ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's basketball team will be in search of its first-ever win in the Ivy League Tournament when it plays third-seeded Dartmouth in a rubber match of the season series on Saturday, March 15 at 2 p.m. at Brown's Pizzitola Sports Center. The contest will be broadcast on ESPNews with Dave Flemming and Noah Savage on the call.

• Cornell is the No. 2 seed after finishing in sole possession of second place in the Ancient Eight with a 9-5 record, its second straight regular season runner-up finish.
• The Big Red will be out to avenge an 88-49 loss to the Big Green on Feb. 15 in Hanover, N.H., a game that saw the home team race out to a 21-2 lead and never look back as Cornell shot just 28 percent — the only game this season the Big Red shot below 39 percent.
• That contest came a little more than two weeks from a 76-64 Cornell victory over Dartmouth in Ithaca that featured a dominant 19-point, seven rebound, four assist, three steal and three blocked shot performance from AK Okereke.
• The Big Red enters Ivy Madness as winners of four straight games, averaging 94.3 points and connecting on nearly 16 3-pointers with 22.8 assists over that span.
• Cornell leads the country in effective field goal percentage and is among the top six in Division I in assists, 3-point field goals made, field goal percentage and scoring offense.
• First-year head coach Jon Jaques '10 was an assistant coach on all four previous Ivy Tournament teams and was a captain and starter on the Big Red's 2010 Sweet 16 team.
• He is the first men's head coach to lead a team into Ivy Madness in their first year directing a program, and he is also the winningest first-year head coach in the history of Cornell basketball (17 wins and counting).
• Cornell entering the weekend second in Division I in assists (19.3 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.
• The Big Red 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. 
• When Cornell hits its first 3-pointer of the night, that would mark the 1,000th consecutive game that the Big Red has hit a trey dating back to a contest against Denison in the 1988-89 season opener (0-for-2). It has hit at least one in every game since Nov. 28, 1988 (hitting 7,156 over that span).
• The Big Red is one of four teams (Delaware, Maryland and Mississippi) in the country to have all five starters averaging double figures in scoring and has 10 total players seeing double-digit minutes.
• Cornell 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
(3) Dartmouth vs. (2) Cornell
DATE & TIME: Saturday, March 15 at 2 p.m.
SITE: Pizzitola Sports Center – Providence, R.I.
RECORDS: Dartmouth 14-13 (8-6 Ivy); Cornell 17-10 (9-5 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads 118-110
BROADCAST: ESPNews / ESPN+
STATS: CornellBigRed.com
DIGITAL PROGRAM: CornellBigRed.com
GAME NOTES: CornellBigRed.com

THE SERIES
Overall: Cornell leads 118-110
at neutral sites: First Meeting    
In Ivy League play: Cornell leads 72-64
Streak: Dartmouth, 1
Last 5: Cornell leads 4-1
Last 10: Cornell leads 6-4
Last meeting: Dartmouth 88, Cornell 49 (2/15/2025 at Dartmouth)
Last Cornell win: Cornell 76, Dartmouth 64 (1/31/2025 at Cornell)
First meeting: Dartmouth 26, Cornell 12 (1/18/1901 at Dartmouth)    



A WIN OVER DARTMOUTH WOULD ...
• advance Cornell into the Ivy League Tournament championship for the first time in program history.
• allow the big Red to play for the program's sixth NCAA Tournament bid in program history and the first since 2010.
• extend its win streak to five games.
• give Cornell a 2-1 edge over Dartmouth this season.
• make Cornell 72-40 overall (.643) since the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
• be the 1,349th in program history (1,348-1,500-2 in 125th season, .473).

LAST TIME VS. DARTMOUTH
• Dartmouth raced out to a 21-2 lead and never looked back, burying Cornell 88-49 at Leede Arena. 
• From the tip, Cornell could never get anything going. 
• The Big Red shot just 28 percent overall and hit on 3-of-27 3-pointers with 16 turnovers, trailing by as many as 45. 
• Junior Cooper Noard was the only player in double figures with 10 points and five rebounds. 
• Guy Ragland Jr. scored six points with four boards and both Jake Fiegen and Gio Panzini had five points apiece. 
• Cade Haskins led a balanced Dartmouth attacked with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Ryan Cornish posted 16 points, five assists, three rebounds and a pair of steals. 
• Jayden Williams was the third double-figure scorer with 10 points and four boards. 
• Brandon Mitchell-Day posted nine points, eight rebounds and five assists in the win. 
• The Big Green shot 49 percent from the field overall and connected on 15 3-pointers. 

