JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Hey, Big Blue, here comes Big Red!
Louis Dale scored 26 points, Ryan Wittman added 24 and No. 12 seed Cornell upset fourth-seeded Wisconsin 87-69 on Sunday, becoming the first team from the Ivy League since 1979 to advance to the round of 16.
The Big Red (29-4) will play top-seeded Kentucky in the East Regional semifinal Thursday in Syracuse, N.Y., about an hour from Cornell’s campus. It could be a tough ticket, though, since Kentucky’s basketball-crazed fans got a head start when the Wildcats advanced Saturday.
Cornell wasted little time taking care of its end.
The Big Red controlled things from the opening tip, picking apart Wisconsin’s vaunted defense the same way it did Temple in the opening round.
Cornell became the lowest seed to advance to the round of 16 in this year’s tournament and the first Ivy League team to get that far since Penn 31 years ago.
Wisconsin (24-9), meanwhile, failed to get past the opening weekend for the fourth time in five years.
West Virginia 68, Missouri 59
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Da’Sean Butler accounted for 19 of his team’s 30 points in the first half, then finished with 28 to lead the Mountaineers (29-6).
Michael Dixon scored 15 points for Missouri (23-11), which went 20-of-61 from the field and was just as bad from the free-throw line, where it went 12-of-20.
The Associated Press
