Men's Hoops Welcomes Lafayette for Sunday Matinee

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 
• The Cornell men's basketball team is in the midst of its longest non-conference home win streak in three decades and will attempt to extend it when it meets Lafayette on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 1 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• Barry Leonard and Eric Taylor '05 will be on the call on ESPN+.
• Cornell has won 10 consecutive non-league games at home, its longest streak since 1984-88 seasons - before Newman Arena was opened.
• The Big Red's six-game win streak overall is its longest in more than a decade going back to a nine-game run in 2009-10.
• The Big Red is fresh off an impressive 74-67 comeback victory at Delaware, closing the game on a 20-2 run to stun the Blue Hens.
• Cornell made its final eight shots from the floor to overcome an 11-point deficit in the final five minutes.
• Senior Greg Dolan paces the team in scoring (13.4 ppg.), rebounding (5.1 rpg.), assists (4.2 apg.) and is second in steals (1.7 spg.) for the 6-1 Big Red.
• Eight players are averaging at least 8.1 points per game as part of a balanced attack.
• In just the past three wins alone, the Big Red has had 13 players reach double figures with only one player tallying more than 12 points (Greg Dolan, 15 at Delaware).

THE SERIES 
Overall: Series tied 12-12
In Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell leads 9-5
Current Streak: Cornell, 1 game
Last Meeting: Cornell won 90-85,11/12/21 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Earl vs. Lafayette: 4-1
Series Notes: Cornell has won five of the past six meetings, including last season's 90-85 win in Ithaca • Cornell head coach Brian Earl picked up his first collegiate victory in 2016 against the Leopards • the Big Red is 151-126 all-time against current members of the Patriot League • Cornell holds series advantages against Army West Point (20-13), Colgate (74-58), Lehigh (13-9) and Navy (3-2) and trails Bucknell (25-23), Holy Cross (3-2) and Loyola (MD) (2-1) • the series with American (1-1) and Boston University (2-2) are tied.

A WIN OVER LAFAYETTE WOULD ... 
• push Cornell's record to 7-1 on the season for the second straight year.
• give the Big Red a seven-game win streak, its longest since winning nine in a row during the 2009-10 campaign.
• give Cornell a 13-12 edge in the all-time series and make the Big Red 6-1 against the Leopards in the past seven meetings between the teams.
• extend its non-conference home win streak to 11 games, its longest since winning 14 straight from the 1984-85 to the 1988-89 seasons.
• make the Big Red 152-127 all-time against current members of the Patriot League.
• up Cornell’s non-conference record to 17-4 over its past 21 contests.
• be the 1,299th in program history (1,298-1,472-2 in 121 seasons, .469).

LAST TIME OUT: Cornell 74, Delaware 67
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS
• The Cornell men's basketball team overcame an 11-point deficit with a 20-2 run to close out the contest to stun Delaware 74-67  at the Bob Carpenter Center. 
• Senior Greg Dolan scored 11 of his game-high 15 points in the final three minutes, including hitting a dagger 3-pointer with 15 seconds remaining to steal one on the road. 
• In all, seven Big Red players tallied at least nine points, with Nazir Williams (11 points, four rebounds, three assists) and Max Watson (10 points) also reaching double figures. 
• Four others scored nine apiece, with Isaiah Gray chipping in four rebounds and four assists, Sean Hansen grabbing six rebounds, dishing five assists and collecting three steals and Guy Ragland and Keller Boothby combining to hit five of the team's 10 3-pointers. 
• The Ivy League's leader in steals, Chris Manon, had two on the night, including one that led to the go-ahead basket with just over a minute to play.
• After struggling offensively most of the night, Cornell hit its final eight field goals to end the night at 47 percent shooting. 
• It made 59 percent from the floor, including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, in the second half alone. 
• Cornell had 20 assists and just 10 turnovers and forced 18 Delaware miscues. 
• The Big Red had a mammoth 27-9 in points off turnovers that proved to be the difference in the game.
• Delaware had five double figure scorers, with Jyare Davis leading the way with 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting. 
• Christian Ray posted a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double and Jameer Nelson Jr. had 13 points, five assists and four rebounds. 
• The Blue Hens shot 49 percent overall, but made just 8-of-27 from beyond the arc in the loss.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 919 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 965 of 969 games (6,445 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