LAST TIME OUT
• The Cornell men's basketball team tuned up for the Ivy League Tournament by clinching second place in the regular season Ivy League standings for a second straight year, dismantling Columbia 100-81 at Newman Arena. 
• Cornell led wire-to-wire on Senior Day, with four Big Red players starting in their final home game. 
• From an alley-oop finish by Chris Cain on its first possession, the Big Red was in control the entire way, leading by as many as 23 and winning its fourth straight to enter postseason.
• In their last game in front of Newman Nation, seniors Nazir Williams (26 points, six rebounds, four assists) and Guy Ragland Jr. (15 points, five assists, two steals) showcased their playmaking. 
• Junior AK Okereke accounted for 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists and Cooper Noard rounded out four double figure scorers with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists.
• Zine Eddine Bedri posted 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Lions, while Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa scored 14 points, including hitting three 3-pointers. 



CORNELL ALL-IVY SELECTIONS
• For the third consecutive year, senior Nazir Williams (second team) has been named All-Ivy and was joined by first-time selections AK Okereke (second team) and Cooper Noard (honorable mention).
• Williams, a second-team pick in 2024 and an honorable mention choice in 2023, averaged 14.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists on 51-38-82 split. They were even better in conference play at 15.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists on 50-40-80 shooting.
• Okereke averaged 13.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks on 59-32-77 shooting. In league play it was 14.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.2 steals on 63-46-78 shooting.
• Noard shot 50-44-84 with 13.6 points and 3.0 rebounds per game while connecting on 2.89 3-pointers per night. He also upped his game in conference play, averaging 14.5 points and 3.4 rebounds on 54-40-88 shooting with 3.2 3-pointers per contest.

NOTES FROM THE COLUMBIA GAME
• Cornell reached the 100-point mark for the second consecutive game, something it hadn't done but twice before — the last time in back-to-back days at Barton Hall, knocking off Harvard (109-96) and Dartmouth (102-82) on Feb. 11-12, 1966.
• The Big Red improved its win streak over the Lions to nine games.
• Cornell has five consecutive games with at least 18 assists and no more than 11 turnovers after posting 21 assists (third straight game with 20+ assists) and just eight turnovers (third game with single-digit turnovers).
• The Big Red made 24-of-34 field goals (.706) from inside the 3-point arc
• Seniors Chris Cain and Ryan Kiachian both picked up their first career starts during its Senior Day lineup.

TRENDING UP
• The Big Red entered the weekend first in the country in effective field goal percentage (.589), second in assists (19.3 per game), fourth in 3-point field goals made (11.3) and field goal percentage (.498) and sixth in scoring offense (85.0). 
• Entering the weekend, the Big Red ranked as the Ivy League leader in scoring offense (85.0), assists per game (19.3), field goal percentage (.498), effective field goal percentage (.589), fastbreak points (14.9) and 3-pointers made (11.3).
• All five starters are averaging double figures in scoring and no player in averaging more than 27.3 minutes per game (senior Nazir Williams).
• In fact, no Big Red player ranks in the top 20 in minutes played in the Ivy League.
• Not only is Cornell a prolific 3-point shooting team, but the Big Red ranks second in the nation in two-point percentage (.604), behind only Creighton (.608). 
• Cornell has used the same starting lineup all season except for the season opener against Marywood when Nazir Williams was held out, as well as the win over Columbia when Cornell started four seniors, two who made their first starts.
• Senior Nazir Williams is averaging 16.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 0.9 steals over his past 20 games against Division I teams, shooting 53 percent from the floor overall (123-of-230).
• Over his past 20 games against Division I teams, junior Cooper Noard is averaging 15.2 points and 3.4 rebounds while connecting on 67-of-142 shots from 3-point range (.472). He is 34-for-46 from inside the arc over that span (.739) and is 41-for-58 (.707) from two-point range for the year.
• Noard is one of just two players that stand 6-2 or shorter that rank in the nation's top 30 in effective field goal percentage (16th at .658, just below 6-2 guard Masen Miller of North Dakota State, .663).
• In league games, Noard paces all Ivy players in both 3-point field goals (3.2 per game) and 3-point percentage (.500).
• Junior AK Okereke is posting 15.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.3 steals in his past 17 contests against Division I teams.
• Okereke paces the Ivy League in assist:turnover ratio (2.9) in Ivy League contests.
• Senior Guy Ragland Jr. is shooting 55 percent (90-of-164) from the floor in his past 21 games, including 45 percent from 3-point range (40-of-88).
• After shooting 31 percent from beyond the arc in his first two seasons, Ragland Jr. is connecting on a .415 clip over the past two (88-of-212).
• In his past four games, sophomore Jake Fiegen is averaging 14.4 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 52 percent from the floor (25-of-48) and 44 percent from 3-point range (16-of-36) while making 3.2 3-pointers per game. 
• Junior Adam Hinton has made 15-of-26 3-pointers (.577) over his past 12 contests.
• Cornell has made 77 3-pointers over its past five games (15.4 per game) on .425 shooting (77-of-181).
• Over that same span, Cornell has a 110:45 assist:turnover ratio (2.44).

MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior Nazir Williams enters the contest with 1,213 points to rank 14th all-time at Cornell in scoring. He is four points from 13th (Louis Jordan '59 with 1,217), 19 points from 12th (Cody Toppert '05 with 1.232) and 28 from 11th (Robert Hatter ;17 with 1,241).
• Senior Guy Ragland Jr. ranks 10th all-time at Cornell with 156 3-pointers and needs six to jump to ninth (Ray Mercedes '01 with 162).
• With his 490 rebounds, Ragland Jr. is 10 away from becoming the 28th player in Cornell history to reach 500 career boards.
• Ragland Jr. will be playing in his 109th career game, one shy of reaching the top five all-time.
• He has upped his career total to 946 points, 54 away from becoming the school's 29th 1,000-point scorer. 
• With 77 3-pointers this season, junior Cooper Noard is one from posting a top 10 single-season mark at Cornell, two from reaching ninth and three from No. 8.
• Junior AK Okereke has 111 assists, a mark that ranks No. 18 in a single season in school history. He is five from reaching 17th and eight to march to 16th.
• As a team, Cornell's 304 3-pointers is six off of hitting No. 2 in a season (310 in 2023-24) and 26 from hitting the mark of 326 during the 2009-10 season.
• The Big Red has accumulated 521 assists as a team (fifth all-time) and is within striking distance of the school record of 544 set last year (544 in 2023-24).

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• Since its return from COVID, Cornell men's basketball has posted a 71-40 record (.640), a mark that is 70-29 when removing regular season guarantee games (.707).
• Over the past four seasons, the Big Red is averaging 18.1 assists per game and hitting 10.5 3-pointers per game while averaging 82.0 points per game. Over that stretch, Cornell is shooting .596 from two-point range.
• Jon Jaques '10, a finalist for the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year for first year DI head coaches, is the winningest first-year mentor in Cornell men's basketball history with his 17 wins (Mike Dement was 15-11 in 1986-87, Scott Thompson was 15-11 in 1996-97).
• The Big Red's four consecutive Ivy League Tournaments marks the first time a Cornell senior class has qualified to compete in four consecutive postseasons.
• Cornell is 40-10 (.800) 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 999 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 1,048 of 1,052 games (7,156 3-pointers over its current streak and 7,293 all-time).

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). All four players that have seen action have lifted their teams to significant improvements from the prior year.
• Boothby started all 32 games for William & Mary, averaging 7.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range for former head coach Brian Earl and the 17-15 Tribe. Q&M improved by seven games from the 2023-24 season.
• Gray has started all 31 contests for the Mid-American Conference regular season champion Zips (25-6), averaging 9.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.0 steals on 49 percent shooting. The Zips have one more win than last season, but also improved by four wins in conference play.
• Hansen has started 17 of 30 games for the Revolutionaries (20-11), averaging 5.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game on 47 percent shooting. The Commodores have improved from last season by 11 wins (9-23). GW has improved this season by five wins.
• Manon has started 24 of 31 games for Vanderbilt (20-11), averaging 6.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per game on 54 percent shooting.
• Williams has played in just nine contests with five starts at Prairie View due to injuries, averaging 0.3 points and 0.6 rebounds
• 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
• With a win, Cornell will play for its first-ever Ivy League Tournament title when it faces (1) Yale or (4) Princeton on Sunday, March 16 at 12 p.m. at The Pizzitola Sports Center in Providence, R.I.
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN2.
• The Big Red has previously reached the NCAA Tournament in 1954, 1988, 2008, 2009 and 2010, including reaching the Sweet 16 in 2010 with victories over Temple and Wisconsin.