By Jeff Gordon
St. Louis Post Dispatch
March 20, 2009
Cornell couldn’t control Missouri big men DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons on Friday afternoon in Boise, Idaho.
The Big Red couldn’t keep them off the boards. They couldn’t keep them from scoring in the paint. And they had a hard time scoring over them, too.
So the 14th-seed had no chance to pull off a major NCAA Tournament upset. The Tigers (29-6) rolled to a 78-59 victory, advancing to face Marquette in the second round Sunday.
Lyons scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Carroll scored 13 points, pulled eight boards and dished five assists.
Cornell wasn’t a walkover. True, this is an Ivy League team. But the Big Red branched out and played BCS conference teams this season to prepare for league play.
They went on the road to face St. John’s and Syracuse. They went to Indiana and Minnesota, too.
So they didn’t freak out in the face of Missouri’s full court defense pressure. They made the third-seeded Tigers earn their first-round victory.
For those who were chained to the desk all day -– without access to a TV or live video streaming -– here is a quick recap:
In the first half, the Tigers managed to build a 29-25 slight edge. Here’s how:
* They attacked the basket off the dribble. Carroll, J.T. Tiller, Zaire Taylor and Marcus Denmon got to the rim with controlled drives.
* They pounded the offensive boards. Justin Safford came off the bench to fish out a couple of acrobatic rebounds to give Mizzou second chances. Tiller and Keith Ramsey battled for key put-back opportunities.
* With Matt Lawrence unable to find his 3-point stroke, Kim English came off the bench to nail a timely trey.
* After hobbling off early with a mild muscle strain, Lyons returned to burn Cornell with his agile offensive moves in and around the paint. His back-door, slam-dunk conversion was his signature play of the half.
* Carroll turned a last-minute takeaway into a breakaway dunk for Lyons. Oddly, that was just the third turnover forced by the Tigers in the half.
The Tigers pulled away in the second half for a variety of reasons:
* They kept attacking off the dribble. Lyons’ baseline assault started the half and Taylor’s cut to the bucket on the next time down. That set the tempo for a very strong finish for Mizzou.
* Carroll, who scored just one first-half bucket, knocked down his first jumper attempt of the second half.
* When the Tigers finally forced the Big Red into an egregious turnover, Lawrence and Tiller did a nice job converting the resulting two-on-one break. That gave Mizzou a 38-31 lead and prompted a Cornell timeout.
* The Tigers kept coming, with Tiller feeding the ball along the baseline to Lyons for a conversion and a 42-31 lead. Cornell doesn’t mind playing fast, but the Tigers are better at it.
* With Lawrence still cold from the perimeter, English drained a 3-pointer from the corner –- pushing the lead to 47-34.
* Carroll punished the Big Red at both ends, controlling the defensive paint at one end and scoring every way imaginable at the other end.
* Here's where it got ugly for Cornell: English drove and dished to Ramsey for an easy bucket, then flushed a 3-pointer his next time down. That gave Missouri a 56-38 lead.
Ballgame!
Missouri played under control throughout the game, remaining patient when its shots didn’t fall. They took care of the basketball, they defended hard and they outworked Cornell around the basket.
The Tigers’ depth served them well. Ultimately, though, their top guys made the biggest difference. The Big Red had no answer to them.
The Big Red couldn’t keep them off the boards. They couldn’t keep them from scoring in the paint. And they had a hard time scoring over them, too.
So the 14th-seed had no chance to pull off a major NCAA Tournament upset. The Tigers (29-6) rolled to a 78-59 victory, advancing to face Marquette in the second round Sunday.
Lyons scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Carroll scored 13 points, pulled eight boards and dished five assists.
Cornell wasn’t a walkover. True, this is an Ivy League team. But the Big Red branched out and played BCS conference teams this season to prepare for league play.
They went on the road to face St. John’s and Syracuse. They went to Indiana and Minnesota, too.
So they didn’t freak out in the face of Missouri’s full court defense pressure. They made the third-seeded Tigers earn their first-round victory.
For those who were chained to the desk all day -– without access to a TV or live video streaming -– here is a quick recap:
In the first half, the Tigers managed to build a 29-25 slight edge. Here’s how:
* They attacked the basket off the dribble. Carroll, J.T. Tiller, Zaire Taylor and Marcus Denmon got to the rim with controlled drives.
* They pounded the offensive boards. Justin Safford came off the bench to fish out a couple of acrobatic rebounds to give Mizzou second chances. Tiller and Keith Ramsey battled for key put-back opportunities.
* With Matt Lawrence unable to find his 3-point stroke, Kim English came off the bench to nail a timely trey.
* After hobbling off early with a mild muscle strain, Lyons returned to burn Cornell with his agile offensive moves in and around the paint. His back-door, slam-dunk conversion was his signature play of the half.
* Carroll turned a last-minute takeaway into a breakaway dunk for Lyons. Oddly, that was just the third turnover forced by the Tigers in the half.
The Tigers pulled away in the second half for a variety of reasons:
* They kept attacking off the dribble. Lyons’ baseline assault started the half and Taylor’s cut to the bucket on the next time down. That set the tempo for a very strong finish for Mizzou.
* Carroll, who scored just one first-half bucket, knocked down his first jumper attempt of the second half.
* When the Tigers finally forced the Big Red into an egregious turnover, Lawrence and Tiller did a nice job converting the resulting two-on-one break. That gave Mizzou a 38-31 lead and prompted a Cornell timeout.
* The Tigers kept coming, with Tiller feeding the ball along the baseline to Lyons for a conversion and a 42-31 lead. Cornell doesn’t mind playing fast, but the Tigers are better at it.
* With Lawrence still cold from the perimeter, English drained a 3-pointer from the corner –- pushing the lead to 47-34.
* Carroll punished the Big Red at both ends, controlling the defensive paint at one end and scoring every way imaginable at the other end.
* Here's where it got ugly for Cornell: English drove and dished to Ramsey for an easy bucket, then flushed a 3-pointer his next time down. That gave Missouri a 56-38 lead.
Ballgame!
Missouri played under control throughout the game, remaining patient when its shots didn’t fall. They took care of the basketball, they defended hard and they outworked Cornell around the basket.
The Tigers’ depth served them well. Ultimately, though, their top guys made the biggest difference. The Big Red had no answer to them.
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