ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's basketball team opens the 2023-24 season when it visits Lehigh on Monday, Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Stabler Arena. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• Picked third in the Ivy League Preseason media poll, the Big Red is coming off a 17-11 season that included a second-straight appearance in the Ivy Tournament on the strength of the return of four starters and 11 letterwinners. 
• Under head coach Brian Earl, the Big Red opened the season 14-4 with a two-point loss at eventual ACC champion and Final Four participant Miami (Fla.), a buzzer-beating defeat at Boston College, a two-possession loss to eventual Sweet 16 participant Princeton, and to perennial national contender Syracuse. 
• Cornell  led the Ivy League in 11 categories, including scoring offense (81.7), 3-pointers made (10.7) and attempted (30.4) per game, assists (17.5), assist:turnover ratio (1.41), steals (9.7), effective field goal percentage (.556) and fastbreak points (15.9), while ranking in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense, assists, bench points, fastbreak points, steals and 3-pointers made and attempted. 
• Entering the season, the Big Red has won 20 consecutive non-conference games against opponents from conferences other than the ACC or Big Ten dating back to an 80-76 loss at Hartford on Dec. 22, 2019— a span of 1,415 days.

GAME INFORMATION
Cornell at Lehigh
DATE & TIME: Monday, Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
SITE: Stabler Arena – Bethlehem, Pa.
RECORDS (2022-23): Cornell (17-11, 7-7 Ivy League), Lehigh (16-14, 11-7 Patriot League)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 14-9
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: LehighSports.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
120 Years • 178 Miles • 23 Meetings
Overall: Cornell leads 14-9
In Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh leads 9-3
Current Streak: Cornell, 2 games
Last Meeting: Cornell won 96-64,12/20/22 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Earl vs. Lehigh: 1-0

SERIES NOTES
Cornell leads the all-time series against Lehigh 14-9, including winning six of the past eight meetings • Cornell is 11-0 all-time against Lehigh in Ithaca • the Big Red is 154-126 all-time against current members of the Patriot League • Cornell holds series advantages against Army West Point (20-13), Colgate (75-58), Lafayette (13-12), 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 LEHIGH WOULD
• mean a 1-0 start to a season for the fourth time in the past five seasons.
• give the Big Red a 15-9 advantage all-time against Lehigh.
• extend its win streak over the Mountain Hawks to three.
• be the Big Red's first win over Lehigh in Bethlehem since 2005-06 (57-53 on Dec. 4, 2005).
• make Cornell 79-45 all-time in season openers.
• make the Big Red 155-127 all-time against current members of the Patriot League.
• give Cornell a 33-22 record overall since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• up Cornell's non-conference record to 21-6 over its past 27 contests.
• be the 1,310th in program history (1,309-1,482-2 in 122 seasons, .469).

LAST TIME VS. LEHIGH
• The Cornell men's basketball team won the 1,300th game in program history, leading from wire-to-wire in a 96-64 triumph over Lehigh at Newman Arena on Dec. 20, 2022. 
• It was a layup line in the first half and a 3-point shooting gallery in the second as the Big Red improved to 11-0 all-time against Lehigh in Ithaca. 
• Cornell shot 51 percent overall and made 12 of its 15 3-pointers after halftime while dominating every aspect of the game. 
• The Big Red tallied 22 assists against just three turnovers, had 10 steals, won the battle of the backboards (40-31) and held the visitors to 36 percent shooting in the decisive first half to snap a two-game skid. 
• Four players reached double figures for Cornell with Greg Dolan's 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals leading the way. 
• Guy Ragland Jr. (13 points, five rebounds) and Max Watson (12 points, three rebounds) led a 50-11 scoring edge from the reserves, while Nazir Williams was in double figures for the seventh consecutive contest with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. 
• Keith Higgins Jr. had a game-high 21 points, Evan Taylor notched 10 points and eight boards and Jakob Alamudun tallied 15 points and six rebounds in the loss for Lehigh.
 
