ITHACA, N.Y. -- It will be a matchup of the master and the pupil when former captain Jon Jaques '10 and his Big Red team travel to the Palestra to face Penn and his collegiate head coach, Steve Donahue, on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• Several of Jaques' teammates and Donahue's pupils will be on hand for the contest, including members of the Big Red's 2008-09-10 Ivy championship teams.
• The 2008 and 2009 squads are the last teams to hold a win streak over Penn at the Palestra, something this year's Big Red team is trying to accomplish.
• The Big Red opened Ivy League competition with a 94-83 victory at Columbia, the team's fourth straight road victory.
• Cornell shot 63 percent from the floor overall, made 14-of-27 3-pointers (52 percent) and assisted on 26 baskets in an offensive clinic, as the Big Red grabbed a 51-31 halftime lead and never looked back.
• Cornell enters the game leading Division I in assists (21.0 per game and ranks fifth at all levels. That's little surprise, as the Big Red has ranked in the top 10 in each of the past three seasons (sixth in 2023 and 2024, seventh in 2022). Ironically, the first assist credited in an NBA game was by a Cornellian, Nat Militzok, for the New York Knicks against the Toronto Huskies in Canada on Nov. 1, 1946
• 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
Cornell at Penn
DATE & TIME: Saturday, January 18 at 2 p.m.
SITE: The Palestra – Philadelphia, Pa.
RECORDS: Cornell (9-5, 1-0 Ivy League), Penn (4-10, 0-1 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads 162-78
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: PennAthletics.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
Overall: Penn leads 162-7809
In Philadelphia, Pa.: Penn leads 94-27    
In Ivy League play: Penn leads 97-37
On neutral courts: N/A
Streak: Cornell, 2
Last 5: Cornell leads 3-2
Last 10: Penn leads 6-4
Last meeting: Cor 87, Penn 81 (3/1/2024 at Penn)
Last Penn win: Penn 92, Cor 86 (2/4/2023 at Penn)
First meeting: Penn 31, Cor 12 (2/18/1904 at Penn)    

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD ...
• push Cornell's record to 10-5 on the season.
• give the Big Red a 2-0 Ivy League record for the third straight season.
• push its Ivy record to 14-3 over the past two seasons.
• extend its win streak over Penn to three games and give the Big Red its first win streak at the Palestra since the 2008 and 2009 Ivy seasons.
• narrow the Big Red's deficit in the all-time series to 162-79.
• extend Cornell's road win streak to five games.
• up its all-time record in Ivy League play to 409-530 (.436).
• make Cornell 64-35 overall (.646) since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• be the 1,341st in program history (1,340-1,495-2 in 125th season, .473).

LAST TIME VS. PENN
•  After a first half where nothing went right, the Cornell men's basketball team could seemingly do nothing wrong after the break. 
• The Big Red weathered a barrage of Penn 3-pointers and a decade's worth of Palestra sadness with an 87-81 victory over the Quakers. 
• Cornell scored 53 points in the second half on 53 percent shooting, didn't turn the ball over in the final 20 minutes and closed strong to snap a nine-game skid against Penn at the famed Palestra. 
• AK Okereke scored a career-high 18 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:12 to play, to pace four double figure scorers for the visitors. 
• Cooper Noard notched 13 points, Chris Manon tallied 11 points with five rebounds and three steals and Nazir Williams had 10 points, three rebounds and three assists in the win. 
• Cornell shot 47 percent from the floor and made 12 3-pointers while outrebounding the home team 36-33.
• Clark Slajchert scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Quakers.



LAST TIME OUT
• The Cornell men's basketball team bolted out to a big first-half lead and shot 63 percent from the floor overall to top Columbia 94-83 in the Ivy League opener for both teams at Levien Gymnasium. 
• Sophomore Jacob Beccles scored a career-high 23 points and tied a school record by hitting all five of his 3-point attempts, while junior Cooper Noard made 6-of-8 of his own on his way to 20 points. 
• The Big Red shot .633 as a team (No. 9 all-time in a game at Cornell and made 14-of-27 shots from beyond the arc. 
• AK Okereke had 12 points, five assists and three blocked shots and Nazir Williams rounded out four double figure scorers with 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
• Columbia put four in double figures with Kenny Noland leading the way with 19 points and six assists. Avery Brown scored 18 and Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa chipped in 15 points and six assists, though the Ivy League's second-leading scorer was held without a point in the decisive first half. 
• Cornell used a pair of 11-0 first half runs to vault to a 51-31 halftime lead and cruised in the second half.



NOTES FROM THE COLUMBIA GAME
• The Big Red's 51 first half points were the most in an Ivy contest since also scoring 51 points in a 95-76 triumph at Brown on March 5, 2010.
• Sophomore Jacob Beccles connected on all five 3-point attempts, matching a school record for treys in a game without a miss. His 5-or-5 day matched Ryan Wittman (vs. Bryant, 1/10/2010) and Jack Gordon (vs. Central Penn, 1/5/2018).
• His 8-of-9 shooting (.889) overall puts him tied for 10th in a single contest by a Big Red player.
• Beccles 23 points off the bench were the most by a Big Red player since Jimmy Boeheim tallied 23 against Delaware on Nov. 15, 2018.
• The team's .633 shooting percentage ranks ninth all-time and was the best mark since shooting .640 at NJIT on Nov. 17, 2018.
• Senior Guy Ragland Jr. extended his consecutive field goal streak to 17 with two straight to open the game before missing his first shot in more than a month — his last prior miss came midway through the second half in a win at Cal on Dec. 10, 2024.
• Senior Nazir Williams became the ninth player in school history to reach 1,000 points (1,010), 250 rebounds (305) and 250 assists (253) in a career.
• Williams had just the eighth game in school history with double figure points, at least seven rebounds and seven assists and two steals with his effort against the Lions.
• Jon Jaques '10 became the first Big Red coach to win his Ivy League debut since Tom Miller in 1980-81, also against Columbia.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior Nazir Williams (1,010) enters the Penn contest needing two points to surpass Eric Taylor '05 (1,011) in 25th place at Cornell in career scoring and five to move past Walt Esdaile '69 (1,014). 
• Senior Cooper Noard is 23 points shy of reaching 500 for his career.

