ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's basketball team opens its 2023-24 home slate when it welcomes Morrisville State to Newman Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 7:00 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Johnny Gadamowitz and Cam Manna on the call.

• Over the past 28 seasons, Cornell has posted a perfect 32-0 record against non-Division I opponents, winning those games by an average of more than 30 points over the past 29 seasons. 
• Cornell is coming off an 84-78 win at Lehigh on Monday night in its season opener. 
• The Big Red held the Mountain Hawks to 37 percent shooting in the second half, including 1-12 from 3-point range, rallying from a 44-39 halftime deficit to secure the victory.
• Sean Hansen scored 25 points on 7-of-9 shooting , including four 3-pointers.  
• Hansen was not the only Big Red athlete in double figures, as Cooper Noard (15), Guy Ragland Jr. (11), AK Okereke (11)and Chris Manon (10) helped fill out the scoring sheet for the Big Red, who shot 46 percent from the field. 
• In last season's home opener, the Big Red set a new school record with 22 3-pointers made en route to a 114-57 victory over SUNY-Delhi.

GAME INFORMATION
Morrisville State at Cornell
DATE & TIME: Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Newman Arena – Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell (1-0, 0-0 Ivy League), Morrisville State (0-0)
SERIES RECORD: First-ever meeting
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
1 Year • 59 Miles • 0 Meetings
Overall: First-ever meeting
In Ithaca, N.Y.: First-ever meeting
Current Streak: N/A
Last Meeting: N/A
Earl vs. Morrisville State: First-ever meeting

SERIES NOTES
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 • the 2010-11 season was the only one in the last 25 years where the schedule was made up completely of Division I teams • each of the team's 32 wins have come by double figures except for one • this is the first of two games scheduled against non-Division I teams this season.

A WIN OVER MORRISVILLE STATE WOULD
• give the Big Red a 2-0 start to a season for the third time in the past five seasons.
• be the first win over Morrisville State in program history.
• up its non-conference win streak to 22 games removing guarantee games. 
• extend Cornell's winning streak over SUNY institutions to seven consecutive games.
• push its non-conference home win streak to 14 contests.
• give Cornell a 34-22 record overall since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• be the 1,311th in program history (1,310-1,482-2 in 122 seasons, .469).

LAST TIME VS. NON-DIVISION I OPPONENT
• 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 Nov. 18, 2023 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..
 
PLAYER NOTES TO KNOW
• Chris Manon has 112 steals in 55 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. combined 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 in 2022-23.
• 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 1,171 minutes (one every 68.9 minutes). Dating back to the Big Red's game on Feb. 5, 2022 against Penn, he has just six turnovers in 761 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 was placed third in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll, its highest preseason selection since also being chosen third in the 2010-11 poll
• Since its return from COVID, Cornell men's basketball has posted a 33-22 record (.600), a  mark that is 33-16 when removing guarantee games (.673).
• Over the past three seasons, the Big Red is averaging 17.4 assists per game and hitting 10.2 3-pointers per game while averaging 80.6 points per game. 
• 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 a year ago.
• 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 a perfect 11-0 against non-conference opponents
• With 300 3-pointers last season, Cornell's mark ranks second in a season for the Big Red.
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 940 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 986 of 990 games (6,659 3-pointers over that span).
• The Big Red has won 21 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 1,417 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.
• 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).

MISCELLANEOUS TEAM NOTES
• 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 — at Fordham • Saturday, Nov. 11 • 1:00 p.m.
• The Big Red will visit Fordham on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m. at Rose Hill Gymnasium in the Bronx, N.Y.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ and SNY.
• The Rams won 25 games a season ago (25-8) under head coach Keith Urgo.
• The all-time series between the teams is tied 4-4, though the last meeting came during the 1979-8 season when the Rams topped the Big Red 81-41 in the Bronx.