ITHACA, N.Y. -- A thankful Cornell men's basketball team will have a chance to create a memorable holiday for Big Red fans when it heads up I-81 to play Central New York foe Syracuse on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. at the JMA Wireless Dome. The contest will be broadcast on the ACC Network Extra.

• The Big Red will be looking for its first win over Syracuse since Dec. 4, 1968 — with 43 consecutive losses in the meantime.
• Cornell will also be playing for its first victory over an ACC opponent in more than 60 seasons, a losing skid that has reached 41 games.
• Playing at the fastest pace in the country according to Ken Pom's rankings, the Big Red is averaging 83.2 points and assisting on 20.0 baskets per game as part of its 4-2 start.
• 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 Syracuse
DATE & TIME: Wednesday, November 27 at 7 p.m.
SITE: JMA Wireless Dome – Syracuse, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cornell (4-2, 0-0 Ivy League), Syracuse (3-2, 0-0 ACC)
SERIES RECORD: Syracuse leads 97-31
BROADCAST: ACC Network Extra
STATS: Cuse.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
122 Years • 53 Miles • 128 Meetings
Overall: Syracuse leads 97-31
In Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse leads 67-12
In The Dome: Syracuse leads 29-0
Current Streak: Syracuse, 43 games
Last Meeting: Syracuse won 81-70,12/5/23 in Syracuse, N.Y.
Jaques vs. Syracuse: 0-0

SERIES NOTES
The Big Red's last win in the series came on Dec. 4, 1968, a 93-81 victory in Ithaca • Cornell is 1-30 all-time in the Dome and 0-29 against the Orange • the program's only win in the Dome was a 75-54 victory over Saint Francis (Pa.) to open the 2005-06 season at the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic • the Big Red is 38-146 against current members of the ACC • Cornell's last win over a team in the conference at the time of the game came vs. Wake Forest the 1951-52 season, a 58-51 victory on the road • since then, the Big Red has lost 41 consecutive games to current members of the ACC • Cornell has 31 wins all-time against Syracuse, the last coming in 1968, but all were prior to its time in the conference.

A WIN OVER SYRACUSE WOULD
• push Cornell's record to 5-2 on the season.
• snap a 43-game skid against the Orange dating back to 1968.
• end a 41-game losing streak against ACC foes, securing its first win against a team from  the conference since topping Wake Forest 58-51 during the 1951-52 campaign.
• make Cornell 59-32 overall (.648) since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• up the Big Red's non-conference record to 36-13 (.735) over its past 49 contests.
• be the 1,336th in program history (1,335-1,492-2 in 125th season, .472).

LAST TIME VS. SYRACUSE
• 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. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
•  Career scoring highs from Cooper Noard (20) and Adam Hinton (12) and a gritty performance on the boards lifted the Big Red to an 84-68 victory over Iona at Hynes Center. 
• Noard led four double-figure scorers with 20 points, Jake Fiegen added 15, Hinton scored 12 off the bench and Guy Ragland Jr. added 11 points to go along with his eight rebounds in the victory. 
• Nazir Williams chipped in seven points, five assists and three rebounds and AK Okereke finished with six points, six rebounds and eight assists. 
• In all, the Big Red assisted on 22 of its 27 baskets and shot 48 percent for the day. 
• Maybe most impressively, Cornell ended the contest with a 37-36 edge on the glass against an Iona team that entered the game leading the nation in offensive rebounds and were outrebounding opponents by nine per game.
• DeJour Reaves led the Gaels with 19 points and five rebounds, with Adam Njie Jr. (14 points, six assists, three rebounds). 
• Yaphet Moundi (13 points, nine rebounds, five steals) and Jalen Barr (10 points, four rebounds) also reaching double figures.

THE LAST TIME CORNELL DEFEATED SYRACUSE
• Things have changed mightily since the last time Cornell defeated Syracuse, a 93-81 Big Red win on Dec. 4, 1968 in Ithaca. 
• Some of the things that have happened in the 20,447 days since — man has landed on the moon (July 20, 1969); Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry was born (1972) and contributed four wins to the Big Red losing streak as one of SU's all-time best players (1990-94); Cornell head coach Jon Jaques was born (1988), attended Cornell and was a captain and starter on its NCAA Sweet 17 team (2010), returned to Cornell as an assistant (2013) and was named head coach (2024); 15 U.S. Presidential elections have been held; the earth's population has more than doubled, increasing by 4.3 billion; a human being born on that day has had their heart beat approximately 2.29 billion times while taking approximately 408 million breaths; Hall of Fame SU head coach Jim Boeheim joined the SU staff as an assistant coach (1969), was promoted to head coach (1976), won a national title (2003) and more than 1,000 games on the Orange sidelines and had a son (1998), Jimmy, who would later suit up for the Big Red (2017-21) and the Orange (2021-22) before retiring (2023).

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 58-32 record (.644), a mark that is 58-22 when removing regular season guarantee games (.725).
• 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 978 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 1,027 of 1,031 games (7,047 3-pointers over that span).

NOTES FROM THE IONA GAME
• Juniors Cooper Noard (20) and Adam Hinton (12) set career scoring highs in the win.
• Junior AK Okereke posted a career-best with eight assists.
• Okereke is the fourth Big Red player to post at least six points, six rebounds, eight assists, a steal and a blocked shot in a game and the first since Josh Warren (9 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 block, 1 steal) at Coppin State on Nov. 23, 2019.
• The Big Red held the lead for all but 14 seconds in the win, leading for 39:04.
• Both Noard (7-for-7) and Hinton (6-for-6) shot 100 percent from the free-throw line, the first time two Big Red players that attempted at least six shots made all their attempts in the same game since Chris Manon (8-for-8), Guy Ragland Jr. (8-for-8) and Greg Dolan (6-for-6) at Columbia on Jan. 16, 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
• The Big Red kicks off the month of December when it visits five-time defending Patriot League champion Colgate on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at Cotterell Court in Hamilton, N.Y.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• Cornell has won three straight matchups between the teams, including a 77-64 contest last season in Ithaca.
• The last time the teams met in Hamilton, Cornell ran off with a 91-80 victory during the 2022-23 season.