Cornell’s men’s basketball team will try to follow its one-point opening victory with a road win over defending Patriot League tournament champion Lehigh on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with the game streaming on ESPN+.
The Big Red enter 1-0 after beating Pepperdine 86-85, according to Cornell’s game preview. Cornell has won 14 consecutive games against Patriot League opponents and four straight meetings with Lehigh.
Ryan McGettigan will call Thursday’s broadcast. The matchup begins a stretch that also includes games against Patriot League opponents Bucknell at home Nov. 24 and Colgate on the road Dec. 5.
Late plays preserve opening win
Cornell’s first game came down to a finish at both ends of the floor. Senior Jacob Beccles scored the winning layup with 24 seconds remaining against Pepperdine, and freshman Quinn Gibson blocked a shot with eight seconds left to help protect the lead.
Beccles finished with 19 points. Junior Mateen Rafiq added a career-high 17, while senior Kaspar Sepp matched his career high with six assists. Four Cornell players reached double figures as the Big Red made 14 3-pointers and recorded 22 assists.
Those totals offered an early continuation of the offensive approach that has defined the program. Cornell has relied on pace, ball movement and contributions throughout its rotation rather than concentrating minutes in a small group of players.
The season opener also introduced several newcomers to college competition. Luke Kennevan, Blake Lecklitner, JJ Sanchez, Gibson, Sage Mateo and Mikehi Williams made their Cornell debuts, giving the staff its first regular-season look at how the new pieces fit.
Gibson became the first Cornell freshman to start his debut since Jimmy Boeheim in 2017-18. Senior Ian Imegwu’s four 3-pointers marked the fourth time in his career he has made that many in a game; each of those performances came in 13 minutes or fewer.
Rebuilding around a familiar offense
Coach Jon Jaques is beginning his third season with a roster that returns one starter and eight letter winners from a team that finished 15-13 overall and 8-6 in the Ivy League. Cornell reached the Ivy tournament for a fifth consecutive season and was picked fifth in the league’s preseason poll.
Several established contributors moved on. Jake Fiegen moved to Villanova, Cooper Noard to Samford and Josh Baldwin to William & Mary as graduate transfers. Adam Hinton was selected first overall by the Kaohsiung Aquas in Taiwan, while AJ LaBeau, DJ Nix and Corbin Zentner also departed.
The roster changes leave Cornell seeking to maintain an unusually productive offensive standard. Last season’s team led the nation with 21.3 assists and 12.9 made 3-pointers per game. Its 362 3-pointers and 596 assists were school and Ivy League records.
Cornell also averaged 88.5 points, ranking sixth nationally. Its effective field-goal percentage of .599 ranked fifth, and its 39.3% shooting from 3-point range ranked sixth. The team also ranked among the national leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio.
The longer pattern matters as the new roster settles in. Cornell has ranked among the nation’s top eight in offensive pace for five consecutive seasons. In each of those seasons, it also finished among the top four in 3-pointers made per game, the top 10 in assists and the top 20 in scoring, according to the preview.
The Big Red regularly use a rotation of at least 12 players. Cornell has not had a player average 30 minutes per game since 2019-20, making bench production and the ability to sustain its style across different lineups central parts of the program’s approach.
Road test before Sunday home game
Thursday’s opponent arrives with the credentials of a defending conference tournament champion. Cornell’s recent success against Patriot League teams gives the matchup another benchmark beyond its place as the second game on the schedule.
A victory would give Cornell a 2-0 start for the first time since 2024-25. It would also mark the first time since 2021-22 that the Big Red opened with two wins against Division I opponents.
Cornell leads the Lehigh series 16-9. Extending its current streak would mean five consecutive victories in the matchup and 15 straight wins against Patriot League competition. The Big Red have also won six of their last seven road games entering the trip.
After Thursday, Cornell returns to Newman Arena to host Keuka at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8. That game will also stream on ESPN+, giving the Big Red a quick turnaround from their first road assignment to another home appearance.
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