Men's Basketball Visits Canisius Looking To Add To Recent Road Success

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 
• After a short Thanksgiving break, the Cornell men’s basketball team will attempt to keep up its early season momentum when it visits Canisius on Monday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Koessler Athletic Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
• Andy Helwig and Richard Walsh will be on the call on the ESPN3 broadcast.
• Cornell is off to a 5-1 start, its best record after six games since 1967, and has won seven of its last eight non-league contests dating back to the 2019-20 campaign.
• The Big Red, which ranks in the top 10 in adjusted pace according to KenPom, is averaging a healthy 22.7 assists per game over its last three contests while averaging 12.7 treys over that same span.
• Cornell has played at least 13 players in each contest as part of its usual rotation, with no one averaging more than 22.0 minutes per game.
• The Big Red is averaging 49.5 points from its bench and has outscored the opposing reserves in five of its first six games (4-1).
• Cornell didn’t pick up its fifth win in 2019-20 until Feb. 8 and its sixth on Feb. 22 en route to a 7-20 campaign.
• Canisius enters the game on a two-game win streak and is a perfect 2-0 at home this season.

ABOUT CANISIUS
• Canisius is riding a two-game win streak after opening the season with four consecutive defeats.
• Among its losses were tight contests to nationally-ranked St. Bonaventure, as well as losses at Miami (Fla.), East Carolina and Cleveland State.
• After beginning the season with four games on the road, the Golden Griffins have won consecutive games at home, including a 76-75 victory over Coppin State on Nov. 24.
• Jacco Fritz hit 1-of-2 free throws with 1.1 seconds remaining to erase a three-point deficit in the final minute against the Eagles.
• The contest will be the final non-conference game for Canisius prior to opening play in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play.
• Malek Green leads the team in scoring (16.2 ppg., 6.5 rpg.), with both Armon Harried (12.5 ppg.) and Siem Uijtendaal (12.0 ppg.) also in double figures.
• Fritz, who hit the game-winning free throws against Coppin State, is posting 8.5 points and a team-best 6.7 rebounds.
• Sixth-year head coach Reggie Witherspoon is one victory from moving into sixth place on the school’s career wins list (75) and has 273 collegiate coaching wins, including five 20-win seasons and four postseason victories.

THE SERIES 
Overall: Cornell leads 26-18, first meeting in 1914-15
In Buffalo, N.Y.: series tied 13-13
Current Streak: Canisius, 1
Last Meeting: Canisius won 87-62 (11/21/2015 in Buffalo, N.Y.)
Earl vs. Canisius: First meeting
Series Notes: The two programs first squared off during the 1914-15 season with the Big Red earning a 49-13 victory • Cornell and Canisius have only played six times since 1993 with Canisius winning four of six • the Big Red last topped the Golden Griffins in Buffalo ion Dec. 2, 1987, a 94-89 victory • Cornell is 66-59 all-time against current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, including 59-50 against its New York schools (Canisius, Iona, Manhattan, Marist, Niagara and Siena) • Cornell holds series advantages over Niagara (27-22) and Rider (3-0) and trails against Fairfield (0-2), Iona (0-2), Marist (2-3), Monmouth (0-2), Saint Peter’s (1-3) and Siena (3-4) • the Big Red is tied with Manhattan (1-1) and Quinnipiac (2-2).

A WIN OVER CANISIUS WOULD ... 
• make Cornell 6-1 to start the season for the first time since 1967.
• extend the Big Red’s lead in the all-time series to 27-18.
• up Cornell’s non-conference record to 8-1 over its last nine contests. 
• give the Big Red a 4-1 road mark in its last five games away from Ithaca (dating back to 2019-20).
• make Cornell 67-59 all-time against teams from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
• be the 1,283rd in program history (1,282-1,461 in 120 seasons, .467). 

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 93, Saint Francis (Pa.) 80
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I GALLERY I HIGHLIGHTS
• The Big Red made 16 3-pointers and led nearly wire-to-wire in a 93-80 victory over Saint Francis (Pa.) in a Thanksgiving-eve matinee at Newman Arena.
• Cornell made 10 in the first 20 minutes and ended the afternoon with the third-most in a single game in school history. 
• Sophomore Keller Boothby hit a career-high five from downtown and Sarju Patel connected on three as Cornell hit 46 percent from beyond the arc.
• Freshman guard Nazir Williams had a game-high 21 points with three assists in just 19 minutes of action, while Boothby had 17 points and seven rebounds. 
• They were joined in double figures by Patel and Jordan Jones, who each had 11. 
• Kobe Dickson matched Boothby’s game-high seven boards and the Big Red held a 39-37 edge on the glass, while Dean Noll had a team-best five assists among 25 total helpers for the home team. 
• The 25 assists rank seventh all-time in a game at Cornell. 
• The Cornell bench outscored the Red Flash reserves 61-28 in the win.
• The victory helped Cornell improve to 5-1 in a season for the first time since 1967 and moved the Big Red into the lead in the all-time series with Saint Francis (5-4). 