TRENDING UP
• The Big Red leads the nation in assists (21.0 per game) and ranks in the top 10 in effective field goal percentage (second, .601), field goal percentage (fifth, .512), scoring offense (sixth, 86.9) and 3-point field goals made (eighth, 111.1). Additionally, it stands in the top 10 in fastbreak points (13th, 16.2), assist:turnover ratio (15th, 1.68) and 3-point field goal attempts (16th, 30.1). 
• The Big Red ranks as the Ivy League leader in scoring offense (86.9), bench points per game (26.4), 3-point field goals made per game (11.1), assists per game (21.0), assist:turnover ratio (1.68), field goal percentage (.512), effective field goal percentage (.601) and fastbreak points (16.2).
• All five starters are averaging double figures in scoring, and no player in averaging more than junior Cooper Noard's 26.4 minutes per game.
• Senior Nazir Williams is averaging 17.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 0.9 steals over his past seven games against Division I teams, shooting 61 percent from the floor overall (50-of-82) and 44 percent from 3-point range (12-of-27).
• Over his past eight games against Division I teams, junior Cooper Noard is averaging 16.6 points and 3.0 rebounds while connecting on 28-of-60 shots from 3-point range (.467). He is 16-for-19 from inside the arc over that span (.842) and is 23-for-31 (.742) from two-point range for the year.
• Junior AK Okereke is posting 16.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.3 steals in his past four contests against Division I teams.
• Ragland Jr. is shooting .691 (38-of-55) from the floor in his last nine games, including 58 percent from 3-point range (15-of-26). His field goa percentage bumps up to 74 percent overall in his past seven contests (29-of-39) and 57 percent beyond the arc (8-of-14).

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• Since its return from COVID, Cornell men's basketball has posted a 63-35 record (.643), a mark that is 62-24 when removing regular season guarantee games (.721).
• Over the past four seasons, the Big Red is averaging 18.1 assists per game and hitting 10.4 3-pointers per game while averaging 81.9 points per game. Over that stretch, Cornell is shooting .598 from two-point range.
• Cornell is 35-8 at home over the past three seasons, including 19-3 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 986 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 1,035 of 1,039 games (7,144 3-pointers over that span).

MISCELLANEOUS 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 was picked fourth in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll after being chosen third a season ago.
• In the past two seasons, the Big Red has led the Ivy League in scoring offense (81.7 and 82.1 ppg.), assists (17.5 and 18.1 apg.), steals (9.7 and 8.3 spg.) and effective field goal percentage (.556 and .572) both years.
• The Big Red had its streak of 23 consecutive non-conference wins against opponents from conferences other than the ACC or Big Ten dating back to an 80-76 loss at Hartford on Dec. 22, 2019 snapped at George Mason— a streak that spanned 1,424 days.
• At the same time, Cornell won 33 straight regular season non-guarantee non-conference games dating back to that same loss to Hartford prior to its defeat against Robert Morris.
• Cornell's non-conference home win streak of 20 games, its longest since the 1920s, was snapped with the Robert Morris loss.

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.

BIG RED GRAD TRANSFERS
• Graduated seniors Keller Boothby '24 (William & Mary), Isaiah Gray '24 (Akron), Sean Hansen '24 (George Washington), Chris Manon '24 (Vanderbilt), and Evan Williams (Prairie View A&M) have moved on to play as graduate transfers at other Division I institutions (Ivy League does not allow graduate student eligibility).
• Over the past four seasons, 13 grad transfers have gone on to play Division I basketball elsewhere — Jimmy Boeheim '21 (Syracuse), Kobe Dickson '22 (Howard), Bryan Knapp '21 (George Washington), Terrance McBride '21 (Rice), Dean Noll '22 (Stony Brook), Sarju Patel '22 (UAlbany), Riley Voss '21 (Wright State), Greg Dolan '23 (Loyola Chicago) and Marcus Filien '23 (UAlbany).
• Dating back even further, Big Red student-athletes have gone on to graduate transfer success at UConn (Shonn Miller '15 and David Onuorah '17), Purdue (Errick Peck '13), California (Dwight Tarwater '14) and Kent State (Galal Cancer '15).

UP NEXT
• The Big Red will open its Ivy League home slate when it welcomes Brown to Newman Arena for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee on Monday, Jan. 20 at 2 p.m.
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• The Big Red leads the all-time series 84-57, though the teams have split the series in eight of the past nine seasons.
• The Bears spoiled Cornell's chance an an unbeaten home season last March when it spoiled senior day for the Big Red with a 78-74 victory.