Game 5	vs. Cornell Big Red (2-2; 12-16, 6-8 IVY in 2017-18)
Date | Time	Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018 | 4 p.m. (Alumni Day)
Location | Arena	Newark, NJ | Wellness & Events Center
Tickets	www.NJITtix.com | 973-596-5555
Live Video	ESPN+ | Matt Provence (PBP) and Jheryl Wilson (Color)
Live Stats	In-game statistics (free)
All-time series	Cornell, 2-0
Game Notes	NJIT Notes | Big Red Notes

 

(NEWARK, NJ) -- The last time NJIT started a season 5-0, the Division-III Highlanders soared to a 28-2 record and a trip to the 1995-96 NCAA Elite Eight under then head coach Jim Catalano. With a home victory over Cornell University (2-2) on Saturday, NJIT will own a 5-0 start and their first five-game winning since the 2015-16 season. It is Alumni Day at the Wellness and Events Center (WEC) and tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
 
As of Thursday, NJIT was one of just two NCAA Division-I programs in the nation to begin 4-0 with at least three wins against a D-I opponent. The other is Samford University (4-0). Meanwhile, the Big Red dropped its second game in a row with a 73-56 home loss to University of Delaware on Thursday.
 
The teams already have two common opponents this season.
 
NJIT won at Binghamton University, 74-57, on Nov. 9, after Cornell scored an 86-75 road win in Vestal, NY, to open its season. However, the Highlanders defeated Colgate University in Newark, 81-78, on Nov. 6 while the Big Red fell to the Raiders in Ithaca, 73-57, on Nov. 11.
 
NJIT extended its winning streak to four games with a 73-40 win over Kean University (D-III) on Wednesday in Newark. Junior guard Shyquan Gibbs posted game-highs in points (15) and assists (4) while his backcourt mate, sophomore Zach Cooks, finished with 14 points along with a game-high-tying five rebounds and a game-high four steals.
 
The Highlanders, who played the contest without senior starters Abdul Lewis, Reilly Walsh and Diandre Wilson, are now 29-0 all-time against non-Division-I teams with an average margin of victory of 38.6 points per game. NJIT's current four-game surge is their longest winning streak since a five-gamer from Jan. 30 to Feb. 13, 2016.
 
Wilson, the reigning ASUN Player of the Week, leads the team and ranks third in the ASUN in scoring at 16.3 points per game while shooting 55-percent (16-for-29) from the floor and 53-percent (8-for-15) from deep. In just three contests this season, the transfer from Mott Community College (MI) has lead the team in scoring twice (21 on Nov. 9; 20 on Nov. 11) with a pair of game-winning baskets.
 
Cooks is second on the team and 11^th in the ASUN in scoring at 13.3 ppg. With four more thefts against the Cougars, the former All-Freshman selection leads the conference with 11 steals – which ranks fifth in the nation.
 
With a victory, NJIT will reach 100 victories since third-year Head Coach Brian Kennedy joined the program as a top assistant in 2012-13.
 
The game will be streamed live on ESPN+. Matt Provence, who enters his 12th season with NJIT, will handle the play-by-play with and color analysis from Jheryl Wilson '11 -- the first Division-I 1,000-point scorer in NJIT history.
 
All-Time Series
 
Cornell leads the all-time series against NJIT, 2-0 -- however, the teams have not met since NJIT's first two seasons as a D-I program. The Big Red last earned a 64-33 road win on Jan. 15, 2008 (Game 23 of losing streak) after initially attaining a 68-59 home win on Jan. 7, 2007.
 
All-time, the Highlanders own a 3-16 record against Ivy League opponents. They are 1-0 this season after a 63-60 home win over Brown on Nov. 11. NJIT's other Ivy League wins came in a 78-71 home defeat of Yale on Jan. 9, 2015 – its first in 12 tries against Ancient Eight programs -- and a 75-73 home victory over Brown on Jan. 4, 2017.
 
Chewing Big Red
 
Cornell started 2-0 for the first time in nine seasons with wins over Binghamton and SUNY Canton (D-III). Since, they have fallen to Colgate and Delaware.
 
Last season, the Big Red finished fourth in the Ivy League after posting records of 12-16 overall and 6-8 in conference. After starting league-play at 0-3, Cornell picked up steam and went 6-5 over its final 11 affairs.
 
Junior Matt Morgan is one of four returning starters – and arguably the best scorer in the Ivy League. Last season, he averaged 22.5 ppg – 11^th best in the nation -- en route to earning First-Team All-Ivy and Lou Henson All-America honors. His 630 points were the most scored by any Ivy League player in three decades (636 by Dartmouth's Jim Barton in 1987-88). The Concord, N.C., native was also selected Second-Team All-Ivy in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

This season, Morgan is averaging a league-best 23.3 ppg while pulling down 8.0 rebounds per game. If maintained, his scoring average would be the highest-ever by a Cornell player (Chuck Rolles '56 averaged 23.0 points in 1955-56). Morgan scored 38 in the opener and arrived in Newark having scored double figures in 54 consecutive games.
 
Cornell is also getting double-digit scoring from sophomore Jimmy Boeheim. The son of legendary Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim, is averaging 15.0 ppg. Jim, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, has logged 1,029 victories over 43 seasons guiding the Orange – with 22 trips to the NCAA Tournament, five Final Four appearances and one NCAA Championship (2003). Syracuse is off to a 2-1 start this season.
 
Outside of Morgan and Boeheim, no Big Red player is scoring more than 6.0 ppg.
 
Head coach Brian Earl is in his third season at the helm. Last year, he guided the Big Red into its first appearance in the newly arranged Ivy League Tournament. Previously, Earl was an assistant and associate head coach at Princeton (2007-16) – his alma mater. As a Tigers player, he amassed 1,428 career points and was the 1999 Ivy League Player of the Year. He graduated with an Ivy League-record 281 triples, a mark that stood until Cornell's Ryan Wittman '10 surpassed him in 2010.

Earl's father, Denny, was a starting forward for Rutgers where he played under head coach Bill Foster and alongside the late Jim Valvano. His brother Dan played at Penn State and is the head coach at VMI. According to the Cornell website, the pair is one of five active sets of brothers directing D-I programs: Scott (Baylor) and Bryce (Vanderbilt) Drew; Bobby (Arizona State) and Danny (Rhode Island) Hurley; Joe (Yale) and James (Boston University) Jones; and Sean (Arizona) and Archie (Dayton) Miller.
 
Full season ticket packages, mini plans and group outings are available for purchase now at www.NJITTix.com. For more information, please call our ticket office via phone at 973-596-5555 or email at tickets@njit.edu.