Men's Basketball Eyes 2-0 Road Start When It Visits Lafayette

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 
• After finally getting back on the court for the first time in more than 600 days, the Cornell men’s basketball team will attempt to start 2-0 for just the second time in more than a decade when it visits Lafayette on Friday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa.
• The Big Red has won two consecutive road games, but those victories spanned a total of 612 days after its Tuesday win at Binghamton (76-69).
• A win on Friday would be the first time Cornell won consecutive road games to begin a season since dropping Alabama (71-67) and Massachusetts (74-61) in 2009-10.
• Cornell led wire-to-wire against the Bearcats, limiting the home team to 39 percent shooting overall and a miserable 6-of-35 night from 3-point range while tallying 12 steals.
• Junior Jordan Jones posted a career-high 20 points, while sophomore Chris Manon had 17 points and seven boards in his collegiate debut.
• Cornell returns to the site of head coach Brian Earl’s first win as a head coach — an 82-75 victory over the Leopards on Nov. 20, 2016 
• Lafayette will be playing its home opener while attempting to bounce back from a season-opening 97-63 loss at Syracuse on Tuesday at the Carrier Dome behind 18 points and five rebounds from former Big Red player Jimmy Boeheim ‘21.

ABOUT LAFAYETTE
• Lafayette is 0-1 on the season after dropping its opener on Tuesday at Syracuse, 97-63.
• The Leopards are 28-18 over its last three seasons, posting its first consecutive winning campaigns since 1998-99 and 1999-2000. 
• Center Neal Quinn led the team in assists a year ago (3.8 apg.) to go along with 10.6 ppg. and 5.5 rpg.
• Though he’s the lone returning double figure scorer, Leo O’Boyle (8.5 ppg., 3.0 rpg.), Kyle Jenkins (8.3 ppg., 4.2 rpg.) and Tyrone Perry (8.3 ppg., 3.6 rpg.) were on the cusp and were each in double figures against the Orange in the opener.
• Head coach Fran O’Hanlon, the all-time winningest coach in Patriot League history, is in his 27th season on the sidelines at Lafayette and has won 352 games, four conference titles and claimed three NCAA Tournament appearances.

THE SERIES 
Overall: Lafayette leads the series 12-11
First Meeting: Lafayette, 41-25 (1/7/1930 in Ithaca, N.Y.)
In Easton, Pa.: Lafayette leads 7-2
Current Streak: Lafayette, 1
Last Meeting: Lafayette, 62-69 (12/7/2019 in Ithaca, N.Y.)
Earl vs. Lafayette: Cornell leads 3-1
Series Notes: Lafayette won the last meeting between the two teams 62-59 in Ithaca to snap Cornell’s four-game win streak over the Leopards in Ithaca • Cornell head coach Brian Earl picked up his first collegiate victory in 2016 against the Leopards and the Patriot League’s all-time leader in wins, Fran O’Hanlon • the Big Red is 149-127 all-time against current members of the Patriot League • Cornell holds series advantages against Army West Point (20-13), Colgate (73-58), Lehigh (13-9) and Navy (3-2) and trails Bucknell (25-23), Holy Cross (3-2) and Loyola (MD) (2-1) • the series with American (1-1) and Boston University (2-2) are tied.

A WIN OVER LAFAYETTE WOULD ... 
• make Cornell 2-0 to start a season for the first time since winning three straight to begin the 2018-19 campaign.
• even the all-time series at 12-12.
• be the 150th all-time for the Big Red against current members of the Patriot League.
• make head coach Brian Earl 4-1 against Lafayette.
• give Cornell three consecutive road wins for the first time since defeating Dartmouth in the final game of 2017-18 and opening the following year with triumphs over Binghamton and NJIT.
• be the 1,278th in program history (1,277-1,460 in 120 seasons, .467). 

LAST TIME THEY MET 
• 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.

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 76, Binghamton 69
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE
• Cornell’s defense had plenty of rest and the extra energy paid dividends in a 76-69 victory at Binghamton in the 2021-22 season opener for both squads.
• The Big Red looked like a team in mid-season form on the defensive end, not one that hadn’t played in 612 days. 
• Cornell forced 18 turnovers with 12 steals and limited the Bearcats to 39 percent shooting overall and a miserable 6-of-35 night from beyond the arc (17 percent) to overcome its own hiccups in the opener.
• Jordan Jones scored 20 and Chris Manon netted 17 points with the sophomore adding seven rebounds and two steals for the Big Red in his first collegiate game. 
• Greg Dolan had nine points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in the victory, while Sarju Patel chipped in seven points with four boards. 
• Kobe Dickson provided a monster presence in the paint, scoring three points with four rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. 
• He also changed numerous shots while committing just two fouls in 30 minutes. 
• The Big Red connected on 47 percent of its shots overall and held a 19-10 edge in fastbreak points.

