STORYLINE
• The Cornell men's basketball team will play a pivotal game in the race for the fourth and final spot in Ivy Madness when it visits Brown on Saturday, March 2 at 6 p.m. at the Pizzitola Sports Center.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Nick Coit and Adam Giardino on the call.
• At 5-6 in Ivy League play, Cornell is tied with the Bears and is a game ahead of Penn with three contests to play.
• Cornell has split the season series with the Quakers and will do no worse than a split with Brown after topping the Bears 70-66 in overtime on Feb. 16.
• The top three spots are all spoken for after Yale, Harvard and Princeton all claimed bids with their wins on Friday evening. 
• The three contenders for the fourth spot all lost, with Cornell falling at Yale 88-65 and the Bears dropping an 80-77 contest at home to Columbia. 
• A win would also match last season's win total in conference play (six), with Cornell already surpassing its overall win total from 2017-18 (12).
• Senior guard Matt Morgan, a two-time Ivy League Player of the Week, enters the matchup among the national leaders at 22.6 ppg. while adding 4.5 rpg., 2.8 apg. and 1.5 spg.
• Morgan comes off a season low 11 points in last night's 88-65 defeat at first-place Yale, a game that saw the Bulldogs hit 11-of-15 first half 3-pointers and score 61 points in the first 20 minutes.
• Morgan holds the nation's third-longest double figure scoring streak at a school and Ivy-record 78 games, a mark that is tied for the 12th-longest in NCAA history.
• 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 (2.8 ppg.), Steven Julian (4.1 ppg., 6.3 rpg., 2.3 apg., 1.6 bpg., 1.1 spg.), Jack Gordon (4.7 ppg., 2.1 rpg., 1.5 apg.) and Joel Davis (2.9 ppg., 1.9 rpg.) join junior Josh Warren (10.6 ppg., 4.7 rpg., 2.8 apg.) and sophomore Terrance McBride (4.1 ppg., 2.0 rpg., 1.7 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., 3.1 rpg.), the son of Naismith Hall of Fame Coach Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, Jake Kuhn (4.0 ppg., 1.8 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 12 games (7-5).
• 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. BROWN
Overall: Cornell leads 80-52
In Providence, R.I.: Cornell leads 33-32
Current Streak: Cornell, 4 games
Last Meeting: Cornell won 70-66 in OT, 2/15/19 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Earl vs. Brown: 4-1
Series Notes: Cornell holds an 80-52 lead in a series that dates back to the 1949-50 campaign • Cornell has had the best of the series recently, having won 22 of the last 29 meetings • the Bears ended Cornell's 13-game win streak in the series in March 2013 and the series is split right down the middle since (6-6)

A WIN OVER BROWN WOULD ...
• give Cornell a 14-14 overall mark and a 6-6 record in Ivy League play.
• complete the season sweep over Brown while extending its win streak over the Bears to five games.
• extend the Big Red's lead in the all-time series to 81-52.
• make Cornell 8-6 in its last 14 games overall.
• give Cornell a 12-11 record in its last 23 Ivy regular season contests.
• snap a four-game losing streak.
• be the 1,268th in program history (1,267-1,438 in 118 seasons, .468).

LAST TIME VS. BROWN
• Cornell scored the first seven points in overtime and held on for a 70-66 win over Brown on Feb. 15 at Newman Arena.
• Sophomore Jimmy Boeheim scored 21 points to lead three double figure scorers, with Josh Warren (18 points, five rebounds) and Matt Morgan (15 points, six rebounds, five assists, two steals, two blocked shots) joining him. 
• The Big Red forced the Bears to shoot 43 percent for the game, including 36 percent after halftime and 0-for-9 from beyond the arc while forcing 20 turnovers. 
• Steven Julian was credited with five points, six rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots, classmate Jack Gordon notched four points, four rebounds and four assists and Terrance McBride scored five points with five boards and two assists - with all three contributing a great deal on the defensive side. 
• That allowed the home team to rally from a 13-point deficit in the first half in collecting its sixth win in its last seven home contests.
• Brown had four in double figures, with Obi Okolie posting 15 points and seven rebounds to lead the way. 
• Tamenang Choh had a double-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists and George Mawanda-Kalema scored 14 points off the bench. 
• Leading scorer Desmond Cambridge had 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting and made just 2-of-10 from beyond the arc.

LAST TIME OUT
• Yale scored the game's first 12 points, made a blistering 11-of-15 3-pointers in the first half and cruised to an 88-65 victory over Cornell last night at John J. Lee Amphitheater. 
Yale's Miye Oni hit 7-of-9 first half 3-pointers and rang up 25 points before the break as Yale had 18 assists and just two turnovers in the first 20 minutes, playing nearly perfect basketball.
Oni hit a 3-pointer 15 seconds in and Yale never allowed Cornell back in.
When Alex Copeland beat the buzzer with a long 3-pointer in front of Cornell's bench, the visitors surpassed 60 points - becoming the first Cornell opponent to score 60 points in a half since Lehigh netted 68 second half points in a 105-89 win on Nov. 26, 1994.
The loss overshadowed a strong effort by junior big man Josh Warren, who scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half. Matt Morgan extended his streak of consecutive games in double figures to 78 - and moved into a tie for 12th place on the NCAA all-time list. 
Jimmy Boeheim and Jack Gordon each scored eight points. 
Oni ended the night with 30 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals, while Paul Atkinson had 14 points and six boards off the bench.
Both Copeland and Bruner chipped in 11 points. The Bulldogs shot 52 percent overall and 55 percent from beyond the arc.
Yale was credited with 25 assists to just nine turnovers, held a 38-35 rebounding advantage and remained a game ahead of Harvard with the victory.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Matt Morgan's 2,256 points ranks 12th among all active men's college basketball players (all divisions) and is seventh in Division I.
• Morgan's 78 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 12th in NCAA history.
• 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 Harvard's Bryce Aiken (20.9 ppg.).
• Morgan's 1,080 points in Ivy League play over four years has already surpassed the previous mark of 899 by John Bajusz '87.
• Morgan is averaging 2.4 steals in his last eight contests.
• During Cornell's last 13 games (7-6), junior Josh Warren has shot 61-of-110 (56 percent) from the floor (13-of-26 from 3-point range) and has averaged 12.5 points and 5.7 rebounds.
• Warren is just the 18th player in school history to reach 500 points, 300 rebounds and 150 assists in a career.
• 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 856 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 902 of 906 games (5,894 3-pointers over that span).
• Dating back to the first overtime game against Penn way back in 1922, Cornell is 43-52 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 31-20 in home overtime games, 2-2 in neutral contests and 11-29 in road games.

NEXT UP
• The Big Red closes out the regular season with contests against Harvard and Dartmouth beginning with the Crimson on Friday, March 8 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• Cornell will be attempting to complete its first season sweep of the Crimson since the 2009-10 campaign.