ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's basketball team will have its final tuneup for the regular season opener at Syracuse when SUNY-Cortland visits Newman Arena for an exhibition on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. The contest between the Big Red and its local Division III rival will be free and open to the public.
Second-year head coach
Brian Earl's team returns two-time All-Ivy League selection
Matt Morgan, the conference's leading scorer in each of his first two seasons. The 1,000-point scorer is joined by all-conference candidate
Stone Gettings, who may have been the most improved player in the league a year ago. The introduction of six newcomers into the mix will help cover the graduation loss of
Robert Hatter, a top 10 scorer in school history, and experienced guards
JoJo Fallas and
Desmond Fleming. The Big Red, picked to finish sixth in the preseason Ivy League media poll, is one of just 16 teams nationally that returns 70 percent of its scoring (72 percent), rebounding (74 percent) and assists (71 percent) from last season.
The contest will be the Big Red's first exhibition game since playing the University of Waterloo, a Canadian national semifinalist squad, on Nov. 13, 2004. Cornell won that contest 82-58 behind 11 points each from Cody Toppert '05 and Ryan Rourke '06.
The Red Dragons went 17-9 a year ago, including 12-6 in the SUNYAC conference. Junior guard Justin Cooper (16.9 ppg., 8.7 rpg.) and senior guard James Morales (15.3 ppg., 3.1 rpg.) are the team's top returners, while senior forward Carrel Joseph (10.1 ppg., 5.4 rpg.) also averaged double figures a season ago for head coach Tom Spanbauer, who has won nearly 400 career games, including 375 in 22 years at Cortland.
Season tickets for the upcoming campaign are now on sale. The 12-game regular season slate at Newman Arena includes all seven Ivy League home contests, as well as non-league battles with Binghamton, Central Pennsylvania, Lafayette, Niagara and Toledo.
Chairback seats are $99 for the season, while general admission is $49. You can add women's basketball season tickets to your package for an extra $10.
Click here to purchase season tickets
