Men's Hoops Puts Win Streak on the Line at Delaware on Thursday

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 
• The Cornell men's basketball team will put its five-game win streak on the line when it visits Delaware on Sunday, Dec. 1 at 1 p.m. at Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Del.
• Scott Klatzkin and Bill Harman will be on the call on FloHoops.
• The Big Red is coming off an 81-63 victory at Monmouth on Nov. 25, a game where it led by 30 points in the second half and cruised to victory.
• Four players scored in double figures as the Big Red hit 14 3-pointers, assisted on 23 baskets and limited the Hawks to 38 percent shooting (29 percent from 3-point range).
• Senior Greg Dolan paces the team in scoring (13.5 ppg.), rebounding (5.5 rpg.), assists (4.5 apg.) and is second in steals (2.0 spg.) for the 5-1 Big Red.
• Eight players are averaging at least 7.8 points per game as part of a balanced attack.
• In just the past two wins alone, the Big Red has had 10 players reach double figures with no single player tallying more than 12 points.
• Delaware had its two-game win streak snapped by Cornell's Ivy rival Penn on Sunday, 86-73, in the final game of the Cathedral Classic at the Palestra.
• Head coach Martin Ingelsby's team is the defending CAA Tournament champion and went 22-13 en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance this past spring.

THE SERIES 
Overall: Delaware leads 3-2
In Newark, Del.: Delaware leads 2-0
Current Streak: Delaware, 3 games
Last Meeting: Delaware won 73-56,11/15/18 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Earl vs. Delaware: 0-2
Series Notes: The two programs first squared off during the 1968-69 season with the Big Red scoring a 93-77 victory at the East Carolina Tournament in Greenville, N.C. • Cornell is 14-21 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 Drexel (1-3), Monmouth (1-2), 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 6-1 on the season for the second straight year.
• even its record against the Blue Hens (3-3).
• make the Big Red 15-21 all-time against current members of the Colonial Athletic Association, including two wins in the past six days.
• up Cornell’s non-conference record to 16-4 over its past 20 contests.
• be the 1,298th in program history (1,297-1,472-2 in 121 seasons, .468).

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 81, Monmouth 63
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS
• The Cornell men's basketball team overcame a slow start and used a strong defensive effort to claim an 81-63 victory over Monmouth on Nov. 25 at OceanFirst Bank Center. 
• The Big Red held the Hawks to 38 percent shooting, including 29 percent from beyond the arc, and collected 12 steals and six blocked shots in its first-ever win over Monmouth.
• Four players scored in double figures for the Big Red, which shot 52 percent overall and made 14-of-35 3-pointers. 
• Cornell assisted on 23 of its 31 baskets and shot over 50 percent in both halves. Keller Boothby and Chris Manon scored 12 points apiece, with Nazir WIlliams scoring 11 and Max Watson netting 10. 
• Manon added three rebounds, three steals and two assists. Greg Dolan scored nine points and added five rebounds, four assists and three steals in the win.
• Monmouth got 17 points, four rebounds and four steals by Jack Collins and 15 from both Tahron Allen and Klemen Vuga. 
• The rest of the team shot just 5-of-25 from the floor, and Monmouth turned the ball over 23 times total. The Big Red outscored the home team 42-15 on fast breaks and 30-13 off turnovers.

NOTES FROM THE MONMOUTH GAME
• Cornell's six blocks were the most in a game since swatting eight shots against Penn on Feb. 5, 2022.
• Over its last two contests, Cornell has put 10 players in double figures with no one scoring more than 12 points. Over its last three, it has put 14 in double figures and no one has surpassed 14 points.
• The Big Red now has at least 10 steals in four of six games this season.
• Cornell has at least 30 field goals in four contests and 29 in the other two.
• The Big Red has hit at least 11 3-pointers in five of its six games and has allowed 10 or more 3-pointers just once.
• Cornell has at least 17 assists in each game, including 23 vs. Monmouth (tied for the most by a Big Red in a road game since 2011.
• Over the past two seasons, Cornell is 18-2 when it scores at least 75 points and 2-10 when it does not.
• The Big Red defense has held three of its six opponents under 40 percent shooting and four foes under 30 percent from beyond the arc.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 918 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 964 of 968 games (6,435 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