Big Red Fall Short in NCAA First Round

Friday, March 20, 2009

Courtesy: Cornell Athletic Communications

BOISE, Idaho -- For a week, the Cornell men's basketball team worked on working through Missouri's "Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball." It did just that, but didn't realize it would be offensive woes that would end its tremendous 2008-09 season with a closer-than-the-final 78-59 decision to No. 3 seed Missouri in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho. The two-time Ivy League champion ended its campaign with a 21-10 overall record.

Junior Ryan Wittman set the school's single-season scoring record with his team-best 18-point effort, ending the year with 572 points. He surpassed Mike Davis' 1977-78 mark of 557. He also ended the year with a school-record 97 3-pointers, a mark that ranks second all-time in Ivy League history. Wittman also added four rebounds and two assists. Both Alex Tyler and Jeff Foote also hit double figures, with Tyler notching 13 points and five rebounds, while Foote had 12 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the year.

Against Missouri's vaunted pressure defense, Cornell turned the ball over just nine times, including three in the first half, both season lows by a Tiger opponent. The trouble came on the offensive end, where the Big Red connected on just 36 percent of its shots, including 6-of-21 from 3-point range (29 percent). The starting backcourt of first-team All-Ivy League selection Louis Dale and Ivy League Rookie of the Year Chris Wroblewski made just 4-of-19 shots from the floor, though the duo was outstanding in breaking the press, turning the ball over just once in a combined 63 minutes.

Leo Lyons led Missouri with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while DeMarre Carroll had 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the win. Both Kim English (13 points) and J.T. Tiller (11 points, six rebounds, six assists) were also in double figures in the victory. The Tigers will play Marquette, a 58-57 winner over Utah State in the first game of the day, on Sunday afternoon.

"I thought we played much better than last year," said head coach Steve Donahue. "For most of the second half, this is a 10-12 point game and a quick run has us right in the mix. I think we did a nice job against their pressure and missed some shots, a lot of shots, that I think we normally make. That said, Missouri is an outstanding basketball team and I give much of the credit to them and the way they play."

The Big Red never let Missouri's pressure become an issue in the first 20 minutes, turning it over just three times while staying in the contest, trailing 29-25 after Wroblewski grabbed a loose ball in the corner off a missed Big Red shot and hit a 15-footer at the buzzer. That ended a first half in which Cornell made a statement that it was in the game for good.

Cornell scored the game's first five points on a Tyler jumper form the foul line, followed by a quick pass for a Wittman trey to get the crowd going. It was 6-6 by the first media timeout, and the Big Red defense continued to stifle a Tiger offense that came in averaging better than 80 points per game. Cornell took a 16-15 lead on consecutive 3-pointers, one by Wittman and the second by Wroblewski at the 8:15 mark on a great extra pass by Wittman after Tyler escaped a trap and passed ahead from the backcourt. The squad's last lead of the half came at 23-22 on a cutting layup by Wittman with 4:29 left, but the lower-seeded Big Red didn't score again until the freshman's jumper as time expired. In the meantime, the Tigers went on a 7-0 run that highlighted Lyons. A well-executed alley-oop for Lyons after the final media timeout punctuated the run.

The Big Red's first half defense limited the Tigers to 39 percent shooting, including 2-of-12 from 3-point range, but offensively it couldn't buy a basket, hitting on just 31 percent of its own attempts. Wittman had eight points, but was just 3-of-9 shooting the ball, while Dale missed all five of his shots.

The second half started with a much crisper pace, with the teams trading baskets on the first five possessions, including a run-out dunk by Alex Tyler on a nice look from Louis Dale. It was stil la five-point game (36-31) when the Tigers spurted out to a quick 6-0 run to push the lead to double figures. A 3-pointer by Wittman with 15:47 left cut it to eight, and after a defensive stop, Wittman put up another bomb in transition that went all the way down and popped back out. Missouri got a pair of free throws on the other end from Carroll, and Cornell wouldn't get back within nine again the rest of the way.

Missouri's biggest lead was its final lead of 19, as the Big Red tried to trap and foul in the final three minutes with the lower seeded team trailing by 12. The Tigers, a team that entered the tournament shooting just 67 percent from the free-throw line, iced the game away with 7-of-8 shots from the charity stripe. In all, Missouri shot 17-of-19, good for 90 percent.

Cornell will attempt to claim its third straight Ivy League title in 2009-10, and looks to be in great position to do just that with the return of all five starters and seven of the team's top eight scorers.