ITHACA, N.Y. -- A national television audience will be watching as two teams vying for a spot in Ivy Madness square off when Cornell hosts Princeton on Sunday, March 2 at 2 p.m. at Newman Arena. The contest will be televised on ESPNU with Robert Lee and Noah Savage on the call.

• With two games to play, Cornell sits tied for second in the Ivy League standings with Dartmouth and Princeton at 7-5, a game clear of Brown (6-6) and two ahead of Harvard (5-7), with only the top four teams qualifying for the Ivy League Tournament. Dartmouth and Brown play each other on Saturday
• Cornell entering the weekend second in Division I in assists (18.8 per game) is 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.
• Cornell also has a direct connection to one of its biggest weapons — the 3-point shot. Cornell has finished in the top 20 in Division I in 3-pointers made and attempted in each of the past three seasons, and Big Red alum Ed Steitz '43, a member of the Basketball and FIBA Basketball Halls of Fame, was the original founder and president of Amateur Basketball Association of the United States of America (ABAUSA). He was instrumental in the reinstatement of the dunk in 1976 and was an advocate of the 45-second shot clock and 3-point shot. 
• 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
Princeton at Cornell
DATE & TIME: Sunday, March 1 at 2 p.m.
SITE: Newman Arena – Ithaca, N.Y.
RECORDS: Princeton 18-9 (7-5 Ivy); Cornell 15-10 (7-5 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads 154-86
BROADCAST: ESPNU/ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
Overall: Princeton leads 154-86
In Ithaca, N.Y.: Princeton leads 62-54    
In Ivy League play: Princeton leads 99-37
On neutral courts: Series tied 2-2
Streak: Cornell, 1
Last 5: Princeton leads 3-2
Last 10: Series tied 5-5
Last meeting: Cornell 85, Princeton 76 (1/25/2025 at Princeton)
Last Princeton win: Princeton 79, Cornell 77 (3/2/2024 at Princeton)
First meeting: Princeton 35, Cornell 14 (1/17/1902 at Princeton)



A WIN OVER PRINCETON WOULD ...
• push Cornell's record to 16-10 on the season and 8-5 in Ivy League play.
• clinch a spot in Ivy Madness for the fourth consecutive season and fifth time overall.
• make head coach Jon Jaques '10 the winningest first-year head coach in Cornell men's basketball history with 16 wins (Mike Dement was 15-11 in 1986-87, Scott Thompson was 15-11 in 1996-97).
• complete a season sweep of the Tigers for the first time since 2019-20.
• improve its Ivy record to 20-8 over its past 28 league contests.
• up its all-time record in Ivy League play to 415-535 (.437).
• make Cornell 70-40 overall (.636) since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• be the 1,347th in program history (1,346-1,500-2 in 125th season, .473).

LAST TIME VS. PRINCETON
• Seniors Nazir Williams (28) and Guy Ragland Jr. (22) both scored career highs and Cornell's big second half allowed men's basketball to earn an 85-76 victory over the Tigers at Jadwin Gymnasium. 
• After struggling offensively in the first half, the Big Red shot 68 percent from the field after halftime and scored 49 points, but it was the late defense that made the difference.
• Cornell forced the Tigers to miss 9-of-10 shots to end the game, with junior AK Okereke blocking consecutive Xaivian Lee shots in the final two minutes to allow the Big Red to extend the lead and put the game out of reach. 
• Williams hit 8-of-12 shots overall and chipped in five rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block while connecting ion 4-of-6 3-pointers on the night. 
• Ragland Jr. hit on 5-of-10 3-pointers, including four straight in the second half, to go along with eight rebounds in the win. 
• AK Okereke was the third double figure scorer with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and three blocks. 
• Princeton's Caden Pierce scored 20 points and ripped down 10 rebounds along with five assists.
 

LAST TIME OUT
• Cornell scored 63 first-half points and buried 15 3-pointers to help it to its most lopsided victory in the 121-year series with Penn, topping the Quakers 90-62 at Newman Arena. 
• The Big Red hit eight 3-pointers in the first eight minutes, ended the first half by making 15-of-22 (68 percent) and was completely in control throughout. 
• It led by as many as 43 points midway through the second half and didn't need to play any of its starters more than 19 minutes. 
• Cornell ended the night with 17 treys, tied for the sixth-most in a game in school history, and held a 21-0 advantage in fastbreak points.
• Junior Cooper Noard scored 19 points in just 16 minutes, Jake Fiegen netted 16 in 15 minutes and Nazir Williams chipped in 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. 
• Penn was led by 19 points from Sam Brown and 17 points and 12 rebounds from Nick Spinoso, but much of the damage came in the second half with the game well in hand for the home team. 
• The Quakers shot just 34 percent overall and coughed the ball up 19 times.
 

