Men's Basketball Eyes Four In A Row When Canisius Visits Tuesday

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 
• The Cornell men's basketball team will go for its fourth consecutive victory and extend its non-league home win streak to 10 games when it hosts Canisius on Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 5 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• Barry Leonard and Eric Taylor '05 will be on the call on ESPN+.
• Cornell enters the contest fresh off an 83-61 win over crosstown foe Ithaca College on Friday, Nov. 18, its sixth win without a loss all-time against the Division III Bombers, a perennial national and regional power.
• Sophomore Guy Ragland Jr. posted his second career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Keller Boothby hit four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points and seven rebounds.
• Cornell hit 12 3-pointers and shot 48 percent from the floor, assisting on 21 baskets and holding the Bombers to 33 percent shooting, including just 6-of-30 from 3-point range.
• Through four contests, the 3-1 Big Red are averaging 88.5 points on 51 percent shooting and connecting on 13.0 3-pointers per contest on 39 percent from beyond the arc.
• Head coach Brian Earl's team continues to share the ball, ranking among the national leaders at 22.0 assists per contest.
• The Golden Griffins topped Fredonia 98-52 on Sunday evening to even its record at 2-2 for head coach Reggie Witherspoon, including a win over Big Four rival St. Bonaventure.
• Tahj Staveskie (14.8 ppg.) leads four double figure scorers for Canisius, who have used an eight-man rotation through four games.

THE SERIES 
Overall: Cornell leads 27-18
In Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell leads 13-5
Current Streak: Cornell, 1 game
Last Meeting: Cornell won 89-75,11/29/21 in Buffalo, N.Y.
Earl vs. Canisius: 1-0
Series Notes: The two programs first squared off during the 1914-15 season with the Big Red earning a 49-13 victory • prior to last year, the Big Red last topped the Golden Griffins in Buffalo on Dec. 2, 1987, a 94-89 victory • Cornell is 67-59 all-time against current members of the MAAC, including 60-50 against its New York schools • 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 ... 
• push Cornell's record to 4-1 on the season.
• make the Big Red 28-18 all-time against the Golden Griffins.
• extend its non-conference home win streak to 10 games.
• make Cornell 68-59 all-time against teams from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
• up Cornell’s non-conference record to 14-4 over its past 17 contests.
• be the 1,296th in program history (1,295-1,472-2 in 121 seasons, .468).

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 83, Ithaca College 61
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS I GALLERY
• Sophomore Guy Ragland Jr. posted his second career double-double to lead four double figure scorers as Cornell improved to 3-1 on the season with an 83-61 victory over a game Ithaca College squad on Friday, Nov. 18 at Newman Arena. 
• The Big Red gradually pulled away against its Division III opponent, improving to 6-0 all-time against the Bombers.
• Ragland had 14 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot, while Keller Boothby matched him in the scoring column with 14 points and seven rebounds. 
• Greg Dolan chipped in 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Nazir Williams had 12 points. 
• Sean Hansen and Isaiah Gray each had seven points and Chris Manon had five points, four rebounds and four assists in the win. 
• Cornell hit 12 3-pointers and shot 48 percent from the floor, assisting on 21 baskets and holding the Bombers to 33 percent shooting, including just 6-of-30 from 3-point range.
• Logan Wendell had a game-high 16 points with five rebounds and three assists to lead the Bombers, while Jack Stern notched 10 points and grabbed six boards. 
• Ithaca cut an 18-point deficit to six with 14:07 left in regulation on consecutive 3-pointers by Wendell, but Max Watson hit a 3-pointer on the other end to trigger a game-clinching 12-2 run for the home team.
• Once built up, Ithaca never got back within 15 points the rest of the way.

NOTES FROM THE ITHACA COLLEGE GAME
• Sophomore Guy Ragland Jr. posted his second career double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds), both coming off the bench.
• He is just the sixth player in school history with multiple double-double efforts off the bench (Stan Brown, Mike Millane, Bernard Jackson, Brian Kopf and Jeff Foote) in a career.
• With four 3-pointers on nine attempts, Keller Boothby surpassed the 150 attempt threshold to qualify for the school's career percentage lead — which he now has at .457.
• Senior Greg Dolan has three of Cornell's 15 career games scoring in double figures with at least six rebounds, six assists and one or fewer turnovers — a program best.
• Keller Boothby had one assist and zero turnovers, giving him seven assists and zero turnovers in 97 minutes of action this season. For his career, Boothby averages one turnover every 63.5 minutes of court time.
• Cornell has now scored at least 80 points in three straight games for the first time since four consecutive last season (Saint Francis 93, Canisius 89, Copping State 92, Keuka 122).  

NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 916 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 962 of 966 games (6,410 3-pointers over that span).
• The Big Red’s five-game win streak to start the 2021-22 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.
• Brian Earl and his brother Dan (Chattanooga) 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.
• Tenth-year assistant coach Jon Jaques was a starter and senior captain on the 2009-10 Cornell team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.
• After the Ivy League didn’t compete during the 2019-20 season, Cornell’s first game of the 2021-22 season 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, 2021 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.
• 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.
• 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.

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