They say defense wins championships, but having a good offense doesn't hurt either.
Cornell shot 61 percent from the floor, including 53 percent from behind the arc, and put up more points in regulation than any other Wisconsin opponent this season to rout the Badgers.
The Big Red's 87-69 win over Wisconsin sends Cornell to the Sweet Sixteen, and sends the Badgers home after the first weekend of NCAA Tournament action for the second straight season.
The Big Red received outstanding offensive production from its five starters, who accounted for 83 of Cornell's 87 points. Senior guard Louis Dale led the way, scoring a game-high 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Senior forward Ryan Wittman added 24 on 10-of-15 shooting. Senior forward Jon Jaques, senior center Jeff Foote and sophomore guard Chris Wroblewski combined for 33 points on 13-of-17 shooting to round out an efficient offensive performance for Cornell.
""I just thought in all my coaching, all the experience I had on any team that I ever played on, this game here was as well executed that I couldn't even imagine that we could play that well in the stretches that we did,"" Cornell head coach Steve Donahue said.
It was by no means a poor offensive game for Wisconsin. The Badgers, who shot 44 percent from the field this season, shot 49 percent yesterday. They also surpassed their average points per game figure by two points.
The Big Red did not miss a field goal until Wittman misfired over four minutes into the game, and even after the miss, Cornell controlled the rebound and Wittman connected on a 3-pointer to give the Big Red a 10-point lead less than five minutes into the game.
Senior guard Jason Bohannon said the hot start was difficult to overcome, considering how well the Big Red performed on offense.
""They shot the ball very well,"" Bohannon said. ""They got us doing stuff that wasn't necessarily characteristic of our defensive game plan, and when they started doing that and hitting those type of shots, they got all their confidence going. They certainly got their confidence going early from the getgo, and it's tough to fight back from that.""
UW would slowly battle back in the first half, cutting the lead down to as little as three points after Bohannon hit a field goal, making the score 24-21. But that was the closest Wisconsin would get to the Big Red, as Cornell extended its lead to 12 by halftime.
""It's tough when you shoot 52 percent in the first half and you're still down 12,"" Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said.
The Badgers opened the second half with sophomore guard Jordan Taylor hitting a 3-pointer to chop the deficit to nine points, but once again the Badgers would never close the gap further. Cornell's shooting never cooled down, as they would cruise to a double-digit victory.
After overmatching the Badgers, Donahue said his team's unique style of play factored into the contest.
""Wisconsin plays a certain way that's very successful in the Big Ten,"" Donahue said. ""I just think we have guys who have different skill packages that make it difficult for them to guard us like they guard most Big Ten teams.""
Junior forward Jon Leuer scored a team-high 23 points and single-handedly kept Wisconsin from getting completely blown out early, tallying the team's first 12 points.
It was a disappointing ending for Wisconsin and their two seniors, Bohannon and guard Trevon Hughes. Despite the two being members of a No. 2-, 3- and 4-seeded squad in their time at Wisconsin, they only got past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament once.
Nobody on Wisconsin wanted to bow out of the tournament this early, but Ryan tried to find some positives for his seniors and his entire team after its finish in the upper half of the Big Ten and several marquee wins.
""They handled the tough schedule. They won a couple neutral games against good teams,"" Ryan said. ""I don't go there when it comes to anything else about what might have been or what could have been. I just always look at the end at the picture and say, this group did a lot of good things. But there's going to be a lot of disappointment out there for a lot of good teams.""
—The NCAA contributed to this report.
