Brian Earl’s departure from Cornell leaves the men’s basketball program in uncertainty

Brian Earl moved on from Cornell after going 96-103 (46-52 Ivy) in eight years as coach of the Big Red. (Cornell Athletics)

Brian Earl is no longer the coach of Cornell men’s basketball.

Just days after guiding the Big Red to their first NIT bid, Earl resigned to take the head coaching job at William & Mary. It seemingly came out of left field after Cornell finished 22-8 in its third consecutive winning season under him. After all, Earl’s never coached or played outside the Ivy League.

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Cornell men’s basketball season ends in 88-83 loss at Ohio State in NIT

Two days removed from earning its first-ever bid to the National Invitational Tournament, Cornell men’s basketball had Ohio State on the ropes. Each team took swings with double-figure leads, but with a minute remaining, the Big Red led by two.

Fifth-year forward Jamison Battle knocked down a three with 43 seconds remaining, putting the Buckeyes up 82-81. Then came the first of two crucial mistakes for Cornell.

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Cornell men’s basketball’s defense, tighter rotation stepped up in win over Penn

Down 31-28 at the half, the shots just weren’t falling for Cornell men’s basketball at Newman Arena against Penn on Monday. When a team like the Big Red live and die with offense, 36% shooting wasn’t going to cut it against a Quakers squad that rolled Dartmouth by 29 in its conference opener.

But Cornell went on to make 10 triples in the second stanza as it defeated the visitors, 77-60.

Senior guard Chris Manon stuffed the stat sheet for the hosts — recording 16 points, eight rebounds and finishing with five helpers. He swatted a pair of shots and came up with four steals. Junior forward Guy Ragland Jr. had an efficient afternoon, scoring 16 points off 6-for-10 shooting in front of 1,462 at Newman. Senior guard Isaiah Gray and junior guard Nazir Williams each poured in 10 while senior forward Keller Boothby knocked down three triples.

Here’s are two things we learned after Cornell improved to 2-0 in the Ivy League:

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Cornell men’s basketball handles Siena, 95-74

Cornell senior guard Chris Manon posted nine points and four rebounds in 12 minutes in the Big Red’s win at Siena Tuesday. (Photo by Nathan Solomon)

ALBANY, N.Y. — In its first game back from a two-week break, Cornell men’s basketball did what it does best – light up the box score.

Behind a scorching 54% effort from the field in the first half, the Big Red defeated lowly ranked Siena 95-74 on Tuesday at MVP Arena.

“It’s good to see shots going in a tough environment,” Cornell coach Brian Earl said. “In the beginning, we couldn’t get out and run as much as I had hoped. [Siena] did a good job sort of controlling things, and then it loosened up a little bit.

“Most of the game we played hard, which was fun to watch.”

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