Well, you can knock them down,
Step in thier face,
Slander their name
All over the place.
Do anything that you want to do, but uh-uh,
Memphis, lay off of their shoes
Don’t you step on their basketball shoes.
You can do anything but lay off of their basketball shoes.
(6) Louisville 87 Memphis 78
(9-1, 2-0 away) (6-3, 5-1 home)
Great statement win for our #6 ranked Louisville Cards today as they battle a slow start, a hostile crowd and very gritty Memphis team to pull out the win 87-78.
Coach Pitino: “It doesn’t pay to work on it all week,” “At halftime, I gave them a piece of my mind saying, `You’ve got a great player here but you’re ignoring him.’ They got the message, and they didn’t ignore him.”
The match-up today was the 87th meeting between the rivals, with the the win today the Cardinals now hold a 53-34 advantage in the series. In addition to being fellow C-USA members from 1996-2005, they also competed as league foes in the Missouri Valley Conference from 1968-73 and Metro Conference from 1976-91. They will also be in the same league next season as Memphis comes to the Big East. That’s if Louisville doesn’t leave early for the ACC. I’m glad we are mixing it up with these guys again, and today was another classic battle of many against these old foes.
The Cards came out less than inspired today to start this one and dug themselves into a 16 point hole early. They also had to overcome being outshot by the Tigers 51.8 percent (29 of 56) to 42 percent (21 of 50) and being outrebounded (34-28). But overcome they did by sticking to their Modus operandi of getting points off of turn-overs and getting to the free-throw line. The Cardinals took advantage of Memphis turning it over 24 times, turning those into 29 points. Memphis had five players foul out, helping our Cards to a huge edge at the free-throw line. The Cardinals were 38 of 46; the Tigers 14 of 20.
The Cards also had some players step up big today in this huge win. Chane Behanan finally bust out and arrives to this season as he scores 22 points and had some big ones down the stretch. And the back-court duo of Smith and Siva combined for 38 points, 11 assist, and 7 rebounds. And both were excellent at the line. Smith was 12 for 12 and Siva was 9 for 12. Folks that right there is excellent. And “Russdiculous” has shown us many aspects of his game this season but today he showed us his toughness. He sprained his ankle and came back into the game giving it all he had. Can you say total package? Big props to Luke Hancock who showed great leadership in his captains role today coming off the bench and scoring 11 points, grabbing 3 boards and getting 3 steals. The guy showed us today that he deserves our confidence.
Real gutsy effort by our guys today. Really showed the heart of this team. And if they are gutting out wins like this in December I can only imagine what they’ll look like in March. My only gripe is that they need to be more consistant at the start of games. We’ve seen them start uninspired two different times this season. They were able to dig themselves out of those two but it could cause issues later on. Other than that this team is right where they need to be. I’m very happy.
Hey Memphis fans! “THE CARDS” have left the building!
