Box Score
Cornell vs. Stanford NCAA Tournament Photo Gallery (Photos by Patrick Shanahan)
Postgame Press Conference Transcript
Associated Press Photo Gallery
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The greatest season in Cornell men's basketball history came to an end on Thursday afternoon with a 77-53 loss to third-seeded Stanford at the Honda Center in the first round of the 2008 NCAA tournament. A stifling Cardinal defense proved too much for the Big Red, limiting the 14th-seeded Cornell squad to 30.5 percent shooting for the game, including 15.6 percent in the first half. The Big Red ended its season at 22-6 overall, while Stanford moves onto Saturday's second round contest against Marquette, a 74-66 victor over Kentucky in the first game of the day.
Louis Dale, the 2007-08 Ivy League Player of the Year, scored a team-high 12 points and added six rebounds and two assists, while Adam Gore (11 points) and Alex Tyler (10 points) were also in double figures. Team leading scorer Ryan Wittman was limited to eight points on 2-of-11 shooting.
"Obviously, we played a very good basketball team," said Cornell head coach Steve Donahue. "I was extremely impressed with Stanford, and just speaking to a lot of teams they played this year, everybody I spoke to talked about how disciplined and how hard they play."
Stanford, boasting several inches in height advantage at every position, looked every bit the part of their mascot, the tree. The Cardinal held a dominant 47-25 edge on the glass and shot 55 percent for the game, with 44 points coming in the paint. Kenny Brown led the way in scoring with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting (4-of-5 from 3-point range), while Robin Lopez made 7-of-9 shots for 14 points and added five blocked shots. Lawrence Hill just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds and Taj Finger posted 10 points and eight boards.
Cornell looked like a team that hadn't played in nearly two weeks early as Stanford jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead on a pair of Robin Lopez baskets and a driving layup by Goods, while the Cardinal defense forced the Big Red into tough early shots. Foote came in an gave Cornell some instant energy, getting three offensive rebounds during one possession and finally scoring on a putback to get the designated visitor on the board. When Wittman hit a long 3-pointer with 13:35 to play in the half, the Big Red had clawed back within four (11-7) and offensive rebounds for Stanford continued to hurt. Taj Finger and Robin Lopez scored consecutive baskets for the Cardinal on tap-ins.
A Gore 3-pointer from straightaway got the crowd on Cornell's side momentarily in cutting the Stanford lead to 15-12, but the Cardinal went on a 7-0 spurt over 1:13 to push the edge into double figures for the first time at 22-12, forcing a Big Red timeout with 7:55 left in the half. A free throw by Gore and a great inbounds slip by Tyler for a bucket got Cornell back within 24-15 and forced a Stanford timeout with six minutes to play in the half.
The Cardinal slowly started pulling away, as a 3-pointer by Fields and a basket by Brown, who appeared to lose the ball in the air, but made the driving layup anyways to make it a 29-15 Cardinal lead. Stanford continued to run away with the game, pushing the edge to 38-17 by the break. At the half, Wittman and Dale were held to just five points on 1-of-15 shooting from the floor. The higher seed limited Cornell to 5-of-32 shooting (16 percent) in the first 20 minutes and held a commanding 26-19 edge on the backboards.
The second half was more of the same, though a well designed play got Cornell on the board first as Wittman came around a double screen and drilled a trey. From there, Stanford answered with an 8-1 run to cut off any Cornell thoughts of a comeback. The lead went as high as 36 (66-30) with 9:30 to play, and the Big Red would never get back within the final margin of 24 points. Late game shots by Conor Mullen and Los Angeles native Jon Jaques in the final 1:09 gave the Cornell fans one last hting to cheer about before the final buzzer.
Cornell closes its season after setting school records for wins (22) and conseuctive wins (16), while also establishing marks for season points and 3-pointers made, as well as free-throw percentage. Cornell became the 13th team in conference history to finish with a perfect league slate (14-0) and is the first non-Penn or Princeton team to accomplish that feat. The Big Red will return four of its five starters and all four All-Ivy League selections into the 2008-09 campaign when it will attempt to defend its Ancient Eight title.
"The thing that impressed me the most about Cornell is they're basketball players," said Stanford head coach Trent Johnson. "They understand how to play. They have a high basketball IQ."
"We had a great season, something to be proud of," Dale said. "Today's game lets us know that we need to get better for next year. It will be difficult for us to make it back next year, but our focus is on getting better and improving so we can get back."