JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Cornell has the college basketball world seeing red — Big Red.
Cornell, giving Northern Iowa a spirited run as the darling of this NCAA tournament, is headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.
The Big Red administered an utter offensive clinic in a stunning 87-69 upset victory over Wisconsin yesterday at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena and it’s headed to Syracuse to play Kentucky in Thursday’s East Regional semifinal.
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Cornell (29-4), the 12th seed in the East, didn’t just upset No. 4 seed Wisconsin as much as it dismantled and demoralized the Badgers (24-9).
“In all my coaching, all the experience I had on any team that I ever played on, this game was as well executed (as any),” Cornell coach Steve Donahue said. “I couldn’t even imagine that we could play that well in the stretches that we did. These guys did a remarkable job of staying poised throughout every single possession, had great confidence and great awareness for each other and just executed on both sides of the ball as well as you can do.”
If alumni and administrators for St. John’s and Seton Hall aren’t boxing each other out in a mortal battle to be the first to lure Donahue away from Ithaca to the metropolitan area, they’re asleep at the wheel.
Cornell, which became the first Ivy League team since Penn in 1979 to reach the Sweet 16, is 88-32 in the last four years, including 38-4 in the Ivy League.
The Big Red, which captured its first NCAA tournament victory in school history on Friday when it whipped No. 5 seed Temple, has now beaten two nationally-ranked teams in three days after going 17 years without one and going 4-63 all-time against Top 25 teams.
“We’ve got eight seniors on this team, and we want to take this ride as long as we can because after this it’s just nothing but babies and memories, so we’ll just keep on going,” said Cornell point guard Louis Dale, who led all scorers with a career-high 26 points.
Dale was complemented by sharp-shooting forward Ryan Wittman, who scored 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field, and center Jeff Foote, who scored 12 points and had seven rebounds.
This Cornell team, deep with great shooters who are in constant synergy with each other, is legit.
Consider this: Wisconsin entered the game as one of the top defensive teams in the nation having allowed an average of 56 points per game. Cornell scored its 56th point four minutes into the second half and the 87 it stamped on the Badgers was the most Wisconsin has allowed this season by 13 points (beating out the Gonzaga’s 74).
Cornell completely took Wisconsin out of its swing offense rhythm by mixing defenses. During the course of the first half, Cornell played man-to-man, some 2-2-1 full-court pressure, some 1-2-2 three-quarter pressure and some 1-3-1 zone.
Offensively, Cornell shot 61.1 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from 3-point range.
“That’s how good they are,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. “They can beat you in so many different ways.”
Cornell ambushed Wisconsin early and never looked back, scoring the first eight points and then bursting to a 16-4 lead just 5:28 in.
Had it not been for Wisconsin’s Jon Leuer, it would have been hopeless for the Badgers. He scored the Badgers’ first 12 points and finished with a team-high 23.
Wisconsin inched its way back into the game with a 15-6 run after falling behind 18-6 that turned an early blowout into a tenuous 24-21 Cornell lead with 7:16 remaining in the half.
But Cornell wouldn’t rattle in the face of Wisconsin’s run, surging to a 43-31 halftime lead. The Big Red led by as many as 24 in the second half.
“Right now everyone is so motivated to not let this end,” Cornell guard Chris Wroblewski (12 points), the baby of the starting lineup as a sophomore, said. “We love playing with each other.”
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com