LAST TIME OUT: Lafayette 62, Cornell 59
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS I GALLERY I BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
• Jimmy Boeheim carried the Cornell men’s basketball team offensively against Lafayette, pouring in a season-high 27 points, but it was the Leopards who persevered, defeating the Big Red 62-59 at Newman Arena.
• With the game all knotted up at 59-59, Lafayette’s Myles Cherry came up big for the Leopards, draining a 3-pointer from the top of the key with just three seconds remaining on the clock to give Lafayette a 62-59 lead.
• Cornell would get a shot off in the closing seconds, but it was off the mark, and the Leopards prevailed.
• Boeheim single-handedly kept the Big Red in the game, scoring nearly half of Cornell’s 59 points, including 18 of the team’s 31 after halftime.
• Boeheim finished the game shooting 13-of-22 from the floor en route to his 27 points, adding eight rebounds, three assists, and two steals and freshman Jordan Jones also notched double figures with 11 points.
• Junior Bryan Knapp notched seven points, five rebounds and two steals while limiting Lafayette’s leading scorer, Justin Jaworski to 10 points, 11 under his season average entering the game.
NOTES TO KNOW
• Over the last three seasons, Cornell is 17-10 at home (.630).
• Cornell was 6-0 last season and 13-3 in four years under head coach Brian Earl when holding opponents under 40 percent shooting and were 10-2 in 2018-19 and 31-11 overall when outshooting its foe.
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 868 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 914 of 918 games (5,974 3-pointers over that span).
• The November 5 date vs. Binghamton was the earliest start to a Cornell men’s basketball season in the school’s 121 seasons.
• Cornell had 20 assists and just six turnovers in the win over Binghamton, just the 13th time since 1976 that Cornell had 20 or more assists and single-digit turnovers in a game.
• Cornell dropped consecutive one-point games to Bryant (82-81) and NJIT (59-58), the first time since December 1942 when the Big Red dropped games on the road to Rochester (36-35) and Seton Hall (29-28) on December 19-21.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
• This year marks the 10th anniversary of Cornell’s 2009-10 NCAA Sweet 16 team with a reunion planned the weekend of February 7-8.
• The 1987-88 squad that won an Ivy title will also return to campus that weekend to be honored for their achievements.
• 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 (Dayton) Miller.
• Seventh-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.
• Junior Jimmy Boeheim is the oldest son of Syracuse head men’s basketball coach and Naismith Hall of Famer Jim Boeheim.
• The Big Red ranks among the best according to the annual NCAA Division I Academic Progress Report (APR) for 2017-18 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 14 years since the APR began, including seven consecutive.
• The Big Red’s 17-man roster represents 11 states and the District of Columbia.
• Freshman Jordan Jones’ father Max played in the NFL (Buffalo Bills) and the USFL (Birmingham Stallions), while his uncle Sean Jones played in the NFL with the Los Angeles Raiders, Houston Oilers and Green Bay Packers, winning a Super Bowl title in 1997 with the Packers and twice capturing All-Pro honors.
• Sophomore Dean Noll helped guide Shawnee HS (N.J.), the alma mater of Cornell head coach Brian Earl, to a state title as a senior, earning MVP honors for the championship game. He broke the school’s single-season scoring record with 737 points - besting the previous mark of 675 set by Dan Earl, Brian’s older brother.
• Junior Sarju Patel will sit out the 2019-20 season as a transfer after averaging 10.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.9 steals per game at VMI under head coach Dan Earl.
CAPTAINS
• A trio of first-year captains will lead the Big Red into the 2019-20 campaign.
• Senior Josh Warren and juniors Jimmy Boeheim and Terrance McBride will take the leadership mantle.
NEXT UP
• After an 11-day break for final exams, Cornell will hit the road to face Hartford on Sunday, Dec. 22 at 2 p.m. in West Hartford, Conn.
• Hartford leads the all-time series 3-0 dating back to the first meeting between the teams during the 1984-85 season.
• The two teams haven’t met since the 2006-07 campaign, a 63-61 Hartford win on Nov. 28, 2006 in Ithaca, N.Y.
• Hartford is one of 17 schools Cornell is winless against in at least three meetings (including, Duke, Michigan and North Carolina).