SEASON OPENERS
• Cornell will attempt to build on its 78-45 all-time record in 123 previous season openers.
• The Big Red is 11-6 over the last 17 seasons, including six straight wins from 2005-2010.
• Cornell is 12-10 to open seasons in the 21st century with victories over Northwestern (2006-07), Alabama (2009-10) and George Mason (2014-15) in guarantee games.
• The Big Red is 31-35 in openers since Ivy play began in 1956-57.
• Cornell dropped its 2022-23 season opener to Boston College on the road, 79-77, on a BC buzzer-beater on Nov. 7, 2022 in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

PLAYER NOTES TO KNOW
• In Ivy games last season, the Big Red had four players averaging double figures (Nazir Williams 13.6, Greg Dolan 13.1, Chris Manon 12.2, Isaiah Gray 10.5 ppg.) and a fifth at 9.8 (Guy Ragland Jr.).
• Williams is shooting 61 percent (14-of-23) from 3-point range in his last seven games dating back to last season.
• Chris Manon has 110 steals in 54 career games, or 2.04 steals per game, ahead of Wallace Prather's school record average of 1.89. Manon is challenging the record despite averaging just 19.0 minutes per game for his career. 
• Manon had 63 steals last season, surpassing a two-decades old single-season school record 54 set by DeShawn Standard (1997-98) and matched by Wallace Prather (2001-02).
• Manon collected seven steals in the win over Binghamton, tied for the second-most in a single-game in school history and the most since Lenny Collins posted a record eight at Bucknell on Jan. 20, 2004.
• His five against Yale in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals broke a tourney record for steals in a game.
• The Big Red's two-headed center of Sean Hansen and Guy Ragland Jr. is combining to average 18.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.8 blocks while playing 40.8 minutes per game.
• Sean Hansen set a school record by hitting all eight field goals in the win over Saint Francis (Pa.), doubling his previous scoring high with 26 points and becoming the first player in school history with a game of at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals.
• With his double-double in the win over Ithaca, Ragland became 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.
• Keller Boothby turned the ball over just six times in 551 minutes on the court (22 assists) last season and has just 17 career miscues in 1,152 minutes (one every 67.8 minutes). Dating back to the Big Red's game on Feb. 5, 2022 against Penn, he has just six turnovers in 742 minutes of action (27 assists and 63 3-pointers made over that span).
• Boothby shot .478 (22-of-46) from 3-point range in Ivy play last year.
• In 13 home games in 2022-23, Keller Boothby had 11 assists and one turnover in 245 minutes of play.

