STORYLINE
• After a tremendous comeback attempt fell short on Friday at Princeton, the Cornell men's basketball team will attempt to solidify its grip on the fourth and final Ivy League Tournament spot when it meets defending Ivy champion Penn on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. at The Palestra.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Joe Tordy and Vince Curran on the call.
• The Big Red fell behind by 18 points in the second half last night at Princeton, cut the deficit to two points with five minutes to play, but was held scoreless over the final 4:50 as the Tigers escaped with a 68-59 victory.
• Cornell enters the night at 5-4 in conference action - one game ahead of Brown and two clear of defending Ivy champ Penn for the coveted fourth spot in the Ivy Tournament with five to play.
• Senior guard Matt Morgan, a two-time Ivy League Player of the Week, enters the matchup among the national leaders at 23.1 ppg. while adding 4.6 rpg., 2.8 apg. and 1.5 spg.
• Morgan, who holds the nation's third-longest double figure scoring streak at a school and Ivy-record 76 games, is coming off a season-low 12-point effort at Princeton last night.
• 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 (3.0 ppg.), Steven Julian (4.1 ppg., 6.4 rpg., 2.4 apg., 1.7 bpg., 1.0 spg.), Jack Gordon (4.8 ppg., 1.9 rpg., 1.6 apg.) and Joel Davis (2.8 ppg., 1.8 rpg.) join junior Josh Warren (10.6 ppg., 4.7 rpg., 3.0 apg.) and sophomore Terrance McBride (4.2 ppg., 2.0 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 (11.5 ppg., 3.1 rpg.), the son of Naismith Hall of Fame Coach Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, Jake Kuhn (4.0 ppg., 1.7 rpg.) and Riley Voss (2.2 ppg., 1.2 rpg.) have also been significant contributors off the bench, with Boeheim joining Davis in the starting lineup for the last 11 games (7-4).
• 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. PENN
Overall: Penn leads 156-75
In Philadelphia, Pa.: Penn leads 88-28
Current Streak: Cornell, 1 game
Last Meeting: Cornell won 80-71, 2/1/19 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Earl vs. Penn: 1-4
Series Notes: Series dates back to the 1903-04 season • the Big Red snapped an 11-game losing streak against Penn earlier this season • the Quakers have won 13 of the last 15 meetings • prior to that, Cornell won 7-of-8 contests • Penn swept the series a year ago, knocking off the Big Red 69-61 in Philadelphia and toppling Cornell 79-71 a month later in Ithaca

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD ...
• give Cornell a 14-12 overall mark and a 6-4 start in Ivy League play.
• make Cornell 8-4 in its last 12 games overall.
• give Cornell a 12-9 record in its last 21 Ivy regular season contests.
• snap a two-game losing streak.
• give Cornell the tiebreaker over Penn in the race for an Ivy playoff bid.
• cut the Quakers' lead all-time to 156-76 and give Cornell a season sweep of Penn for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
• be the 1,268th in program history (1,267-1,436 in 118 seasons, .469).

LAST TIME VS. PENN
• Matt Morgan scored 19 of his 25 points in the seconds half as Cornell overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to knock off defending Ivy League champion Penn 80-71 on Feb. 1 at Newman Arena. 
• Morgan, who moved into a tie with Yale's Butch Graves for No. 3 all-time in Ivy history with 2,090 points with his effort, added eight rebounds and four assists in the victory. 
• Cornell scored 50 second half points and shot 52 percent from the floor after the break while committing just nine turnovers on the night and forcing 19. 
• Morgan was one of four double figure scorers on the day for the Big Red, with Josh Warren scoring 19 with eight boards and both Terrance McBride and Jimmy Boeheim notched 11 apiece. 
• Steven Julian was all over the court for the Big Red in the win, scoring five points, grabbing five rebounds, blocking four shots and being credited with three steals. 
• AJ Brodeur led the Quakers with 17 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal and Michael Wang chipped in 16 points, four rebounds and four assists. 
• Bryce Washington added 15 and Devon Goodman notched 12. 
• The visitors held a 46-32 edge on the glass and connected on 12 3-pointers.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Senior Matt Morgan's 76 consecutive double figure scoring games has now more than doubled John Sheehy's 34 straight (1953-55) for a school record that had held for 62 years, is an Ivy record and ranks 18th in NCAA history.
• Morgan has scored fewer than 20 points in seven previous games this season and have responded by averaging 28.6 points in the following contest, including games of 41, 38 and 35 points.
• In those games he has shot .619 from the floor overall (65-of-105), .590 from 3-point range (36-of-61) and .895 from the free-throw line (34-of-38).
• He is averaging 24.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.5 steals in the team's last 13 contests against Division I opponents.
• Morgan's 1,048 points in Ivy League play over four years has already surpassed the previous school mark of 899 by John Bajusz '87.
• During Cornell's last 11 games (7-4), junior Josh Warren has shot 52-of-91 (57 percent) from the floor (11-of-21 from 3-point range) and has averaged 12.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists.
• Entering last night's 13-point second half against Princeton, sophomore Riley Voss' career high against Division I opponents was six in this year's home win over Columbia.
• Sophomore Jimmy Boeheim is averaging 17.8 points over his last four games while shooting 28-of-53 from the floor (.528).
• In Ivy League play, senior Steven Julian leads the league in blocks (2.1) and is second to teammate Matt Morgan in steals (2.0). 
• 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 8-1 in 2018-19 and 28-9 overall when outshooting its foe.
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 854 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 900 of 904 games (5,878 3-pointers over that span).

NEXT UP
• Cornell continues its four-game road swing when it visits first-place Yale on Friday, March 1 at 7 p.m. at John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn.
• The Big Red dropped a 98-92 contest to the Bulldogs in Ithaca on Feb. 16, its 12th consecutive loss to Yale.