OPENING TIP
- Lafayette looks to get the offense back on track as it returns to Kirby Sports Center on Sunday for what looks to be a shootout against Sacred Heart. The Leopards are coming off a season-low offensive performance in a tough overtime defeat to Cornell on Wednesday, and face a Pioneer team ranked 20th nationally in scoring at 85.6 points per game.

- Lafayette, despite the last time out, has been excellent on the offensive side of the ball, one of the top three teams in the Patriot League in three different offensive categories. The Leopards lead the conference in free-throw percentage (78.0) and are third in field-goal percentage (45.2) and three-point field-goal percentage (37.3).

- The Leopards closed out November with a 2-4 mark, but will have all of December to tune up for Patriot League play as the first conference contest is set for Jan. 2. Patriot League play has begun prior to the new year in each of the last four seasons, with the Leopards dropping the opener to Lehigh a year ago on Dec. 29.

LAST TIME OUT
Lafayette fought through a tough offensive night to force overtime with Cornell on Wednesday evening at Kirby Sports Center, but the Big Red controlled the extra session to drop the Leopards by a 63-58 score.

Junior Myles Cherry recorded his second career double-double, accompanying 14 points with a career-high 17 rebounds, the first 15-plus rebound performance since Matt Klinewski '18 registered 16 against FDU in 2015. The Leopards as a team dominated on the glass by a 51-37 margin, the first outing of 50 or more rebounds since 2014.

After a flustered possession in the final moments and the Leopards down three, the Leopards earned the ball back and called timeout with 11 seconds to play. The play: if sophomore Alex Petrie was open, from anywhere, shoot it. The sophomore obliged, drilling a triple from deep on the left wing to tie it at 52-52. Cornell's Matt Morgan had a runner at the buzzer fall off the left rim and the game moved to an extra session.

Petrie's jumper kicked off the overtime, but that was the lone bright spot in an extra period controlled by the visitors. Cornell opened up a four-point lead with 54 seconds left and that advantage was never surrendered, watching the clock run out on a 63-58 final.

Petrie finished with 12 points on the night, while classmate Justin Jaworski added 15, but the Leopards overall weren't offensively efficient with just nine assists to 13 turnovers. The Maroon and White were 24-of-67 from the floor (35.8%) and 3-of-17 from three-point range (17.6%), both season-lows.

THE SKINNY ON THE PIONEERS
Sacred Heart boasts one of the nation's better offenses, ranked 20th nationally in scoring at more than 87 points per outing. The Pioneers are 3-5 so far this season, boasting victories over Western New England, Army and Hartford. In their last time out, they gave ACC foe Boston College a fight in Chestnut Hill, Mass. on Thursday, falling by an 81-71 score. Earlier this season, Sacred Heart also dropped a 93-81 contest to Holy Cross on Nov. 6.

Four different players are averaging in double-figure scoring in the early going for the visiting side, led by 24.5 and 21.5 points per game, respectively, from freshman Koreem Ozier and senior Sean Hoehn. Hoehn was a tough matchup for the Maroon and White in last year's meeting, netting 15 points with four rebounds and two steals in the Pioneer victory. E.J. Anosike and Aaron Clarke round out the top offensive performers at 13.6 and 11.6 points per outing, while Anosike paces Sacred Heart on the glass with 8.0 boards per contest.

LAST MEETING
Lafayette couldn't find its offense throughout the day on Dec. 9, 2017 at Sacred Heart, dropping a 62-50 decision on the road in Fairfield, Conn. The defense held up throughout the day, allowing just 62 points, but the offense didn't complement that effort as Lafayette knocked down just 19-of-64 from the field (29.7%) and went 4-of-25 from three-point range (16.0%).

Matt Klinewski '18 finished as the team leader offensively with 11 points to go along with eight rebounds, while Justin Jaworski was the other double-figure scorer with 10 points on the day. Eric Stafford '18 added nine points, seven rebounds and four assists as another bright spot in an otherwise tough offensive day.

After a first half that saw Lafayette score 19 points and commit nine turnovers, the Leopards turned that around in the second, coughing up the ball just twice the rest of the afternoon. Despite that, the shots just wouldn't fall to help the Leopards complete the comeback.

CHERRY BABY
Sophomore Myles Cherry has looked like a much-improved player from a year ago through six games this season, ranking in the top four in the Patriot League in four different statistical categories, including field-goal percentage (2nd, 65.1%), overall rebounding (3rd, 8.5 rpg), offensive rebounding (2nd, 2.7 orpg) and defensive rebounding (4th, 5.8 drpg). Cherry went 9-of-10 from the field for a career-high 18 points in the win over La Salle and ripped down a career-high 17 rebounds to go along with 14 points in the last outing against Cornell, the second double-double of his career, both coming in his junior campaign. His 17-rebound performance against the Big Red was the first for a Leopard of more than 15 rebounds since Matt Klinewski '18 secured 16 boards against FDU in 2015.

BREAK OUT THE WINDEX
Rebounding proved to be a telling statistic in wins and losses in 2017-18, as Lafayette went 6-5 in games when it won the rebounding battle, but won just three of its 17 contests in which the opponent got the better of the margin on the boards. 

This season, the Leopards have been much better on the glass, carrying a +1.5 rebounding margin into Sunday's contest. Cherry leads the way at 8.5 rebounds per night, while sophomore Justin Jaworski is corralling 4.0 boards per game from the backcourt. Lafayette additionally has five other players managing more than three rebounds per contest as it's been a team effort on the glass in 2018-19. So far this season, the Leopards are 1-1 when out-rebounding their opponent and 1-3 when the opponent gets the better of them on the glass.

The rebounding effort against Cornell was outstanding as Lafayette was able to total 51 rebounds as a team, a season-high and the most for the program in a single game since 2014. In addition to Cherry's 17 boards, junior Lukas Jarrett added seven and freshman Isaac Suffren chipped in with six.

JARRETT'S IMPACT
Junior Lukas Jarrett has picked up his game over the last three for the Maroon and White, starting in each for the first time this season and rewarding the coaching staff with three straight impact performances. After a career-high three blocks with four rebounds and eight points in the home opener against St. Francis Brooklyn, Jarrett poured in a career-high 17 points on 8-of-10 from the floor in the win at FDU. On Wednesday, the junior tied his career-high with three blocks to go along with seven rebounds, four points and two assists. Jarrett has been a rim protector for the Maroon and White this season, ranking third in the Patriot League this season at 1.3 blocks per outing.

OFFENSE IN GOOD SHAPE
Lafayette, a mainstay each season in the top half of the Patriot League's offensive categories, is right there again this season, sitting in the top three in the conference in free-throw percentage (1st, 78.0%), three-point field-goal percentage (3rd, 37.3%) and overall field-goal percentage (3rd, 45.2%). The reason for just a 2-4 record despite those lofty numbers likely lies in a -5.8 turnover margin, putting the scoring offense at just 72.3 points per game, good for fifth in the conference standings. If the Leopards can continue to chip away at those turnover numbers as they continue to develop through the non-conference season, it will likely lead to more success when the Patriot League campaign rolls around on Jan. 2.