ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's basketball team looks to remain unbeaten at home when it welcomes Robert Morris to Newman Arena on Thursday, Nov. 21 at 6 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• The Big Red will put a 20-game non-conference home win streak on the line against the Colonials, who enter the contest on a three-game win streak.
• Cornell is off and running at 3-1 following its 81-71 victory over Lafayette on Saturday.
• The Big Red's balanced offense includes three players are averaging double figures and six more are averaging between 5.0 and 8.3 points per contest.
• The team is allowing opponents to shoot just 41 percent from the floor and is outrebounding opponents by 4.5 per game.
• The Big Red has picked up right where it left off a season ago when it went 22-8, finished tied for second in the Ivy League and made its first-ever NIT appearance.
• The Big Red returns two starters and eight letter winners from last season, with former Big Red captain and longtime assistant and associate head coach Jon Jaques '10 taking over the program.
• Picked fourth in the Ivy League Preseason media poll, Cornell will be in search of its fourth consecutive appearance in the four-team conference tournament. 

GAME INFORMATION
Robert Morris at Cornell
DATE & TIME: Thursday, November 21 at 6 p.m.
SITE: Newman Arena – Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Robert Morris (4-2, 0-0 Horizon League), Cornell (3-1, 0-0 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 3-1
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
41 Years • 355 Miles • 4 Meetings
Overall: Cornell leads 3-1
In Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell leads 1-0
Current Streak: Cornell, 1 game
Last Meeting: Cornell won 90-85, 12/22/23 in Moon Township, Pa.
Jaques vs. Robert Morris: 0-0

SERIES NOTES
Series dates back to the 1983-84 season, a 70-68 Big Red victory at the Far West Classic in Portland, Ore. • the Big Red then picked up a 77-66 win over the Colonials the following year in Ithaca • the Colonials got the Big Red back in the first round of the 2019 CIT, a 98-89 OT victory before Cornell claimed a 90-85 win back in Moon Township in 2023-24 • Cornell is 5-1 all-time against current members of the Horizon League, having also met Cleveland State (2-0).

A WIN OVER ROBERT MORRIS WOULD
• push Cornell's record to 4-1 on the season.
• make the Big Red 4-0 at home and up its home record to 35-5 (.872) over the past four seasons.
• up the program's non-conference home win streak to 21 games.
• increase its lead in the all-time series to 4-1.
• make the Big Red 6-1 all-time against current members of the Horizon League.
• make Cornell 58-31 overall (.652) since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• up the Big Red's non-conference record to 35-12 (.745) over its past 47 contests.
• be the 1,335th in program history (1,334-1,491-2 in 125th season, .472).

LAST TIME VS. ROBERT MORRIS
• Late game poise and a key late defensive stop allowed the Cornell men's basketball team to head into a holiday break with a victory after a 90-85 victory at Robert Morris at UPMC Events Center. 
• Chris Manon scored 20 points and added six rebounds, five steals and four assists to become the first Cornell player in school history to post those numbers or better in a single game. 
• He led four double figure scorers, with Isaiah Gray adding 17 points, four assists, two steals and two rebounds and Nazir Williams adding 12 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals with zero turnovers. 
• AK Okereke netted 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting and  Guy Ragland Jr. chipped in nine with three rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. 
• As a team, the Big Red shot 57 percent from the floor and connected on 20-of-22 free throws, including 13-of-14 after halftime. 
• Josh Corbin scored 22 points to lead Robert Morris, with Stephaun Walker posting 20 to go along with nine rebounds and three steals.
•  The home team connected on 12-of-27 3-pointers.
 
