GAME 13 | HARTFORD HAWKS (5-7) vs. CORNELL BIG RED (1-8)
 
DATE | TIME: Sunday, Dec. 22 | 2 p.m.
LOCATION: Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion (West Hartford, Conn.)
COVERAGE: Live Stats | ESPN+ (Jeff Dooley & Adam Finkelstein)        
TWITTER: @HartfordMBB | #CapitalCityTeam | #AEHoops
TICKETS: Buy Online | 860-768-HAWK
GAME NOTES: Hartford | Cornell
 
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The Hartford men's basketball team looks to pick up its second straight win on Sunday, when it hosts Cornell in the final contest of a four-game homestand. Meeting for the first time since 2006, the Hawks and Big Red are set to tip off inside Reich Family Pavilion at 2 p.m.
 
SCOUTING CORNELL

• Cornell brings a 1-8 record into Sunday's matchup after dropping its past eight games
• Four of the Big Red's losses have been decided by three points or fewer
• Cornell's lone victory came against America East member Binghamton, 84-64, on opening day
• Jimmy Boeheim is averaging 18.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game to lead the Big Red in both categories 

 
SERIES HISTORY

• Hartford looks to improve to 4-0 against Cornell on Sunday in a series that began in 1984
• After the Hawks won the inaugural meeting, the two teams met 19 years later as part of a home-and-home series
• Hartford took each of those decisions in 2005 and 2006, scoring a pair of narrow, two-point victories

 
LAST TIME THEY MET
HARTFORD 63, CORNELL 61 (NOV. 28, 2006)

• The Hawks erased a 10-point deficit in the final 3:24 to come from behind and defeat Cornell, 63-61, in Ithaca

 
LAST TIME OUT 
HARTFORD 71, WAGNER 63 (DEC. 14, 2019)

• Sophomore Hunter Marks dropped a game-high 19 points to lead Hartford past Wagner, 71-63, last Saturday inside Reich Family Pavilion
• The Seahawks trimmed a 14-point deficit down to five in the second half, but the Hawks held off the late charge with a 9-for-10 effort from the free-throw line
• Hartford turned in an 87-percent effort from the charity stripe (33-for-38)

 
FINE FROM THE LINE

• The free-throw line proved to be the difference in Hartford's most recent win against Wagner last Saturday
• The Hawks went to the line 38 times, marking the most attempts since Jan. 4, 2003, when they made 40 trips to the charity stripe against New Hampshire
• Hartford made 30-plus free throws for the first time since 2016-17, when it went 32-for-37 against Binghamton
• The 33 makes were the most in a game since the Hawks made 44 against New Hampshire on Jan. 27, 1999
• Sophomore D.J. Mitchell (10-for-10), graduate student Traci Carter (8-for-8) and sophomore Hunter Marks (6-for-6) were poised from the line against the Seahawks, combining to go a perfect 24-for-24

 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE THE FUN

• Malik Ellison, a graduate transfer from Pitt, has not disappointed Hawks fans since making his debut earlier this month
• After missing the first 10 games of the year with an injury, he led Hartford with 18 points and five rebounds in his first game against Sacred Heart (Dec. 8)
• He was even more impressive against Wagner, scoring 12 points while corralling 14 rebounds, the most by a Hawk in a single game this season
• Ellison is nearly averaging a double-double on 15.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, both of which are team-best numbers

 
TALK A BIG GAME

• Flowers had an explosive outing against St. Francis Brooklyn earlier this month (Dec. 5)
• The freshman guard dropped 28 points on the Terriers, with half of those points coming inside the game's final two minutes
• Flowers' point total marked the most scored by a Hartford rookie in more than 17 years
• The last freshman to score that many points in a game was Charles Ford, a 2006 graduate who dropped 30 points on Vermont on Jan. 20, 2002

 
ROOKIES OF THE WEEK

• After averaging 17.0 points and 5.5 rebounds in a pair of games last week, Flowers was named the America East's Rookie of the Week on Dec. 9
• With Flowers' recent honor, the Hawks have had two players earn Rook of the Year distinction, as PJ Henry took home the distinction after opening week on Nov. 11
• The two Rookie of the Week honorees are the most in a season since 2011-12, when Wes Cole (2x), Mark Nwakamma and Nate Sikma took home the award

 
ON THE MARKS

• Last season's veteran-driven squad resulted in limited minutes for Marks in his rookie campaign a year ago
• Despite minimal court time last season, the combo guard/forward has quickly found his niche in 2019-20
• He has barely come off the court, averaging a team-high 34.5 minutes per game, the 17th-most in the nation
• Marks has scored in double figures a team-best seven times, which includes Hartford's first 20-plus point game of the season at Texas State (Nov. 30)
• He registered his first career double-double against Oakland (Nov.18) after dropping 11 points and hauling in 13 rebounds

 
FRESHMEN PHENOMS 

• With the story line of the 2019-20 campaign being the squad's six seniors, the Hawks have done a complete 180 this season
• The freshmen trio of Flowers, Henry, and Miroslav Stafl have provided 42 percent of the Hawks' scoring so far this season, including two of Hartford's top four in points per game
• Flowers (11.3 ppg) and Stafl (11.0 ppg) rank third and fourth, respectively, in scoring
• Henry has been a spark plug off of the bench, averaging 5.3 points in 20.2 minutes per game

 
NEXT ON TAP

• The Hawks head home for the holidays before concluding non-conference play with a pair of road games
• The Midwest swing begins on Sunday, Dec. 29, with a stop at Northwestern
• The first-ever meeting between the Hawks and Wildcats is set for either 2 or 4 p.m.

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