GAME 12: Dartmouth (3-8, 0-0 Ivy) at Cornell (8-3, 0-0 Ivy)

Date & Time: Sunday, Jan. 2 - 2:00 p.m.
Venue: Newman Arena (3,500) - Ithaca, N.Y.
Twitter: @CUBigRedGameday | @CUBigRedHoops
 

STORY LINES

• After a strong non-conference season, a young Cornell men's basketball team will attempt to make it mark in Ivy League play when Dartmouth visits Newman Arena on Sunday, Jan. 2 at 2 p.m.
• Barry Leonard and Eric Taylor '05 will be on the call on ESPN+.
• The Big Red is off to an 8-3 start, its best record after 11 games since the 2009-10 Sweet 16 season.
• Head coach Brian Earl's team has already surpassed its win total from the 2019-20 campaign (7-20) with wins over defending conference champions from the Patriot League (Colgate) and MEAC (Coppin State).
• Cornell, ranked fifth in the nation in scoring at 86.3 ppg., played at the fastest pace in the country in terms of shortest average possession time in Division I during the non-conference season.
• The Big Red will be playing its first home game since Dec. 5 and its first Ivy League contest since March 7, 2020 at Princeton.
• Sophomore Keller Boothby has emerged as one of the nation's top shooters, ranking first nationally in 3-point percentage (.569) and second in the Ancient Eight (39th nationally) with 3.0 made 3-pointers per contest.
• Cornell has shared the ball all season long, ranking first nationally in assists per game (21.5) and is in the top 20 in assist:turnover ratio (1.53).
• Senior Kobe Dickson (3.5) and junior Greg Dolan (3.3) rank second and fourth, respectively, in the conference in assists.
• The Big Red has lost consecutive games on the road against ACC opponents, most recently at Syracuse (80-68) on Dec. 29 at the Carrier Dome after a three-week hiatus due to final exams and a pair of COVID-19 forced cancellations by opponents.
• The Big Red played that contest without leading scorer Jordan Jones (12.7 ppg.), making 15 3-pointers and attempting a school single-game record of 46 in the loss.
• Cornell is unbeaten at home this season at 5-0 and is averaging 98.4 points on 52 percent shooting while hitting 13.2 3-pointers and averaging 27.8 assists in those games.
• Eleven players on the Big Red roster will be getting their first taste of Ivy League competition this weekend.
 

SERIES HISTORY

Overall: Cornell leads 112-108
In Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell leads 66-44
Current Streak: Dartmouth, 2 games
Last Meeting: Dartmouth won 82-70, 2/28/20 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Earl vs. Dartmouth: 6-2
Series Notes: Cornell holds a narrow 112-108 lead in a series that dates back to the 1900-01 campaign • Cornell has had the best of the series recently, having won 26 of the last 34 meetings • Cornell head coach Brian Earl is 6-2 all-time against the Big Green, though Dartmouth swept the series in 2019-20
 

A WIN OVER DARTMOUTH WOULD ...

• make Cornell 9-3 to start the season, including 1-0 in Ivy play.
• be the first Ivy win since March 7, 2020 at Princeton (span of 666 days).
• snap a two-game losing streak overall and a two-game skid against Dartmouth.
• widen the Big Red's lead in the all-time series to 113-108.
• keep the Big Red unbeaten at home this season (5-0).
• be the 1,286th in program history (1,285-1,463 in 120 seasons, .468).
 

SOME NOTES TO KNOW

• During Cornell's last six contests (4-2), Cornell has shot .507 from the floor (191-377) and .411 from the 3-point arc (81-of-197).
• After starting out his career 0-for-3 from 3-point range, sophomore Keller Boothby has made 33-of-55 treys over his last 10 games (.600).
• Since going 0-for-5 from the field at Penn State, freshman Guy Ragland Jr. has made 17-of-24 field goals (13-of-20 from 3-point range) and at one point made nine straight 3-pointers to set a Cornell record.
• Cornell is averaging 12.8 3-pointers made per game over its last eight.
• Over its last eight contests, Cornell is averaging 24.4 assists and has a 1.87 assist:turnover ratio.
• The Big Red is averaging 43.1 points per game off the bench, including 83 against Keuka.
• Cornell has outscored opponents 224-87 on fastbreak points so far this season.
• Cornell clinched its first winning non-conference slate since the 2009-10 season (16-4).
• It took 11 games for a Cornell player to surpass 30 minutes of playing time in a game, as Keller Boothby recorded 30:29 of playing time at Syracuse.
• Senior Kobe Dickson became the first player in school history to record nine assists and nine rebounds in the same game when he did so vs. Coppin State.
• Senior Sarju Patel sat 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.
• 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.
• Over his last three contests, freshman Guy Ragland Jr. is averaging 14.7 points and 5.0 rebounds while hitting 10-of-16 3-pointers (.625).
• Over the last seven contests, Cornell is 3-1 (17.3 ppg.) when Keller Boothby takes more than five shots and 1-2 (6.3 ppg.) when he doesn't.
• In its eight wins, Cornell has a robust 1.73 assist:turnover (187:108) ratio, while that number falls to 1.06 in its losses (50:47).
 

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• 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'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.
• 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.
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 898 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 944 of 948 games (6,240 3-pointers over that span).
• 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.
• Seniors Kobe Dickson and Sarju Patel and junior Greg Dolan are serving as the team's tri-captains for the 2021-22 campaign.
 

NEXT UP

• The Big Red hits the road in Ivy League competition for the first time in 2021-22 when it visits Penn and the famed Palestra on Friday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m.
• Cornell will be eyeing its first win at the Palestra since the 2012-13 campaign.
• The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+, and as of Dec. 31, fans will not be allowed to attend the game.