Ithaca, NY—The Howard University men's basketball will take the court for the first time in 2015 when it plays Cornell University at Newman Arena at 7 pm tonight.  The Bison (7-8) have been off since December 28 when they dropped a 75-59 road decision to Fordham.  This is the first meeting between the two schools.
 
Cornell (6-8) has lost three in a row and four of the last five, the most recent a 93-77 road loss at Buffalo.  The Big Red are 3-1 at home and have had a challenging schedule with games against Syracuse and South Carolina.  They are led by senior forward Shonn Miller (16.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg), senior guard Robert Hatter (10.1 ppg) and sophomore guard Devin Cherry (11.9 ppg).
 
The Bison rely on their Big Three of sophomore guards James "J-Byrd" Daniel (17.0 ppg) and James "JT" Miller (11.9 ppg) and senior forward James "JC" Carlton (11.9 ppg, 7.4 rpg) for their scoring.  But when Howard has had success, it has been due to their defense, which is holding opponents to 30 percent shooting from the field.  Additionally, the Bison have been able to disrupt the opposition with their pressure defense, which is forcing 8 steals per game, their rebounding which is a plus 6 and their shot blocking (3.4 per game).
                 
Although the two teams are very similar in many regards, but the Bison hold an edge in the rebounding area while the Big Red have four players who shoot over 77 percent from the free throw line.
 
NEXT UP: Howard resumes MEAC play this Saturday when it hosts Coppin State at 4 pm in Burr Gymnasium and then on Monday will take on surprising Delaware State at 7:30 pm in Burr.
 
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Video - http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule
 
Live Stats - http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/mbball/

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