STORYLINE
• The Cornell men's basketball team will make its first postseason appearance in nine years when it plays Robert Morris in the first round of the 2019 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) on Tuesday, March 19 at 7 p.m.
• The contest will be broadcast on NEC Front Row with Chris Shovlin and Jim Elias on the call.
• The Big Red will be making its first CIT appearance.
• Cornell's previous five postseason appearances were all in the NCAA Tournament (1954, 1988, 2008, 2009, 2010) with an all-time record of 2-6.
• The last time Cornell competed in the postseason was a run to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2009-10 when the conference champs accumulated an Ivy record 29 wins, including consecutive wins over Temple and Wisconsin before dropping a regional semifinal to No. 1 Kentucky.
• Cornell is the sixth Ivy League school to participate in the CIT, with Columbia winning the title in 2016 and Yale advancing to the final in 2014. 
• Overall, Ivy schools are 10-6 (.625) in seven previous appearances.
• This season, Cornell owns a win over defending Ivy champ Penn, a sweep of this season's league champion Harvard, and 21-game winner NJIT.
• Senior Matt Morgan, an NABC All-District and unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection, ranks No. 2 in conference history in scoring (2,309 points), behind only former NBA All-Star and U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate Bill Bradley of Princeton (2,503 points).
• Morgan had an 80-game streak scoring in double figures snapped in the regular season finale — a total that was an Ivy record and the 12th-longest streak in NCAA history.
• The senior, who will be building on his own single-season scoring record (663 points), is the fourth player in program history to be a four-time All-Ivy selection, joining John Bajusz '87, Louis Dale '10 and Ryan Wittman '10, and is the first four-time scoring leader ever in the conference.
• 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 (2.5 ppg.), Steven Julian (4.2 ppg., 6.5 rpg., 2.2 apg., 1.5 bpg., 1.2 spg.), Jack Gordon (4.6 ppg., 1.9 rpg., 1.4 apg.) and Joel Davis (3.5 ppg., 1.9 rpg.) join junior Josh Warren (10.1 ppg., 4.4 rpg., 2.7 apg.) and sophomore Terrance McBride (4.4 ppg., 2.1 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 (11.2 ppg., 3.3 rpg.), the son of Naismith Hall of Fame Coach Jim Boeheim of Syracuse,  and Riley Voss (2.0 ppg., 1.3 rpg.) have also been significant contributors off the bench, with Boeheim joining Davis in the starting lineup for the last 16 games (9-7).
• Third-year head coach Brian Earl has led the Big Red to an increase in its conference win total in each of his three seasons and has boosted the team's overall win total from nine in his first season to 15 so far this year.
• Earl (Princeton '99) and ninth-year head coach Andy Toole (Penn '03) were on opposite ends of the bitter Princeton-Penn rivalry as players.

THE SERIES VS. ROBERT MORRIS
Overall: Cornell leads 2-0
In Moon Township, Pa.: First meeting
Current Streak: Cornell, 2 games
Last Meeting: Cornell won 77-66, 1/5/1985 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Earl vs. Robert Morris: 0-0
Series Notes: Series dates back to the 1983-84 season, a 70-68 Big Red victory at the Far West Classic in Portland, Ore. • the Big Red then picked up a 77-66 win over the Colonials the following year in Ithaca • the two teams have never meet at RMU • Cornell is 10-9 all-time against current members of the Northeast Conference, with eight of the contests against Saint Francis (Pa.) (4-4) • it will be the first meeting against an NEC team since falling at home to Saint Francis (Pa.) 72-67 on Dec. 7, 2013

A WIN OVER ROBERT MORRIS WOULD ...
• send Cornell into the second round of the CIT.
• guarantee the Big Red a season finish of .500 or better.
• make Cornell 10-7 in its last 17 games.
• move the Big Red's all-time postseason record to 3-6.
• extend Cornell's lead in the all-time series over Robert Morris to 3-0.
• be the 1,270th in program history (1,269-1,439 in 118 seasons, .469).

LAST TIME VS. ROBERT MORRIS
• First-team all-league selection John Bajusz scored 22 points and Ivy League Player of the Year Ken Bantum added 21 points as Cornell shot .645 from the floor en route to a 77-66 win over Robert Morris on Jan. 5, 1985 at Barton Hall in Ithaca, N.Y.
• Bajusz added five steals and his on 7-of-9 field goals while chipping in five steals, while Bantum connected on 13-of-15 free throw with seven rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots.
• Cornell made 37-of-50 free throws, out-shooting the Colonials 50-17 from the line.
• The visitors dominated the glass, 45-26., but turned the ball over 21 times and shot just 37 percent.
• Mike Brunson led RMU with 19 points, while Garth Wurstle (14 points) and Mark McCloud (10 points) also reached double figures.
• The .645 shooting (20-of-31) from the floor and 50 free throw attempts were both school records at the time and still rank among the top five marks on the single-game lists at Cornell. 

LAST TIME OUT
• The Cornell seniors brought the energy and the underclassmen fed off it as the Big Red closed out the regular season by completing a season sweep of Dartmouth with a 66-51 triumph on March 9 at Newman Arena. 
• A night after closing out a sweep of Ivy champ Harvard, Cornell shot 55 percent in the second half and limited the Big Green to 31 percent shooting itself to outscore Dartmouth 38-22 after the break. 
• A night after missing all 17 3-point attempts at Columbia, the Big Green shot just 1-of-18 from 3-point range and missed its final 17 after opening the game with a Brendan Barry trey. 
• Defense was the calling card all weekend, and Cornell forced 17 Dartmouth turnovers and had seven steals and four blocked shots in the win.
• Sophomore Jimmy Boeheim made 9-of-10 field goals, including both 3-point attempts, en route to a game-high 21 points off the bench in support of his senior teammates. 
• The five seniors earned the start after being honored prior to game time. 
• Senior Joel Davis had 11 points, Steven Julian had six points, seven rebounds and three steals and Matt Morgan, the second leading scorer in Ivy League history, had eight points, five assists and four rebounds in his final game on the Newman Arena floor. 
• Jack Gordon hit a key 3-pointer, and Troy Whiteside grabbed the Big Red's final rebound before getting a curtain call with 42 seconds left to the delight of the Big Red crowd.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Matt Morgan's 2,309 points ranks 13th among all active men's college basketball players (all divisions) and is eighth in Division I.
• Morgan's 80 consecutive double figure scoring games 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 12th in NCAA history.
• Morgan will lead the Ivy League in scoring for the fourth straight year, as his 22.1 ppg. is well ahead of the next qualifier, Penn's AJ Brodeur (17.6 ppg.).
• Morgan's 1,133 points in Ivy League play over four years surpassed the previous school mark of 899 by John Bajusz '87.
• Cornell is 6-0 this season and 13-2 in three years under head coach Brian Earl when holding opponents under 40 percent shooting and are 10-1 in 2018-19 and 30-9 overall when outshooting its foe.
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 859 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 905 of 909 games (5,911 3-pointers over that span).

NEXT UP
• A win would put Cornell into the second of the CIT with a likely home game on Monday, March 25 at Newman Arena.
• A loss would end the Big Red's season.