NOTES FROM SAINT FRANCIS (PA.) GAME
• The Big Red connected on 16 3-pointers, tied for the third-most in a game in school history, while its 35 attempts is tied for sixth-most.
• Cornell dished out 25 assists, the seventh-most in a game all-time in Big Red history.
• In its last two home games, the Big Red has been credited with 55 assists (27.5 per contest).
• Freshman guard Nazir Williams hit 7-of-10 shots en route to a career-high 21 points and has no made 50 percent of his shots or better in all six collegiate games.
• Through six contests, Cornell has scored at least 74 points in each contest.  Since 1972, Cornell has averaged 74 points or better just five times in those 49 years.
• Sophomore Keller Boothby is the first Cornell player to hit at least five 3-pointers in a game since Josh Warren made five against Penn on Feb. 9, 2020.

PLAYER NOTES TO KNOW
• After starting out his career 0-for-3 from 3-point range, sophomore Keller Boothby has made 13-of-24 treys over his last five games (.542).
• No Big Red player has recorded more than 30 minutes of playing time this season, with senior captain Kobe Dickson’s 29:53 against Binghamton being the high-water mark.
• Sophomore Sean Hansen had 11 rebounds in just 12 minutes of action against Wells, the Big Red’s first double figure rebounding game off the bench since Errick Peck corralled 10 vs. Longwood on Nov. 24, 2012.
• Hansen has nine assists and three turnovers over his last four outings.
• 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.
• Sophomore Chris Manon has multiple steals in five of his first six collegiate games. and ranks third in the Ancient Eight (2.0 spg.)
• 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 former Penn State star, Dan Earl.
• Patel’s 3-pointer with 13 seconds left at Lafayette was his first in a collegiate game since March 9, 2019 when he went 1-of-3 against No. 22 Wofford in the Southern Conference Tournament.
• Patel has been credited with 10 assists and one turnover in 132 minutes of action this season.
• Freshman guard Nazir Williams has shot 50 percent better in all six games and is shooting 68 percent (19-of-28) from the floor overall.
• In his last four games, Williams is averaging 15.5 points, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 18.0 minutes per game.

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• After the Ivy League didn’t compete during the 2019-20 season, Cornell’s first game against Binghamton, a 76-67 Big Red victory, was its first in 612 days.
• The Big Red features an 18-player roster for sixth-year head coach Brian Earl that includes 11 that had never suited up for Cornell and 10 that had never played a collegiate game prior to Nov. 9.
• No player that had previously suited up for a full season for the Big Red averaged 20 minutes per game. Along with the 11 players that have never played a minute for Cornell, two of the returners combined to play 41 total minutes.
• The Big Red’s home win over Colgate on Nov. 16 was its first contest at Newman Arena since a 67-58 defeat at the hand of Harvard on Feb. 29, 2020 - a span of 627 days.
• In two different games this season, Cornell has limited opponents below 20 percent shooting from beyond the arc in more than 30 attempts - prior to this season it had never happened since the 3-point shot was instituted in Division I in 1986.
• The Big Red’s five-game win streak to start the season was its longest since walking off the floor victorious in nine consecutive contests late in 2009-10.
• Its six-game non-conference roll was its longest since winning 10 consecutive during the 2009-10 season when it advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.
• Cornell has made at least as many free throws as its opponents have attempted in four of six contests this season and is averaging 22.2 attempts per game.
• Over its last five contests, Cornell is averaging 20.0 assists and has a 1.6 assist:turnover ratio.
• The Big Red has 65 offensive rebounds in its last four games (16.3 per game).
• Cornell has held four of its six opponents to 40 percent shooting or below, and four foes to sub-33 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
• The Big Red is averaging 40.3 points per game off the bench, including 49.5 over its last four outings.
• Cornell has outscored opponents 117-56 on fastbreak points so far this season.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES TO KNOW
• The Big Red is 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 893 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 939 of 943 games (6,175 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.
• 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 and Big Red starters — Jimmy Boeheim (Syracuse, 12.3 ppg., 6.7 rpg.), Bryan Knapp (George Washington), Terrance McBride (Rice, 3.0 ppg., 1.1 rpg., 1.7 apg.) and Riley Voss (Wright State, 4.0 ppg, 1.3 rpg., 1.0 apg.) — 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).
• 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.

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