ITHACA, N.Y. -- After a two-week break for final exams, the Cornell men's basketball team will attempt to get back on the winning track when it visits Siena on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. at MVP Arena in Albany, N.Y. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• Cornell will be playing its first contest since falling at Syraucse 81-70, a game that saw the Orange lead by just three with three minutes to play.
• That loss to the Orange snapped the Big Red's four-game win streak.
• The Big Red is off and running again this season, averaging 83.8 points per game while shooting 50 percent overall and 34 percent from 3-point range while assisting on 18.1 buckets per outing.
• The team's 7-2 start matches its best after nine games in a season since 1967-68 when it was 8-1 (also 7-2 in 2021-22).
• Seven different players are averaging at least 6.9 points per game with three in double figures.
• Head coach Brian Earl's team is shooting a blistering .623 from inside the arc this season (third nationally in two-point field goal percentage), a number that stands at .699 over its past three games (58-of-83).
• Cornell is in the midst of a span where it will play just four games from December 6-January 8 due to exams, the holidays and the late start to the Ivy League season.

GAME INFORMATION
Cornell at Siena
DATE & TIME: Tuesday, Dec. 19 at 7:00 p.m.
SITE: MVP Arena – Albany, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell (7-2, 0-0 Ivy League), Siena (2-8, 1-1 MAAC)
SERIES RECORD: Siena leads 4-3
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: SienaSaints.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
38 Years • 166 Miles • 7 Meetings
Overall: Siena leads 4-3
In Albany, N.Y.: Siena leads 3-1
Current Streak: Siena, 1 game
Last Meeting: Siena won 89-78,11/13/16 in Albany, N.Y.
Earl vs. Siena: First Meeting

SERIES NOTES
The two teams met for the first time in 1985 with Siena earning a 70-55 decision in the finals of the Siena Invitational • Cornell is 68-59 all-time against current members of the MAAC, including 61-50 against its fellow New York schools • Cornell holds series advantages over Canisius (28-18), Niagara (27-22) and Rider (3-0) and trails against Fairfield (0-2), Iona (0-2), Marist (2-3), Monmouth (0-2), Saint Peter's (1-3) and Siena (3-4) • the Big Red is tied with Manhattan (1-1) and Quinnipiac (2-2).

A WIN OVER SIENA WOULD
• push Cornell's record to 8-2 to open the season for the second time in the past three seasons, tied for its best mark after 10 games since 2009-10.
• even the all-time series between the teams at 4-4.
• up its non-conference win streak to 26 in non-guarantee games. 
• make its win streak against MAAC teams rise to three straight.
• push the Big Red's record away from home to 6-2 (4-2 in true road games).
• give Cornell a 40-24 record overall (.625) since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• be the 1,334th in program history (1,333-1,494-2 in 123 seasons, .472).

LAST TIME VS. SIENA
• Siena used a dominant effort from seniors Marquis Wright and Brett Bisping to win its season opener, topping Cornell 89-78 at the Times Union Center. 
• Wright (31 points, five rebounds, five assists) and Bisping (23 points, 15 rebounds) made sure the Saints wouldn't repeat last season's fate against the Big Red after surrendering a 14-point second half lead. 
• This time, the Big Red got back within three in the second half before the Saints were able to close the game out.
• Sophomore Stone Gettings had a career-high 16 points and senior Robert Hatter had a tremendous floor game with 12 points, a career-high 10 rebounds and four assists. 
• Matt Morgan tied a team-best with 16 points and ripped down eight boards, while both JoJo Fallas and Josh Warren had 10 points to round out five double figure scorers. 
• Warren added six rebounds in his second collegiate game. 
• The Big Red played without senior center David Onuorah who didn't make the trip due to illness.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• Syracuse nailed a season-best 13 3-pointers and Cornell struggled from beyond the arc as the Orange pulled away in the final minute for an 81-70 victory over the Big Red at the JMA Wireless Dome. 
• Judah Mintz scored 28 points, Chris Bell added 19 with four blocked shots and Justin Taylor chipped in 15 along with eight rebounds and six assists while combining to hit all 13 of Syracuse's 3-pointers in the win. 
• SU's 41 percent shooting beyond the arc helped negate its 34-30 scoring deficit in the paint and Cornell's 25-8 scoring edge from its bench. 
• Cooper Noard scored a team-high 15 points and added six rebounds while Isaiah Gray netted 11 points with six rebounds and six assists in a losing effort, the Big Red's 43rd consecutive loss to the Orange. 
• The offense generated open shot after open shot, but the Big Red converted just 9-of-33 attempts from beyond the arc. 
• Guy Ragland Jr. scored eight points with five rebounds and Chris Manon had seven points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. 