LAST TIME OUT
•  Senior Guy Ragland posted a double-double and the Cornell men's basketball team pulled away late for an 81-71 victory over Lafayette at Newman Arena. 
• Ragland led three Big Red players in double figures with 16 points and 10 rebounds, with Jake Fiegen chipping in 15 points and AK Okereke adding 14. 
• Nazir Williams scored six points with seven rebounds and five assists and Cooper Noard netted nine points. 
• The Big Red assisted on 20 baskets and shot 52 percent in the second half, including making 7-of-11 shots from beyond the 3-point arc in the second 20 minutes.
• Caleb Williams led four Leopards in double figures with 14 points, with Mark Butler scoring 13, Devin Hines 12 and Luka Savicevic posting 11. 
• Lafayette shot 43 percent from the floor and connected on 10 3-pointers in the loss.
• The Big Red raced out to an 8-0 lead and never trailed, though the Leopards twice knotted the game and spent much of the second half within two possessions. 
• Lafayette clawed to within 70-68 with under four minutes remaining in regulation, but Cornell answered with a 10-0 run while getting stops at the other end.



TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell earned two votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll on Jan. 29, 2023 after its victory over Princeton, the first time the Big Red earned recognition in the poll since ranking No. 17 in the final poll in 2010 (April 6, 2010).
• Since its return from COVID, Cornell men's basketball has posted a 57-31 record (.648), a mark that is 57-21 when removing regular season guarantee games (.731).
• Cornell is 34-5 at home over the past three seasons, including a perfect 18-0 against non-conference opponents over that span.
• The team's 22 wins last season were tied for second-most by a Big Red, matching the 2007-08 Ivy League champion squad and trailing the 29 wins from the 2009-10 squad.
• Seven of Cornell's eight losses came away from home against top 100 NET teams — nationally-ranked Baylor (No. 15 in NET, 24-11), Ohio State (No. 49 in NET, 22-14), Princeton (No. 55 in NET, 24-5), Yale twice (No. 83 in NET, 23-10),  Syracuse (No. 84 in NET, 20-12) and George Mason (No. 93 in NET, 20-12), six teams that each reached 20 wins and combined to go 133-64 (.675). 
• Over the past four seasons, the Big Red is averaging 17.8 assists per game and hitting 10.2 3-pointers per game while averaging 81.2 points per game. Over that stretch, Cornell is shooting .593 from two-point range.
• A year ago, the Big Red led Division I in bench scoring (36.0 ppg.) and ranked in the top 20 in effective field goal percentage (sixth, .572), assists per game (sixth, 18.1 apg.), 3-pointers (10th, 10.3), field goal percentage (14th, .487) and scoring offense (16th, 82.1).
• In 14 Ivy games last season, Cornell assisted on 241 baskets with 153 turnovers (1.58 assist-turnover ratio).  
• The Big Red was 18-2 last season when leading at halftime, with the two losses on the road at Ivy leaders Yale (46-38) and Princeton (35-33).
• Cornell has hit a 3-pointer in 976 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 1,025 of 1,029 games (7,025 3-pointers over that span).

NOTES FROM THE LAFAYETTE GAME
• Senior Guy Ragland Jr. posted his second double-double of the season and the sixth of his career.
• He tied his career high with four 3-pointers made in the game.
• After the visitors clawed within two points late, the Big Red defense did not allow a Lafayette field goal over the final 3:26 until a last-second basket with Cornell up a dozen points.
• Cornell made 7-of-11 3-pointers in the second half (64 percent).
• Sophomore Jacob Beccles collected a career-best three steals in the game.
• The Big Red assisted on 20 baskets in the win, the 30th time in the past four seasons the team has hit that milestone —it happened just 89 times in the previous 41 seasons.
• Freshman Anthony Nimani scored his first collegiate points in the win on a second half basket.
• No players saw more than 29 minutes of action, meaning that just two players Jake Fiegen (30 vs. Samford) and Cooper Board (31 at La Salle) have played at least 30 minutes in a game this season.

MISCELLANEOUS TEAM NOTES
• 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 be in search of its first-ever win over Iona when the teams match up on Monday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Hynes Athletic Center.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• The Gaels captured both ends of a home-and-home series in the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons, including an 89-67 Iona victory at Newman Arena on Dec. 14, 1996.
• John McCord scored 16 points with seven rebounds, but a 13-0 first half run put the Big Red away early.