Jaraan V. Cornell (November 22, 1976 – June 6, 2025) was an American basketball player. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname ...

High school career

Born and raised in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...

, Cornell attended Clay High School. Playing for head coach Tom DeBaets, he was a third-team ''Parade'' All-American, finished third in voting for the ''Mr. Indiana Basketball Award'' and was a top 30 recruit during his senior season. He averaged 21.8 points, 8.9 rebounds a 3.2 assists a game while leading the team in blocks, with 24. He scored his high school career high with 36 points against city rivals Washington High. During his sophomore season, he led the Colonials with 30 points and onto the 1994 State Championship against Valparaiso, a team led by the state's Mr. Basketball,

Bryce Drew Bryce Homer Drew (born September 21, 1974) is an American college basketball coach and former player who is the head coach at Grand Canyon University. Previously, he served as the head coach at Vanderbilt and in the same capacity at his alma ma ...

, who would later play at Valparaiso University and the NBA. In the state championship game, Cornell completed his team's stunning late-game comeback by swishing a game-tying three-pointe

as time expired from the top of the key. He was teamed with South Bend native and former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player,

Lee Nailon Lee Nailon (born February 22, 1975) is an American professional basketball player who played six seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the 2007 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP. In 2011, he was the top scorer in the ...

College career

1996–97 season

Jaraan received a scholarship to attend

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

West Lafayette, Indiana West Lafayette ( ) is a city in Wabash and Tippecanoe Townships, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, approximately northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash ...

, where he played basketball for head coach

Gene Keady Lloyd Eugene Keady (born May 21, 1936) is an American Hall of Fame basketball coach. He is best known for his 25 years serving as the head men's basketball coach at Purdue University in Indiana. In his tenure leading the Boilermakers from 1980 t ...

and assistants

Frank Kendrick Frank Edward Kendrick (September 11, 1950 – December 18, 2024) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers and was selected by the Golden State Warriors in the 1974 NBA dra ...

and Bruce Weber. As a freshman, he averaged 10.2 points a game and recorded a total of 46 steals. He shot 36.1 percent from beyond the arc, while shooting 50 percent or better in half of the 30 games in which he appeared. Along with fellow freshman Brian Cardinal and juniors Chad Austin and

Brad Miller Brad may refer to: * Brad (given name), a masculine given name Places * Brad, Hunedoara, a city in Hunedoara County, Romania * Brad, a village in Berești-Bistrița Commune, Bacău County, Romania * Brad, a village in Filipeni, Bacău, Romania * ...

, he led the

Boilermakers A boilermaker is a Tradesman, tradesperson who Metal fabrication, fabricates steels, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bure ...

to the 1997 NCAA tournament.

1997–98 season

During his sophomore season, Cornell appeared in 28 of 36 games and averaged 12.8 points a game. He set a school record while leading the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

with a .500 three-point field goal percentage on the season, breaking Woody Austin's .485 Purdue season mark. On January 21, Cornell had a career high made 7 three-pointers against

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

. He started the opening 25 games until he sprained his left ankle against

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

on February 10, where he missed the following eight games. Cornell came back from his injury and helped lead the Boilers to a Sweet Sixteen appearance and on to a 28–8 record. He was a ''Third Team All-Big Ten'' selection.

1998–99 season

As a second straight ''Third Team All-Big Ten'' selection and starting every game during his junior season, he led Purdue in scoring, with 15.3 points, while also leading the team with 30.7 minutes a game. He connected on 85 three-pointers on the season, which is the program's fourth most in a single season and also set a school record with 245 attempts. He scored a career-high 30 points on February 13, 1999 at

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. He led the Boilers to a second straight Sweet Sixteen appearance.

1999–2000 season

As a senior, he started all 33 games that he played and scored in double figures 25 times to lead the team. He was Purdue's second leading scorer behind Brian Cardinal with 12.5 a game and grabbed a career-best 141 rebounds on the season. Cornell led the Boilermakers to an

Elite Eight In the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA men's Division I basketball championship or the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA women's Division I basketball championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight t ...

appearance, losing to

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

the third time on the season.

College notes

The silky smooth left-handed shooter, who's nicknamed "J-Kool," became one of the program's foremost shooters. Cornell left Purdue holding the school record for most three-point field goals made in a career, connecting with 242 treys, while also having the record for most attempts, with 656. Only behind Brian Walker,

Chris Kramer Christopher Scott Kramer (כריס קרמר; born April 4, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball with the Purdue University Boilermakers. Kramer participated with the 2010 Milwaukee Bucks train ...

and Brian Cardinal, he has the fourth most steals in a career with 176 take-aways.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2000 NBA draft The 2000 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2000, at the Target Center in Minneapolis. It was the last draft held at the home arena of an NBA team until 2011; the following and subsequent drafts (through 2010) all took place at The Theater at Madis ...

, Cornell was selected by the

Gary Steelheads The Gary Steelheads were a professional basketball team. They played in the International Basketball League (IBL), Continental Basketball Association (CBA), and the United States Basketball League (USBL). They were based in Gary, Indiana Ga ...

in the 2000 CBA Draft, along with former Purdue teammates Carson Cunningham and Chad Austin. He played under former Purdue assistant and first-year head coach

in the franchise's first season.

Post-playing career

Cornell was the coach of the girls' basketball team at Clay High School during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. He was the program director at Heroes Camp in

Mishawaka, Indiana Mishawaka () is a city on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States. The population was 51,063 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Its nickname is "the Princess City". Misha ...

. At the time of his death, Cornell had most recently worked at the Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Indiana Corridor.

Death

Cornell was found dead at his South Bend apartment, on June 6, 2025, at the age of 48.Jaraan Cornell, South Bend Clay and Purdue basketball legend, dies at 48
/ref> His death was determined to be from natural causes.

References

External links

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornell, Jaraan 1976 births 2025 deaths American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from South Bend, Indiana High school basketball coaches in Indiana Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players Shooting guards