NOTES FROM BINGHAMTON GAME
• Chris Manon’s 17 points are the most by a Big Red player making his collegiate debut since Matt Morgan had 20 points against Georgia Tech to open 2015-16, while his seven rebounds are the most since Chris Vandenberg had seven at Canisius to begin the 2001-02 campaign.
• Jordan Jones’ 20 points were a career high.
• No player on the roster saw 30 minutes of action with Kobe Dickson the closest (29:53).
• Binghamton’s six 3-pointers are the fewest Cornell has ever allowed an opponent who has shot more than 30 treys in a contest.
• Six players made their collegiate debut (Keller Boothby, Isaiah Gray, Sean Hansen, Chris Manon, Evan Williams, Nazir Williams) and another (Sarju Patel) made his Cornell debut.
• All seven of those players scored their first points in a Cornell uniform.
• Greg Dolan, Patel and Manon each made their first collegiate starts in the win.
• The four 3-pointers made by the Big Red are the fewest in a win since also connecting on four in a 66-51 victory over Dartmouth on March 9, 2019.

NOTES TO KNOW
• The Big Red will be one the least experienced teams in the country in 2021-22,  bringing back less than a third of its scoring, rebounding and assists from two seasons ago (Cornell and the Ivy League did not compete in 2020-21 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic). 
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 888 consecutive games 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 934 of 938 games (6,119 3-pointers over that span).
• In 2019-20, the Big Red lost three games by a single point, five by a single possession, six by four points or less and eight by single digits.
• Brian Earl and his brother Dan (VMI) one of three active sets of brothers directing Division I programs, joining Bobby (Arizona State) and Danny (Connecticut) Hurley and Joe (Boston University) and James (Yale) Jones.
• Junior 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.
• Senior 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.
• Senior Sarju Patel seat out the 2019-20 season as a transfer and 2020-21 due to the pandemic after averaging 10.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.9 steals per game at VMI under head coach Dan Earl.
• Ninth-year assistant coach Jon Jaques was a starter and senior captain on the 2009-10 Cornell team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.
• Four 2020 Cornell graduates — Jimmy Boeheim (Syracuse, 18.0 ppg., 5.0 rpg.), Bryan Knapp (George Washington), Terrance McBride (Rice, 4.0 ppg., 2.0 rpg., 4.0 apg., 4.0 spg.) and Riley Voss (Wright State, 3.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg., 1.0 apg., 1.0 spg.) — will play at Division I institutions this winter as grad students.
• 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 continues to be ranked among the best according to the annual NCAA Division I Academic Progress Report (APR). 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 since the APR began in 2005, including seven consecutive (2009-16).
• The Big Red’s 18-man roster represents seven states, with seven players coming from the great State of the New York, three more from both New Jersey and Texas and two from California.
• Dating back to the first overtime game against Penn way back in 1922, Cornell is 41-51 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 10-29 in road games.
• Are Cornell Student-Athletes on Scholarship? The easy answer is no. Cornell student-athletes are awarded need-based financial aid, just as any other student who applies to the school. That package can come in the form of student loans and grants. The basic intent of the original Ivy League agreement of 1954 was to improve and foster intercollegiate athletics while keeping the emphasis on such competition in harmony with the educational purpose of the institutions. The Ivy League is nationally recognized for its level of success — absent of athletic scholarships — while rigorously maintaining its self-imposed high academic standards. The Ivy League has demonstrated a rare willingness and ability, given the current national pressures on intercollegiate success, to abide by these rules and still compete successfully in Division I athletics.

CAPTAINS 
• A trio of first-year captains will lead the Big Red into the 2021-22 campaign.
• Seniors Kobe Dickson and Sarju Patel and junior Greg Dolan will take primary leadership roles.

Photos by Dave Burbank, Madison Epperson, Eldon Lindsay, Patrick Shanahan and Darl Zehr