ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's basketball team begins a month-long road swing when it visits Iona on Monday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. at Hynes Athletics Center. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• Cornell is looking to get back on track after losing two of its past three contests, including most recently an 86-76 decision to Robert Morris at home, snapping a 20-game non-conference home win streak.
• The Big Red's balanced offense includes three players averaging double figures and five more are averaging between 5.0 and 9.0 points per contest.
• Cornell is averaging a healthy 83.0 points on 47 percent shooting and assisting on 19.6 buckets per game.
• Defensively, the team is allowing opponents to shoot just 41 percent from the floor and 31 percent from beyond the arc
• 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
Cornell at Iona
DATE & TIME: Monday, November 25 at 7 p.m.
SITE: Hynes Athletics Center – New Rochelle, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell (3-2, 0-0 Ivy League), Iona (1-4, 0-0 MAAC)
SERIES RECORD: Iona leads 2-0
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: IonaGaels.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
29 Years • 231 Miles • 2 Meetings
Overall: Iona leads 2-0
In New Rochelle, N.Y.: Iona leads 1-0
Current Streak: Iona, 2 games
Last Meeting: Iona won 89-67, 12/14/96 in Ithaca, N.Y.
Jaques vs. Iona: 0-0

SERIES NOTES
The two teams met for the first time in 1995 with the Gaels claiming wins in consecutive seasons as a home-and-home series • Cornell is 69-59 all-time against current members of the MAAC, including 62-50 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) and Saint Peter's (1-3) • the Big Red is tied with Manhattan (1-1), Quinnipiac (2-2) and Siena (4-4).

A WIN OVER IONA WOULD
• push Cornell's record to 4-2 on the season.
• give the Big Red its first-ever win over the Gaels (0-2).
• make the Big Red 70-59 all-time against current members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
• make Cornell 58-32 overall (.644) since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• up the Big Red's non-conference record to 35-13 (.729) over its past 48 contests.
• be the 1,335th in program history (1,334-1,492-2 in 125th season, .472).

LAST TIME VS. IONA
• A 13-0 first half run helped push Iona past Cornell 89-67 on Dec. 14, 1996 at Newman Arena.
• The Gaels shot 54 percent from the floor and connected on 12-of-23 3-pointers (52 percent) in the victory.
• John McCord scored 16 points with seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot to pace three double figure scorers.
• Alex Compton added 15 points and eight assists with Michael Roberts chipping in 13 points.
• Iona's Mindaugas Timinskas scored 31 points and Bryan Matthew added 21 points with the two combining for 10 3-pointers between them.
• Tied 6-6 four minutes in, Timinskas connected on a trey that triggered a 13-0 run.
• Cornell never got closer than two the rest of the way and spent nearly the entire second half trailing by double figures.
• Bo Buettenback scored nine points with seven rebounds in the loss.
 
LAST TIME OUT
•  Robert Morris dominated the offensive glass and held off a late Big Red charge to snap Cornell's 20-game non-conference win streak with an 86-76 decision at Newman Arena. 
• The Colonials pulled down 17 offensive rebounds to dominate time of possession in the second half, with Alvaro Folgueiras ripping down four as part of a 19-point, 12-rebound effort. 
• He also added three assists, three steals and a blocked shot. 
• Six Robert Morris players reached double figures, with Amarion Dickerson (15), Antallah Sandlin'El (14), Josh Omojafo (12), Ryan Prather Jr. (10) and D.J. Smith (10) also hitting the mark. 
• Cornell's Jake Fiegen led both teams in scoring with his 22 points, while Nazir Williams scored 16 with six rebounds and three assists. 
• AK Okereke was the third double figure scorer with 10 points to go along with six assists. 
• The Big Red shot 46 percent from the floor and made nine 3-pointers, but couldn't overcome a 25-15 deficit in fast breaks and a 19-10 scoring deficit on points off turnovers. 

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 57-32 record (.640), a mark that is 57-22 when removing regular season guarantee games (.722).
• Cornell is 34-6 at home over the past three seasons, including 18-1 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 .592 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 977 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 1,026 of 1,030 games (7,034 3-pointers over that span).

NOTES FROM THE ROBERT MORRIS GAME
• The loss snapped the Big Red's 20-game non-conference home win streak.
• Jake Fiegen posted a career-high 22 points for his second 20-point outing of the season and his career.
• Ryan Kiachian connected on his first career 3-pointer and has now scored at least five points in four of the Big Red's five contests this year.
• DJ Nix set a new career-high with eight points and matched his all-time best with four rebounds.
• Jacob Beccles has record nine steals in five games (1.8 spg.) after posting 10 in his entire freshman season (25 games).
• With his season-high 16 points, Nazir Williams has now scored in double figures in 47 career games.
• Cornell was outrebounded 42-28, with the 14 rebound margin the largest in a home game since Colgate held a 47-31 edge in a 77-64 Big Red victory in 2023.

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 head up I-81 to renew its series with Syracuse on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. at the JMA Wireless Dome.
• The contest will be broadcast live on the ACC Network.
• The Big Red will attempt to snap a 43-game losing streak to the Orange dating back to the 1968-69 campaign, the fourth-longest streak in NCAA history.
• Cornell is 0-29 in the Dome against the Orange (1-30 overall).