Men's Hoops Hits The Road For Friday Matinee at Monmouth

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 
• The Cornell men's basketball team will attempt to extend its win streak to five games when it visits Monmouth on Friday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. at OceanFirst Bank Center in West Long Branch, N.J.
• Eddy Occhipinti and Chris Williams will be on the call on FloHoops.
• Cornell picked up a 79-70 win on Tuesday afternoon against Canisius, a game that saw the Big Red hold a double-digit lead most of the way to extend its non-conference home win streak to 10 games, its longest in more than 35 years.
• Sophomore guard Nazir Williams led six double figure scorers with his first career double-double, posting 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in the victory.
• Through five contests, the 4-1 Big Red are averaging 86.6 points on 51 percent shooting and connecting on 12.6 3-pointers per contest (second nationally) on 38 percent from beyond the arc.
• Head coach Brian Earl's team continues to share the ball, ranking sixth nationally at 21.0 assists per contest.
• Seven players are averaging at least 8.5 points per game.
• Cornell ranks in the top 10 nationally in effective field goal percentage (.611).
• The Hawks, who won 21 games a year ago, are finding themselves after having to replace five starters for head coach King Rice.
• The three-time MAAC champions are in their first season in the CAA and are a month out from making their league debut.

THE SERIES 
Overall: Monmouth leads 2-0
In West Long Branch, N.J.: Monmouth leads 2-0
Current Streak: Monmouth, 2 games
Last Meeting: Monmouth won 76-61,11/22/16 in West Long Branch, N.J.
Earl vs. Monmouth: 0-1
Series Notes: The two programs first squared off during the 2015-16 season with the Hawks scoring a 78-69 victory • Cornell is 13-21 all-time against current members of the CAA • Cornell holds series advantage over Hofstra (3-2)and Towson (1-0) and is tied with Stony Brook (4-4), but trails against Delaware (2-3), Drexel (1-3), Northeastern (2-5), UNCW (0-1) and William & Mary (0-1) • the Big Red has never faced Charleston, Elon, Hampton or North Carolina A&T.

A WIN OVER MONMOUTH WOULD ... 
• push Cornell's record to 5-1 on the season for the second straight year.
• be the first ever for the Big Red against the Hawks (0-2).
• make the Big Red 14-21 all-time against current members of the Colonial Athletic Association.
• up Cornell’s non-conference record to 15-4 over its past 19 contests.
• be the 1,297th in program history (1,296-1,472-2 in 121 seasons, .468).

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 79, Canisius 70
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS I GALLERY
• Sophomore Nazir Williams posted his first career double-double to lead six Cornell men's basketball players in double figures as the Big Red topped Canisius 79-70  at Newman Arena. 
• Williams posted 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, recording career highs in the latter two categories, as the Big Red won its fourth straight. 
• Guy Ragland Jr. posted 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals and Greg Dolan notched 11 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals. 
• The trio of Keller Boothby, Isaiah Gray and Chris Manon notched 10 apiece for Cornell, who turned the ball over a season-low nine times and shot 49 percent from the floor overall. 
• The home team collected 10 steals, outrebounded Canisius 38-33 and held a double figure lead for nearly  all of the second half. 
• Jordan Henderson hit six triples en route to 24 points to lead the visitors, with Tahj Staveskie (15 points, six assists) and Jamir Moultire (11 points) also reaching double figures. 
• Canisius shot 53 percent from the floor and assisted on 19 baskets.
• Cornell led 45-34 at the break and by as many as 15 in the second half, only to see the visitors hit six consecutive 3-pointers to claw within five with under two minutes remaining. 
• Williams hit a step-through floater in the lane with 1:13 left to curb the run and allow the Big Red some breathing room.

NOTES FROM THE CANISIUS GAME
• Sophomore guard Nazir Williams posted just the 14th double-double in school history (points-rebounds) that also included five or more assists and the first since Josh Warren (14-10-5) against NJIT on Nov. 13, 2019.  
• Cornell's 10-game non-conference home win streak is its longest since winning 14 straight from Jan. 15, 1985 (defeated Hamilton, 79-66) until Dec. 7, 1988 (defeated Binghamton, 96-78).
• The Big Red has connected on at least 11 3-pointers in four of its five contests this season.
• Cornell had six players score in double figures for the first time since a school record-tying seven players had at least 10 points against Keuka on Dec. 5, 2021.
• The nine turnovers were the fewest by the Big Red in a home game since posting six vs. Dartmouth on Feb. 28, 2020.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 917 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 963 of 967 games (6,421 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