Cornell Shocks Wisconsin, Reaches Sweet 16
Updated 8:33 p.m. ET
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 (27-8) 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 they did Temple in the opening round.
Cornell had a 12-point lead early, a 20-point lead late and very few moments of concern in between. The lopsided affair should make for some interesting conversation this week at the "Dog Pound," the nickname given to the three-story, off-campus house that 13 players and a team manager call home.
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.
In other second-round tournament action Sunday:
• Suddenly, Jordan Crawford is more than just the guy who dunked on LeBron James.
Crawford scored 27 points, including a breakaway dunk with just over two minutes remaining, to help Xavier beat Pittsburgh 71-68.
Jason Love had 14 points and a key block down the stretch for the sixth-seeded Musketeers (26-8), who advanced to play second-seeded Kansas State in the West Regional semifinals in Salt Lake City on Thursday.
Ashton Gibbs scored 19 points and Brad Wanamaker had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the third-seeded Panthers (25-9), who nearly rallied with two 3-pointers by Gilbert Brown in the final 28 seconds of the game.
Gibbs missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with less than a second left. Pittsburgh had one last chance to inbound the ball with 0.4 seconds left, but Wanamaker left the shot short.
It was another strong performance for Crawford, who had 28 points Friday to bail the Musketeers out from a poor first-half shooting performance and beat Minnesota in the first round.
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• When Brian Zoubek is calling for the ball and scoring at will, you know things are going really well for Duke.
Exploiting a huge advantage in size and depth in the frontcourt, the top-seeded Blue Devils glided into the round of 16 of the NCAA tournament for the 19th time under coach Mike Krzyzewski with a 68-53 victory over eighth-seeded California.
The 7-1, light-scoring Zoubek had 14 points and 13 rebounds while teaming with Lance Thomas and reserves Miles and Mason Plumlee to dominate a suspension-weakened Cal frontline featuring 6-8 Duke transfer Jamal Boykin -- and little else.
Nolan Smith led the Blue Devils (31-5) with 20 points and spearheaded Duke's trademark man-to-man defense that made it difficult for Cal's high-scoring trio of Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher and Theo Robertson to get open looks.
Kyle Singler scored 17 for Duke, which advanced to the South Regional in Houston, where the Blue Devils will face fourth-seeded Purdue on Friday. Zoubek's 6-for-6 shooting more than made up for leading scorer Jon Scheyer going 1 of 11 and finishing with seven points.
• Wes Johnson wasn't so unselfish for a change, and Gonzaga paid dearly.
The Big East player of the year, who often defers to his teammates despite his considerable all-around talent, scored a career-high 31 points and pulled down 14 rebounds as top-seeded Syracuse hit a dozen 3-pointers to stun the Zags 87-65.
"Really, my mind-set was to be aggressive on defense, so I think that carried over to the offensive end," said Johnson, who is finally healed from an injury to his right (shooting) hand in February against Connecticut. "My shot was falling."
Was it ever.
Johnson was 11 of 16 from the field, including 4 of 6 from beyond the arc, and he wasn't alone. Andy Rautins hit 7 of 13 shots for 24 points and freshman Brandon Triche had his second straight solid game, finishing with 13 points.
"When they shoot the ball like that, they're hard to handle," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "They're an impressive group."
Syracuse's storybook season - the Orange were unranked before the season and made it to No. 1 for the final week before losing to Georgetown in the Big East tournament - continues on Thursday. The Orange (30-4) will play fifth-seeded Butler (30-4) in Salt Lake City in the West Regional.
• Korie Lucious hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cap a frantic finish and give injury-depleted Michigan State an 85-83 victory over Maryland.
After star guard Kalin Lucas went down with a leg injury, the Spartans blew a 15-point lead in the second half. Greivis Vasquez's basket put fourth-seeded Maryland ahead 83-82 with 6 seconds left, but Michigan State inbounded immediately and pushed up the floor.
The ball went to Lucious at the top of the key and he drained a 3 just in time, setting off a wild celebration as jubilant Spartans players streamed off the bench.
No. 5 seed Michigan State advanced to play ninth-seeded Northern Iowa in the Midwest Regional semifinals in St. Louis. The Panthers pulled off the most stunning upset of the tournament Saturday, beating top-seeded Kansas 69-67.
• One bad game for Evan Turner is a rarity. No way he has two in a row.
Turner shook off one of the worst shooting nights of his career by coming within an assist and a rebound of his third triple-double of the season, and second-seeded Ohio State outlasted foul- and turnover-plagued Georgia Tech for a 75-66 victory.
Turner, a leading contender for national player of the year, finished with a game-high 24 points. Jon Diebler added 20 points for the Buckeyes (29-7) and David Lighty had 18.
Ohio State will face sixth-seeded Tennessee on Friday night in St. Louis in a Midwest Regional semifinal.
ACC Freshman of the Year Derrick Favors, who played just 5 minutes in the first half after picking up two quick fouls, keyed an 11-0 run that cut Ohio State's lead to 65-61 with 1:47 to play. Turner made two free throws, and Lighty converted both of his after an intentional foul and the Yellow Jackets (23-13) never threatened again.
Favors, who finished with 10 points and four rebounds, fouled out in the last minute. Gani Lawal, who had three fouls before halftime, had 11 points.
Beating the Buckeyes might have been a tall order anyway, but Georgia Tech (23-13) had no chance with Lawal and Favors, their two leading scorers and rebounders, in foul trouble for much of the game. Turnovers didn't help, either, with Ohio State converting 21 Georgia Tech miscues into 13 points.
• Da'Sean Butler accounted for 19 of West Virginia's 30 points in the first half, then finished with 28 to lead the second-seeded Mountaineers to a 68-59 victory over 10th-seeded Missouri.
Kevin Jones had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Big East Conference champions.
Michael Dixon scored 15 points for Missouri (23-11), which was undone by an overall poor shooting performance. The Tigers went 20 of 61 from the field and were just as bad from the free-throw line, where they went 12 of 20.
West Virginia (29-6) advances to face No. 11 seed Washington in the round of 16 at Syracuse on Thursday. It marks the fifth time the Mountaineers reached the final 16, and first since 2008.
• Chris Kramer's drive past one defender and layup over another 6 inches taller than him with 4.2 seconds remaining in overtime sent fourth-seeded Purdue into the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament with a bruising 63-61 victory over fifth-seeded Texas A&M.
Texas A&M's B.J. Holmes got a final, frantic chance to win the game with a rushed 3-point try from in front of his bench at the buzzer, but it hit short on the rim to ensure a sixth regional appearance in 12 NCAA tournaments dating to 1994 for Purdue (29-5).
Kramer, Purdue's leader with Robbie Hummel out with a knee injury, led the Boilermakers with 17 points and seven rebounds.
Bryan Davis led the Aggies (24-10) with 17 points and 15 rebounds. The 6-foot-9 senior was the man who leaped but could not block Kramer's winning shot
More coverage:
CBSSports.com: Saturday's Scoreboard
CBSSports.com College Basketball Blog
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CBSSports.com: West Region Analysis
CBSSports.com: East Region Analysis
CBSSports.com: South Region Analysis
CBSSports.com: Midwest Region Analysis