Men's Hoops Eyes Bounce Back When It Visits Penn on Saturday

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS 
• The Cornell men's basketball team will attempt tp avoid a weekend road sweep while clinching one of its own against the preseason Ivy favorite when it visits Penn on Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Palestra.
• The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
• At 5-3 in Ivy play after Friday's 89-82 loss at Princeton, the Big Red finds itself tied with Yale for second place in the Ancient Eight standings and a game ahead of Brown, Dartmouth and Penn.
• Chris Manon scored 23 points, but the Tigers overcame a 10-point halftime deficit with 54 second half points.
• The Big Red features one of the most potent offenses in the country, ranking among the top three nationally in fastbreak points (second, 17.6), effective field goal percentage (third, .576), 3-pointers made (third,11.3) and attempted (second, 30.4) and assists per game (third, 18.9).
• Cornell head coach Brian Earl's team went 10-3 in non-league play, posting the third-most non-league wins in school history with its only losses being road decisions at ACC foes Boston College, Miami and Syracuse — the first two by two points each. 
• Earl, the reigning Ivy League Coach of the Year, has accomplished all this despite a roster that lost four of five starters from last season's 15-11 squad that made the conference tournament.

THE SERIES 
Overall: Penn leads 161-76
In Philadelphia, Pa.: Penn leads 93-26
Current Streak: Cornell, 1 game
Last Meeting: Cornell won 88-69, 1/6/23 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Earl vs. Penn: 2-9
Series Notes: Series dates back to the 1903-04 season • the Big Red snapped an 11-game losing streak against Penn in Ithaca during the 2018-19 season • the Quakers have won 18 of the last 21 meetings, including sweeping the season series in 2019-20 and 2021-22 • prior to that, Cornell won 7-of-8 contests between the teams.

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD ... 
• improve Cornell's record to 16-6.
• complete a season sweep of the Quakers for the first time since 2010-11.
• push the Big Red to 6-3 in Ivy play.
• give Cornell a 9-3 record in its past 12 contests.
• make Cornell 12-7 in its past 19 Ivy games.
• up its all-time Ivy League record to 395-523.
• be the 1,308th in program history (1,307-1,477-2 in 121 seasons, .469).

LAST TIME OUT: Princeton 89, Cornell 82
GAME STORY I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS
• Princeton scored 54 second half points and overcame a 13-point second half deficit to top Cornell 89-82 in a battle for first place in the Ivy League standings at Jadwin Gymnasium. 
• Princeton shot 67 percent in the second half and 58 percent for the game and the Big Red went ice cold, hitting just one of its final 13 3-point attempts in the loss. 
• The defeat overshadowed a 23-point, seven-rebound, three-assist, three-steal, two-block effort from Chris Manon as the Big Red lost for its second time in the past three games. 
• Besides Manon's effort, Isaiah Gray had 13 points and Sean Hansen scored 12, with Greg Dolan, Keller Boothby and Guy Ragland Jr. netting eight points apiece.
• Tosan Evbuomwan had 17 points to lead the Tigers, with Matt Allocco scoring 16 to go along with five rebounds and five assists. 
• Princeton overcame 18 turnovers with second half defense, limiting the visitors to 36 percent shooting (2-of-14 from 3-point range) after the Big Red shot 62 percent in the first 20 minutes.
• The loss dropped Cornell into a tie for second place with Yale at 5-3, one game behind the Tigers (6-2) and a game clear of fourth-place teams Brown, Dartmouth and Penn - all at 4-4.

NOTES TO KNOW
• Through five conference games, the Big Red has five players averaging double figures (Manon 14.3, Williams 13.5, Dolan 11.4, Ragland 11.1 ppg., Gray 10.9) and 10 players averaging at least 10.9 minutes per contest.
• Junior Chris Manon has 93 steals in 47 career games, or 1.98 steals per game, ahead of Wallace Prather's school record average of 1.89. Manon is challenging the record despite averaging just 18.6 minutes per game for his career. 
• In his past two games, Manon is averaging 23.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 3.0 steals and 2.0 blocks on 56 percent shooting.
• Manon has 46 steals this season, eight off the two-decades old single-season school record and three from joining the top 10.
• Junior Keller Boothby is shooting .571 (16-of-28) from 3-point range in Ivy play.
• Three Big Red players — Isaiah Gray (.571), Chris Manon (.550) and Sean Hansen (.545) — currently rank in the school's single-season shooting percentage top 20.
• The Big Red leads the Ivy League in scoring offense (84.7), 3-pointers made (11.3) and attempted (30.4) per game, 3-point percentage (.371), assists (18.9), assist:turnover ratio (1.53), steals (9.7), turnovers forced (16.2), turnover margin (4.0), bench points (33.0), field goal percentage (.486), effective field goal percentage (.576), fastbreak points (17.6) and winning percentage (.714).
• Since its return from COVID, Cornell men's basketball has posted a 30-17 record (.638), a  mark that is 30-11 when removing guarantee games (.732).
• Over the past two seasons, the Big Red is averaging 18.0 assists per game and hitting 10.4 3-pointers per game while averaging 81.7 points per game. 
• Despite playing at the fastest pace in the Ancient Eight, Cornell's 12.3 turnovers per game is the second-lowest average in the league.
• If maintained, Cornell's 84.7 scoring average would be the program's second-highest in school history, with the record coming during the 1965-66 season (85.2 ppg.).
• With 237 3-pointers, Cornell is seven away from reaching the No. 4 spot all-time at Cornell (244 in 2016-17) and 14 from going to No. 2 (251 in 2010-11 and 2021-22).
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 932 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 978 of 982 games (6,585 3-pointers over that span).

Photos by Dave Burbank, Madison Epperson, Eldon Lindsay, Hannah Rosenberg, Patrick Shanahan and Darl Zehr