STORYLINE
• The Cornell men's basketball team closes out non-conference season when it visits Towson on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. at SECU Arena.
• The contest will be available to watch free on Stretch Internet.
• The game will be the final tuneup for the Ivy League regular season that begins at home against Columbia on Jan. 19 at 4 p.m. in Newman Arena.
• Cornell has won two of its last three contests entering Wednesday's non-league finale after extending its home win streak to three games with Friday's 76-61 victory over Division III foe Johnson & Wales.
• The Big Red had four double figure scorers in the win, assisted on 21 of its 30 made baskets and held the Wildcats to 23 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point arc.
• Senior guard Matt Morgan enters the matchup among the national leaders at 22.6 ppg. while adding 4.7 rpg., 2.6 apg., 1.1 spg. and 0.4 bpg.
• Morgan is 15 points shy of becoming the sixth Ivy League player to reach 2,000 points and also 43 shy and closing in on Ryan Wittman's school record of 2,028 points.
• Morgan, who holds the nation's third-longest double figure scoring streak at a school-record 66 games, is coming off a 22-point effort in the Big Red's 83-61 loss at Wake Forest on Jan .2.
• 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 (4.1 ppg.), Steven Julian (3.3 ppg., 6.3 rpg., 2.5 apg.), Jack Gordon (5.0 ppg., 2.5 rpg., 2.1 apg.) and Joel Davis (2.7 ppg.) join junior Josh Warren (8.5 ppg., 3.9 rpg., 3.1 apg.) and sophomore Terrance McBride (4.0 ppg., 2.3 rpg., 1.8 apg.) as players who have spent significant time as starters and are expected to continue playing key roles for Cornell in 2018-19.
• Sophomore forwards Jimmy Boeheim (10.0 ppg., 3.6 rpg.), the son of Naismith Hall of Fame Coach Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, and Jake Kuhn (5.3 ppg., 1.8 rpg.) have also been significant contributors off the bench, with Boeheim joining Davis in the starting lineup for the first time this season in the win over Johnson & Wales.
• 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.

THE SERIES VS. TOWSON
Overall: First-ever meeting
In Towson, Md.: N/A
Current Streak: N/A
Last Meeting: N/A
Earl vs. Towson: 0-0
Series Notes: This will be the first-ever matchup between the schools on the hardwood • Cornell is 8-16 all-time against current members of the Colonial Athletic Association

A WIN OVER TOWSON WOULD ...
• even Cornell's record on the season at 8-8.
• match the most non-conference wins in a season since the 2009-10 team with eight (joining 2012-13 and 2014-15). 
• match the number of road wins from 2017-18 (four).
• be the 1,262nd in program history (1,261-1,432 in 118 seasons, .468).

RECORD WATCH
• Matt Morgan enters the Towson game ...
    • 15 points from 2,000 (second player at Cornell, sixth in Ivy history to hit that mark).
    • 43 points shy of the Cornell career scoring record and moving into the top five in Ivy League history.
    • one free throw from owning the Cornell record (currently tied with Louis Jordan '59 with 435).

PLAYER NOTES TO KNOW
• Matt Morgan's 66 consecutive double figure scoring games has surpassed John Sheehy's 34 straight (1953-55) for a school record that had held for 62 years.
• Over his last five contests, Morgan has hit 39-of-44 free throws (.886) and has made at least eight in four of those games.
• Morgan is making his bid to lead the Ivy League in scoring for the fourth straight year, as his 22.6 ppg. is well ahead of Princeton's Devin Cannady (19.5 ppg.).
• Morgan is the only Cornell player ranked in the top 20 in Ivy League scoring,
• Sophomore Jimmy Boeheim is the eldest son of Syracuse head men's basketball coach and Naismith Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim.
• Senior Steven Julian has nine brothers and sisters.
• He is averaging 7.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots over his last seven games.
• 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.
• Sophomore Riley Voss has been credited with 14 assists and just two turnovers on the season.

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell is 4-0 this season and 11-2 in three years under head coach Brian Earl when holding opponents under 40 percent shooting and are 6-1 in 2018-19 and 24-9 overall when outshooting its foe.
• Cornell's bench outscored its opponents' reserves in its first 11 games this season and 15 straight contests dating back to last year before SMU held a 19-17 edge in bench scoring. That stretch is now 14-of-15 games this season and 18-of-19 overall.
• Prior to hitting 11 3-pointers in the win over Johnson & Wales, Cornell had made 22 treys in its previous four games (5.5 per game) while shooting just .237 from beyond the arc.
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 844 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 890 of 894 games (5,797 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Ivy League play begins on Saturday, Jan. 19 at 4 p.m. when Columbia visits Newman Arena.
• The Lions lead the all-time series 129-101, though the Big Red leads 18-14 over the last 16 seasons.
• The teams split the season series last winter, with Cornell earning an 82-81 win Ithaca on Jan. 27, 2018.