ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's basketball team will close out a successful 2024 calendar year when it hosts Siena on Monday, Dec. 30 at 4 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• Since flipping the calendar to 2024, the Big Red has gone 19-10 with a third consecutive appearances in the Ivy League Tournament (top four teams only), the program's first-ever NIT appearance, a top 10 ranking in the national mid-major poll, and securing its first win over an ACC school in 73 years (at Cal, 88-80 on Dec. 10).
• Now Cornell will be attempting to snap its first losing streak at home in nearly five years following defeats to Robert Morris (86-76) and Illinois State (80-77).
• 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.
• All five starters are in double figures and nine players are seeing double-digit minutes.
• 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
SIena at Cornell
DATE & TIME: Monday, December 30 at 4 p.m.
SITE: Newman Arena – Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Siena (5-6, 1-1 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference), Cornell (7-4, 0-0 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Series tied 4-4
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
39 Years • 166 Miles • 8 Meetings
Overall: Series tied 4-4
In Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell leads 2-1
Current Streak: Cornell, 1 game
Last Meeting: Cornell won 95-74,12/19/23 in Albany, N.Y.
Jaques vs. Siena: 0-0

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 70-59 all-time against current members of the MAAC, including 63-50 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 (1-2), Marist (2-3), Monmouth (0-2) and Saint Peter's (1-3) • the Big Red is tied with Manhattan (1-1) and Quinnipiac (2-2), as well as Siena (4-4).

A WIN OVER SIENA WOULD
• push Cornell's record to 8-4 on the season.
• make the Big Red 4-1 in its past five contests.
• make the Big Red 4-2 at home this season and up its home record to 35-7 (.833) over the past four years.
• snap a two-game home losing streak, the first at Newman Arena since Feb. 28-29, 2020 when the Big Red was swept by Dartmouth (82-70) and Harvard (67-58).
• make Cornell 62-34 overall (.646) since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• up the Big Red's non-conference record to 39-15 (.722) over its past 54 contests.
• be the 1,339th in program history (1,338-1,494-2 in 125th season, .472).

LAST TIME VS. SIENA
• The Cornell men's basketball team returned from a two week break and didn't miss a beat, rolling past Siena 95-74 at MVP Arena. 
• Four Big Red players reached double figures with Isaiah Gray leading the way with 16 points to go along with four assists, four steals and two rebounds. 
• Keller Boothby and Guy Ragland Jr. scored 13 apiece and freshman Jacob Beccles notched 10 with three assists off the bench. 
• In all, the Big Red had 20 assists and just nine turnovers, collected 12 steals and hit 12-of-32 shots from beyond the arc. 
• The Big Red had big advantages in bench scoring (57-22) and fastbreak points (26-5) in shooting 48 percent from the floor.
• Siena got 23 points and 15 rebounds from Sean Durugordon and 10 points from Zek Tekin. 
• Michael Eley scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds, but that came on 3-of-16 shooting. 
• Siena held a 50-34 edge on the backboards and ripped down 22 offensive boards.
 

LAST TIME OUT
• Illinois State made 14 3-pointers and Cornell's last-second attempt went long as the Redbirds escaped Newman Arena with an 80-77 win. 
• AK Okereke and Nazir Williams each had 19 points to lead four double figure scorers, with Guy Ragland Jr. (12) and Jake Fiegen (10) also hitting that milestone. 
• Okereke chipped in six rebounds, four assists and Williams posted seven boards and three helpers. 
• Cooper Noard and Ryan Kiachian scored eight points apiece. 
• The Big Red shot 53 percent from the floor, but came out on the short end on the backboards (31-26) and, in the end, couldn't overcome the visitors' hot shooting.
• The Redbirds shot 54 percent from 3-point range as seven different players connected on at least one trey. 
• Jack Daugherty had a team-best 16 points, including connecting on all four 3-point attempts before halftime. 
• Chase Walker netted 14 points and seven boards, Landon Wolf scored 13 and Dalton Banks netted 10.



NOTES FROM THE ILLINOIS STATE GAME
• After 20 consecutive non-conference wins at home, the Big Red has suffered consecutive defeats for the first time against non-league opponents since falling to NJIT (59-58) and Lafayette (62-59) in early 2019 (prior to COVID).
• The 14 3-pointers allowed are tied for the third-most in a game by an opponent at Newman Arena.
• The Big Red shot better than 50 percent from the floor for the third time in the past four contests. 
• Cornell has a positive assist:turnover ratio in 10 of its 11 contests this season, including eight straight.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior Nazir Williams enters the contest 32 points shy of becoming the school's 28th 1,000-point scorer.
• With 237 assists, Williams needs one more to join the top 20 all-time at Cornell and 13 to become the 17th player in school history to reach 250.
• Junior Cooper Noard needs to make two 3-pointers to reach 100 for his career, becoming the 24th player in school history to reach the century mark.
• Senior Guy Ragland Jr. needs one blocked shot to reach 40, (No. 16 all-time).

TRENDING UP
• Cornell has fluctuated between first and second in the nation in fastest tempo all season according the KenPom.
• The Big Red is second in the nation in assists (19.8 per game) and ranks in the top 25 in both 3-pointers made (21st, 10.6) and attempted (11th, 30.8).
• The Big Red has hit at least 12 3-pointers in four of the past six contests, averaging 12.0 over that span on .377 shooting (72-of-191) from beyond the arc.
• All five starters are averaging double figures in scoring, and no player in averaging more than junior Cooper Noard's 27.2 minutes per game.
• The Big Red ranks as the Ivy League leader in scoring offense (83.9) and is second in field goal percentage (.491).
• Over his past six games, junior Cooper Noard is averaging 16.8 points and 3.0 rebounds while connecting on 21-of-47 shots from 3-point range (.447). He is 13-for-16 from inside the arc over that span (.813) and is 20-for-28 (.714) from two-point range for the year.
• Senior Nazir Williams is averaging 19.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 0.6 steals over his past five games, shooting 61 percent from the floor overall (37-of-61) and 48 percent from 3-point range (12-of-25).
• Junior AK Okereke is posting 21.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 steals on 59-25-90 shooting in his last two contests.
• Sophomore Jake Fiegen has three consecutive double-figure scoring games and has 13 assists and zero turnovers in his past five contests (133 minutes).
• Senior Guy Ragland Jr. has eight or more points in eight consecutive contests.
• Senior Ryan Kiachian is averaging 13.5 points, 11.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 2.6 blocks per 40 minutes this season.

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• Since its return from COVID, Cornell men's basketball has posted a 61-34 record (.642), a mark that is 60-23 when removing regular season guarantee games (.723).
• Over the past four seasons, the Big Red is averaging 17.9 assists per game and hitting 10.3 3-pointers per game while averaging 81.4 points per game. Over that stretch, Cornell is shooting .596 from two-point range.
• Cornell is 34-7 at home over the past three seasons, including 18-2 against non-conference opponents over that span.
• 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).
• 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). 
• 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 983 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 1,032 of 1,036 games (7,106 3-pointers over that span).

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 ring in the new year when it welcomes Division III foe Penn State Schuylkill to Newman Arena for the team's final non-conference contest on Sunday, Jan. 5 at 2 p.m.
• It will be the first-ever meeting between the programs.
• The Lions enter the contest 8-6 overall and sporting a 6-1 league record in PSUAC play and are averaging 81.9 points per game, including three 100-point outings.