PLAYER NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell enters the week with three double figure scorers and a total of nine regulars averaging at least 4.0 points per contest.
• Five regular Big Red players are shooting .542 or better from the floor and seven are at 50 percent or better.
The Big Red's three leading 3-point shooters (Cooper Noard, Keller Boothby and Guy Ragland) have combined to shoot .441 (45-102) from beyond the arc so far.
• In his first nine career starts, sophomore Cooper Noard leads the team in scoring (12.2 ppg.) and 3-pointers (25-of-54) made and is second in rebounding (4.8 rpg.).
• Noard leads the team in minutes played at 25.1 through nine contests and is among nine regulars averaging at least 11.0 minutes.
• Sophomore AK Okereke, is averaging 6.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 19.7 minutes per game with a pair of double figure scoring games while shooting 73 percent from the floor (24-of-33).
• The former walk-on had a streak of 10 consecutive made field goals over the first three games of 2023-24, tied for the fifth-longest streak in school history (record is 14 by Darryl Smith in 2015-16).
• Chris Manon has 129 steals in 63 career games, or 2.05 steals per game, ahead of Wallace Prather's school record average of 1.89. Manon is challenging the record despite averaging just 19.2 minutes per game for his career. 
• Manon had 63 steals in 2022-23, 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 last season's 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.
• In his 18 minutes of action against Fordham this season, Manon was +24 and finished with a line of 14-4-3 with three steals.
• His five against Yale in the Ivy League Tournament semifinals broke a tourney record for steals in a game.
• Manon's .519 career field goal percentage ranks ninth all-time at Cornell among players with at least 400 shot attempts.
• The senior became the 82nd player in school history to reach the 600-point plateau with his nine points at George Mason.
• 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.
• The duo is even better this season, averaging 20.8 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.3 steals in 39.5minutes per game while shooting 50 percent from the floor and 33 percent from 3-point range. 
• 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.
• Both Manon and Hansen are looking to join a select group of 10 Big Red players to record at least 500 points, 250 rebounds, 100 assists, 25 blocked shots and 25 steals in their careers. Manon is just 20 rebounds away, while Hansen needs 7 points, 28 rebounds and one blocked shot. Two of those 10 Big Red players to reach those marks have played for head coach Brian Earl (Matt Morgan '19 and Josh Warren '20).  
• With his double-double in last year's 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.
• Ragland posted five points, seven rebounds and six assists off the bench against Morrisville, becoming just the seventh Big Red player to tally at least five points, five rebounds and five assists in the same game off the bench at Cornell.
• Senior Keller Boothby has multiple 3-pointers made in five of his past six games, shooting 13-of-25 (.520) over that stretch.
• Boothby shot .478 (22-of-46) from 3-point range in Ivy play last year.
• In 13 home games in 2022-23, Boothby had 11 assists and one turnover in 245 minutes of play.
• Freshman Jacob Beccles scored 15 points in his collegiate debut, the most by a Big Red rookie in his first game since Chris Manon netted 17 points in a win over Binghamton to kick off the 2021-22 season.

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• The Big Red had its streak of 23 consecutive non-conference wins against opponents from conferences other than the ACC or Big Ten dating back to an 80-76 loss at Hartford on Dec. 22, 2019 snapped at George Mason— a streak that spanned 1,424 days.
• At the same time, Cornell has now won 26 straight non-guarantee non-conference games dating back to that same loss to Hartford.
• Cornell has hit double figures in 3-pointers four times this season, with season highs of 14 vs. SUNY Morrisville and George Mason.
• Division I opponents are shooting just 30 percent from 3-point range this season (66-of-218).
• Of the 30 100-point games for the Big Red in school history, head coach Brian Earl has been at the helm for nine of them, including for five of the top 10 totals.
• Earl's teams also have seven of the top 10 single-game assist totals. and six of the top 10 made 3-point field goal totals.
• 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 39-24 record (.619), a mark that is 39-16 when removing guarantee games (.709).
• Over the past three seasons, the Big Red is averaging 17.5 assists per game and hitting 10.2 3-pointers per game while averaging 81.0 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 23-4 at home over the past three seasons, including a perfect 13-0 against non-conference opponents over that span.
• 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 948 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 993 of 997 games (6,737 3-pointers over that span).
• 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).
• Current seniors Darius Ervin, Isaiah Gray, Sean Hansen, Chris Manon and Evan Williams are currently in the portal for 2024-25.

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).

THE BIG RED IN OVERTIME
• 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
• Cornell will play its final contest before an eight-day holiday break when it visits Robert Morris on Friday, Dec. 22 at 2 p.m. at UPMC Events Center.
• The Big Red leads the all-time series 2-1, though the Colonials won the last matchup between the teams, a 98-89 overtime win in the 2019 CIT first round in Moon Township.
• The series dates back to the 1983-84 season, a 70-68 Big Red victory at the Far West Classic in Portland, Ore.