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• The Big Red sits third in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll, its highest preseason selection since also being chosen third in the 2010-11 poll
• Cornell  led the Ivy League in 11 categories in 2022-23, including scoring offense (81.7), 3-pointers made (10.7) and attempted (30.4) per game, assists (17.5), assist:turnover ratio (1.41), steals (9.7), effective field goal percentage (.556) and fastbreak points (15.9), while ranking in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense, assists, bench points, fastbreak points, steals and 3-pointers made and attempted. 
• Cornell is 21-4 at home over the past two seasons, including 10-4 against Ivy League opponents.
• With 300 3-pointers last season, Cornell's mark ranks second in a season for the Big Red.
• Since its return from COVID, Cornell men's basketball has posted a 32-22 record (.593), a  mark that is 32-16 when removing guarantee games (.667).
• Over the past two seasons, the Big Red is averaging 17.5 assists per game and hitting 10.2 3-pointers per game while averaging 80.9 points per game. 
• Cornell has double figure steals in 11 of its past 16 games dating back to last year.
• Despite playing at the fastest pace in the Ancient Eight, Cornell's 12.4 turnovers per game was the second-lowest average in the league.
• The Big Red had at least 20 assists in 12 games last season — breaking the school record of nine times in a season set in 2021-22.
• Cornell had 20 assists in six different road contests last season, including five consecutive at one point — prior to that stretch, the Big Red never accomplished it more than three times in any season since 1978-79 (36 times total in 44 seasons).
• The Big Red held opponents to 30 percent shooting or below from beyond the arc in 11 games last season.
• At the same time, Cornell made double figures in 3-pointers in 18 games.
• The Big Red's 94 points against Yale on Jan. 13 were the most vs. the Bulldogs in regulation since surrendering 96 at Niagara on Dec, 8, 2004.
• Cornell's consecutive wins at Monmouth and Delaware, both Colonial Athletic Conference opponents, were against foes who won at least 20 games a season ago.
• Graduated seniors Greg Dolan '23 (Loyola Chicago) and Marcus Filien (UAlbany) have moved on to play as graduate transfers at other Division I institutions (Ivy League does not allow graduate student eligibility).  
• Over the past three seasons, nine grad transfers have gone on to play Division I basketball elsewhere — Jimmy Boeheim (Syracuse), Kobe Dickson (Howard), Bryan Knapp (George Washington), Terrance McBride (Rice), Dean Noll (Stony Brook), Sarju Patel (UAlbany) and Riley Voss (Wright State).
• The Big Red's 22 3-pointers against SUNY-Delhi broke the school record of 20 at Brown on March 5, 2010, a game where the 2009-10 Big Red clinched the Ivy League title in Providence, R.I. That mark is the tied for the most by any Division I team this season (Chattanooga vs. Covenant, 11/29/2022)
• Cornell's 114 points against SUNY-Delhi were the third-most in a game in school history and marked the 26th time that the Big Red has surpassed the 100-point mark.
• Cornell's 31 assists against SUNY-Delhi tied for the second-most in a game in school history, with five of the top 10 marks coming in the past two seasons.
• The Big Red's 96 points against Lehigh were the most at home against a Division I opponent in regulation since 2011 — a 96-76 win over Dartmouth on Feb. 19, 2011.
• The 32-point margin of victory against Lehigh (96-64) was its largest against a Division I opponent since defeating Presbyterian by 34 (89-55) on Nov. 23, 2012 in the Las Vegas Invitational. 
• The Big Red's 105 points at Miami (Fla.) were the most ever in a loss and the fourth-most against Power 5 school in school history — the record in 110 vs. Pittsburgh on Feb. 1, 1967.
• The Big Red's 16 steals against Binghamton on Dec. 29 were tied for third in a single game and tied for the most against a Division I opponent in school history.

MISCELLANEOUS TEAM NOTES
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 939 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 985 of 989 games (6,648 3-pointers over that span).
• The Big Red has won 20 consecutive non-conference games against opponents from conferences other than the ACC or Big Ten dating back to an 80-76 loss at Hartford on Dec. 22, 2019— a span of 1,415 days.
• The Big Red's seven-game win streak last season was its longest since walking off the floor victorious in nine consecutive contests late in 2009-10.
• Brian Earl and his brother Dan (Chattanooga) are one of five active sets of brothers directing Division I programs, joining Bryce (Grand Canyon) and Scott (Baylor) Drew, Bobby (Arizona State) and Danny (Connecticut) Hurley, Joe (Boston University) and James (Yale) Jones and Archie (Rhode Island) and Sean (Xavier) Miller.
• Associate head coach Jon Jaques was a starter and senior captain on the 2009-10 Cornell team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.
• 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 42-51 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 31-19 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.

UP NEXT — vs. Morrisville State • Wednesday, Nov. 8 • 7:00 p.m.
• The Big Red will kick off its 2023-24 home slate when it meets Division III foe Morrisville State on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena.
• The contest will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the hardwood.
• Cornell has almost annually played and beaten a non-Division I team, going 32-0 with an average margin of victory of more than 30 points per game in the past 29 seasons 
• Each of the team's 32 wins have come by double figures except for one.