When now-disgraced golf superstar Tiger Woods made a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to force a playoff at the 2008 U.S. Open, NBC’s Dan Hicks adequately summarized the moment with his call: “Expect anything different?”

Well, maybe the same could be said for the Cornell men’s basketball team.

On Friday night the Red made good on its bid for a three-peat, topping Brown 95-76 in Providence to become the first team this year to clinch an NCAA tournament berth. Cornell dropped 20 3-pointers on the Bears (11-20, 5-9 Ivy), matching the Ivy League record for most treys in a game set by Princeton in 2002 against Ursinus. The next night, the Red made 12-of-21 from outside in a 79-59 drubbing of Yale (12-19, 6-8 Ivy), and at weekend’s end was the hottest-shooting team from 3 in the country –– knocking down 43.4 percent from beyond the arc. Cornell concludes the regular season with 27 wins (13-1 Ivy), matching the second-best total by an Ivy League school.

Senior tri-captain Jon Jaques paced the Red’s offense against Brown with 20 points –– matching a career high –– and was one of four Cornell players to hit four treys on the night. Jaques was 6-of-8 from downtown, while also grabbing seven rebounds. All five starters were in double figures, with senior guard Louis Dale adding 18 points and eight rebounds. Senior forward Ryan Wittman was close behind with 16, collecting seven boards and dishing out five assists. Rounding out the double figure scorers were senior center Jeff Foote and sophomore guard Chris Wroblewski with 14 apiece. The Red also had some help from its bench, with freshman forward Errick Peck and senior guard Geoff Reeves getting into the scoring column with five and three, respectively.

“When Witt and Reeves and Lou and Ski and Jon get going ... all five of them ... can shoot lights-out it seems,” Foote said. “On any given night, if they get hot, it’s trouble, and when they all get hot at the same time, it’s tough to stop.”

On Brown’s side, junior guard Peter Sullivan managed a game-high 23 points and was 8-of-13 from the field while also draining all six of his free throws. All-Ivy senior center Matt Mullery found himself in foul trouble, adding 10 points, five rebounds and three assists in only 23 minutes of playing time. Junior forward Garrett Leffelman was second on the team with 16 points, and junior guard Adrian Williams contributed 13 points and six boards off the bench, shooting 3-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Cornell hit a barrage of 3’s –– two courtesy of Jaques –– within the first four minutes of play to provide Cornell with some early momentum, as the Red did not attempt a shot from within the arc during that span. However, the Bears battled back from a 12-4 deficit with some treys of their own, eventually pulling ahead at 25-24 with 10:14 remaining in the half. Both teams exchanged 3’s –– and with them the lead –– before Wittman’s second trey of the frame handed the visitors a permanent advantage and opened the scoring floodgates.

“I thought we made extra-pass after extra-pass to get the real good look every time,” said head coach Steve Donahue.

With just over five minutes remaining, the Red saw its first double-digit lead of the contest following two Errick Peck free throws. That said, Brown went shot-for-shot with Cornell, and headed into the locker room down by only four, 51-47, thanks largely to Sullivan’s offensive contributions.

The Red wasted no time in reestablishing a double-digit advantage, however, as Cornell continued to bring the heat from downtown to open the second half. With 3:40 to play, Foote found Dale for the record-tying 3-pointer, and Donahue emptied his bench as Cornell cruised to a 95-76 win and captured its third consecutive Ivy League title.

Although not permitted to cut down the net, the team was presented with the championship trophy and took the celebration to the locker room, where the players poured a bucket of water over a very surprised Donahue.

Cornell shot 57.4 percent overall for the game and made 20-of-30 from beyond the arc –– a blistering 66.7 percent. After making 4-of-6 from outside in the first half, Brown managed only 2-of-11 in the final 20 minutes as the visiting team’s defense held the Bears to less 3-pointer attempts than the Red made (17) for the game. Cornell held the advantage in rebounds, 32-27, and posted a 22-8 assist-turnover ratio, compared to Brown’s 13-6.

The story was much the same at the John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn., at least as far as the hot 3-point shooting went. Cornell converted 12-of-21 attempts, good for a 57.1 success rate. Half of those 3’s were provided by Wittman, who set an Ivy League season record by becoming the first player in conference history to hit 100 in a year. Wittman finished the game with a team-leading 20 points, also notching four assists and four rebounds. Dale duplicated his 18-point showing from the night before, and Wroblewski chipped in 10 on 2-of-3 shooting from outside.

On his Senior Night, Yale guard Alex Zampier dropped a game-leading 24 points, nearly matching Wittman’s performance from beyond the arc with five treys.

Cornell held Yale to just 36.7 percent overall, while putting on another shooting clinic that saw the Red make 52.8 percent of its attempts. While the Bulldogs out-rebounded the visitors, 32-28, Cornell committed only nine turnovers to Yale’s 14.

While Zampier got things started for his team with an early 3, the Red also came out hot from beyond the arc as Wroblewski and senior guard Geoff Reeves combined for three treys that helped build a 10-point Cornell lead six minutes in. Wittman contributed his first basket from long range to put the Red up 20-7, though the advantage would hover around 6-8 as the first half progressed. At the conclusion of the first 20 minutes, Cornell found itself on top, 36-28.

Although the Bulldogs would come within four thanks to Zampier’s efforts from outside and freshman guard Austin Morgan’s efforts from the free-throw line, the Red was quick to quell the threat with some on-target shooting of its own.

With just over two minutes remaining and Cornell holding a 22-point advantage, Donahue brought in his reserves as the Red rolled to a 79-59 win that various players acknowledged was crucial for NCAA tournament seeding.

That said, for the third straight year Cornell will go dancing in March with an opportunity to make life very difficult for its opening round opponent –– to be determined on Selection Sunday (March 14).

“We have plans of hopefully doing damage in the Tournament,” Jaques said. “We feel like we’re definitely capable of doing that, and that [we can] hopefully cement our legacy as probably the best Cornell team of all time, or one of the best Ivy League teams ... at least in the last few years.”

The first round of the Tournament has historically not been kind to Cornell, with the Red suffering back-to-back crushing losses at the hands of Stanford and Missouri the past two years. However, with the team now led by arguably the most celebrated senior class in the history of Cornell basketball, perhaps it might be time to expect something different.

“I don’t think they realize how much they’ve accomplished,” Donahue said. “I’m going to try for the rest of my coaching career to get a group like this, and I may never get there. I’m pretty sure I won’t.”