the Week honors three times.
• Morgan has reached double figures in 46 consecutive games, the sixth-longest active streak by a Division I player in the country entering the week.
• The 46 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 22.7 points per game, Morgan's scoring average would be the second-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 had his streak of 30 consecutive games with a made 3-pointer snapped at Yale (third-longest streak at Cornell).
• 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 17.3 ppg., 6.7 rpg. and 2.7 apg. in 26.6 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 20 games, spanning 556 minutes, Gettings has scored 366 points, grabbed 140 rebounds, dished 60 assists and collected 17 steals and 11 blocks — 26.3 ppg., 10.1 rpg., 4.3 apg. per 40 minutes.
• Gettings had a streak of six straight 20-point games snapped against Penn, a mark that would have tied the school record entering the season — that was broken and extended to 12 by Morgan earlier this year.
• After having teammates score 30 points in the same game just once in the first 119 years of Cornell basketball, juniors Morgan and 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.
• Junior forward Steven Julian is second in the Ancient Eight in blocked shots (1.4 bpg.), sixth in rebounding (5.8 rpg.) and is 11th in steals (1.1 spg.).
•
Jack Gordon, a career 43 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.
• Eleven different Big Red players to have reached double digits in scoring in at least one game this season.
• Members of the Cornell basketball team represent 10 states and the District of Columbia.
TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• The Big Red's triple overtime 107-101 win over Princeton was the longest game for Cornell since a 66-61 loss to the Tigers at home in five overtimes on Feb. 24, 1979 - a span of 1,108 games.
• It was the first time both Cornell and its opponent each scored at least 100 points in a game in school history.
• 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).
•
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 824 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 870 of 874 games (5,639 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 41-50 in games that go an extra period. Cornell is 7-9 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 30-19 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 will celebrate Senior Day when Brown visits Newman Arena on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 6 p.m.
• The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and simulcast on the Ivy League Network.
• The Big Red will be out to complete a season sweep of the Bears after a 78-60 victory on Feb. 9 in Providence, R.I.
• Seniors
Jordan Abdur-Ra'oof,
Wil Bathurst,
Kyle Brown and
Pat Smith will be honored in a pregame ceremony.
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