NOTES FROM THE PENN GAME
• The 63 points scored in the first half was the most by a Big Red team against a Division I opponent since the introduction of the shot clock, besting the 60 points in scored in the second half of a 102-85 victory at Columbia on Jan. 16, 2023.
• Cornell's 28-point margin of victory was the largest for the Big Red in the series that dates back to 1904 and spans 242 matchups.
• The team registered 23 assists, its 10th game this year with 20 or more.
• Nine different Cornell players hit 3-pointers for the Big Red.
• The 15 3-pointers the Big Red hit in the first half were a record by a Cornell team and would have ranked 16th all-time in a single game in school history without playing the second half.
• Five of the top 16 single-game marks for 3-pointers made have been accomplished this year under first-year head coach Jon Jaques '10.
• None of Cornell's starters played more than 19 minutes and 13 Big Red players saw double-digit minutes.
• The Big Red had a 21-0 edge in fastbreak points, a 31-8 edge in bench points and a 19-2 surge in points off turnovers.

TRENDING UP
• The Big Red entered the weekend second in assists (18.7 per game) and fifth in effective field goal percentage (.577). The Big Red also ranks in the top 20 in field goal percentage (12th, .490), 3-point field goals made (13th, 10.6) and scoring offense (14th, 83.5). 
• Entering the weekend, the Big Red ranked as the Ivy League leader in assists per game (18.7), effective field goal percentage (.577) and fastbreak points (14.6) and is second in 3-pointers made (10.6), scoring offense (83.5), field goal percentage (.490) and free-throw percentage (.751).
• All five starters are averaging double figures in scoring and no player in averaging more than 27.3 minutes per game (senior Nazir Williams).
• Senior Nazir Williams is averaging 16.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 0.9 steals over his past 18 games against Division I teams, shooting 52 percent from the floor overall (108-of-209).
• Over his past 18 games against Division I teams, junior Cooper Noard is averaging 15.1 points and 3.4 rebounds while connecting on 58-of-126 shots from 3-point range (.460). He is 33-for-45 from inside the arc over that span (.733) and is 40-for-57 (.702) from two-point range for the year.
• Junior AK Okereke is posting 14.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals in his past 15 contests against Division I teams.
• Senior Guy Ragland Jr. is shooting 53 percent (78-of-147) from the floor in his last 19 games, including 44 percent from 3-point range (34-of-77).
• After shooting 31 percent from beyond the arc in his first two seasons, Ragland Jr. is connecting on a .408 clip over the past two (82-201).
• In his past three games, sophomore Jake Fiegen is averaging 16.3 points and 3.3 rebounds while shooting 55 percent from the floor (17-of-31) and 48 percent from 3-point range (11-of-23) while making 3.7 3-pointers per game. 
• Junior Adam Hinton has made 15-of-26 3-pointers (.577) over his past 10 contests.
• Cornell has made 44 3-pointers over its past three games (14.7 per game) on .383 shooting.
• Over that same span, Cornell has a 60:26 assist:turnover ratio (2.31).
• The Big Red is shooting just .393 from the floor (105-of-267) over the past four games.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior Nazir Williams enters the contest with 1,173 points to rank 16th all-time at Cornell in scoring. He is 29 points from 15th (Chris Wroblewski '12 with 1,202).
• At 10th all-time in assists with 286, Williams is four from climbing to ninth (Wallace Prather '02 with 290) and 10 from eighth (Matt Morgan '19 with 296).
• Senior Guy Ragland Jr. ranks 12th all-time at Cornell with 150 3-pointers and needs four to jump into the top 10 (Adam Gore '09 with 154).
• With his 481 rebounds, Ragland Jr. is 19 away from becoming the 28th player in Cornell history to reach 500 career boards.
• With two made 3-pointers, junior Cooper Noard would record just the 15th season a Big Red player has hit 70 or more treys in a year.
• Junior AK Okereke has 104 assists, just five shy of reaching the single-season top 20 (109).

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• Since its return from COVID, Cornell men's basketball has posted a 69-40 record (.633), a mark that is 68-29 when removing regular season guarantee games (.701).
Over the past four seasons, the Big Red is averaging 17.9 assists per game and hitting 10.4 3-pointers per game while averaging 81.7 points per game. Over that stretch, Cornell is shooting .594 from two-point range.
• Cornell is 38-10 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 997 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 1,046 of 1,050 games (7,260 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 close out the regular season and celebrate its seniors when it welcomes Columbia to town on Saturday, March 8 at 2 p.m..
• The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• Cornell will be looking to claim a season sweep of the Lions after a 94-83 win in the conference opener for both teams on Jan. 11 in New York City.
• The Big Red enters the regular season finale holding an eight-game win streak over the Lions.