Welp that was exciting unless you were a Rutgers fan or the Rutgers AD who said after the 61 point beat down of his school: “After losing 92-31, we very clearly do not belong on a basketball court.” I don’t know about that but I do know that our Cards were on a mission today as they got their 3rd win of the season over the Scarlet knights. This was the last game between these teams as Louisville heads to the ACC and Rutgers the Big10. The series ends with Louisville having the 14-1 advantage. This was the most lopsided game between league opponents in Division I basketball this season, and Louisville is 1st team to win a conference tourney game by 60+ pts since 1993. Louisville has now won 10 straight postseason games, and 18 of its past 19.

Pitino begins his opening statement at the press conference: “I’m not really sure what to say. It went really well for us and not for them.” I’d say a lot of that had to do with the Cardinals suffocating defense. It is relentless..! They forced more turnovers (26) than allowed field goals (12) for 9th time this season and this is the 3rd-straight game forcing 20+ turnovers. They scored 44 points off of those turnovers and had 19 steals.

Luke, Montrezl, Russ, Chris and Terry all had double figure scoring with Jones leading the way with 18 points, 4-7 from the three. He is playing inspired basketball and playing to honor the passing of his brother a few weeks ago. Chris said in post game that he visited the grave today before the game.
Stephan Van Treese has been a beast on the boards with back-to-back double digit efforts. He had 13 rebounds vs UConn and had 10 today.

Not much else to say about this one folks. It was total domination from start to finish. Our Cardinals are playing great basketball and now there is only 8 games to go before they are National Champs again. First things first though and that’s to win this AAC title. Next game is against Houston tomorrow night at 7. Go Cards!

Chris Jones after the game:

Stephan Van Treese after the game:

Luke Hancock after the game:

Montrezl Harrell after the game:

Terry Rozier after the game:

There was some romp, some pomp and a championship today at the KFC Yum Center in front of 22,782 screaming Cardinal fans. It was one of the loudest crowds ever as the #11 ranked Cardinals beat the #19 ranked Huskies 81-48 on senior day. With the win the Cardinals won a share of the AAC regular season title with Cincinnati. The Cards have now won the last 13 out of 15 games and have put themselves in a position to possibly get a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in a couple of weeks. Depending of course on what they do in the AAC tournament. The Cardinals now lead the all-time series with UCONN 10 to 6. The Cardinals have beat the Huskies four straight and this will be the last time these teams play each other as AAC members.

The Cardinals looked great today and appear to be in post season form as the regular season has come to a end. These Cards look very much like the team that ended up in the Final Four last year in terms of defense, but this years team is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was a year ago on the offensive end of the floor. Four players ended the day in double figure scoring today and ten Cards total got into the scoring column. Today they finished 26 of 58 from the field for 44.8%, 10 of 22 from the 3 point line for 45.5% and 19 for 31 from the free-throw line. The Cards finish up the AAC regular season #1 in scoring offense averaging 79.7% points a game and #1 in scoring margin averaging +17.4 margin of victory per game. These guys have been a little better from the free-throw line in these last few games and finish the regular season #9 in the AAC averaging 75.3% per game. Free-throws become a very important part of the game in the post season and our guys still need some work in this aspect of their game.

Now how about that defense? UCONN is a very good team in terms of offense and taking care of the ball. Connecticut was 5-for-25 shooting in the first half, including 0-for-8 from 3-point range. The Huskies’ field goal percentage of 20 in the first half is a season-low for UConn in a first half this season. Today the Cards held the Huskies to 29.4% from the field and 13.6% from the 3 point line. They also forced them into 22 turnovers and had 12 steals. The Cards finish the regular season ranked #1 in the AAC in steals averaging 10.3 per game and #1 in turnover margin +5.67 per game. At the time I’m writing this article Kenpom has Louisville’s adj efficiency on defense at 90.7 and ranked #5 in the country. If you could have asked me before the season where I would want this team to be at the end of the regular season I couldn’t have scripted it any better than the Cardinals have. They had their struggles but these guys are now starting to function like a well oiled machine.

Montrezl Harrell was a beast again today with 20 points and 11 rebounds. I have said it many times in the last couple of weeks, but it bears repeating that this kid is the type of player that a team could ride all the way into the Final Four. They way he’s played in the last month he takes over the game and has been the most aggressive player on the court. He takes over games and if we hit a rough patch that could be huge down the stretch.

The four seniors all had very solid performances today in their final game at the a Yum Center. Russ made just one of two shots scoring 3 points, but topped his previous assist high with 13 today. How fitting was his final performance in the Yum Center; showing not only Louisville fans but the nation how he has evolved as a player.
Luke added 16 points and was 4 of 7 from the three-point line. If you watched the game closely today you saw a Luke Hancock that was being a leader on the court. Several times today he was yelling out direction and rallying his team-mates. This guys is an important part of a post season run and his game is in post season mode.
Tim added an early basket on feeds from Smith for his two points on the day. Coach Pitino talked about how the team doesn’t lose anything when he puts Tim in. He might just have some more Wichita magic in him this post season.
And the work horse Stephan Van Treese doing what he has his whole Louisville career sacrificing his body and hustling to grab 13 rebounds. He also had 6 points. With his production picking up at the 5 spot it makes this team even more complete.

Two other guys that had good games today and both also being a very positive sign for this Louisville team was Chris Jones with 10 points and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line. And Wayne Blackshear with 11 points and 3-7 from the three point line.
Chris is playing with a heavy heart due to the passing of his brother last weekend. He is playing inspired basketball and that is the best kind to play.
Wayne still hasn’t really been the type of player that we expected this season, but he quietly had a decent game today and is another player I see really having a good post season.

It was a very emotionally charged day and I was really impressed with how our guys came out and responded to it. They never once seemed like they were playing tight and were in attack mode for the whole game. These guys have turned the page and are now playing on a different level. They will play their next game on Thursday at 3pm. They are the 2 seed in the AAC tournament and will play the winner of the USF vs Rutgers game. Really looking forward to the post season and ready to watch our Cards go on another remarkable run.

Home » A ROMP, SOME POMP, AND A CHAMPIONSHIP » Louisville Men's Basketball Senior Day » Louisville Men's Basketball Senior Day

   

 

Post Game Senior Day Celebration: Pitino and Players Thank Yum a Center Crowd:

Coach Pitino Senior Day Post Game:

Louisville Senior Day Ceremonies:

Montrezl Harrell Senior Day Post Game:

Russ Smith Senior Day Post Game:

Stephan VanTreese Senior Day Post Game:

Luke Hancock Senior Day Post Game:

Tim Henderson Senior Day Post Game:

Big Russ a Smith Talks after game:
http://youtu.be/gJPQrEpHPE

Some major college basketball teams claim to be everyone’s Superbowl when they go on the road. With President Bush, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, NFL Stars, and NBA stars in a packed house at Moody Stadium tonight and it being the hottest ticket in town I think this game would classify. The announcers while naming the list of celebrities in the building said this game was like the Oscars. The Cardinals overcame one of wildest crowds and raucous environments you’ll ever see in a college basketball game tonight and beat SMU 84-71. Pitino “this was a very difficult environment…obviously they serve alcohol here.” SMU had been a perfect 15-0 at home and had a +19.6 margin of victory at home until the Cardinals came to town tonight in what was considered their biggest game in school history. With this win Louisville (25-5, 14-3), is now leading the AAC conference by a half-game, and will host No.19 UConn on Saturday (3/8) at 2pm ET on CBS.

The Cardinals used some great defense, some great three point shooting and some solid free-throw shooting to overcome a hard charge and a 14 point lead by the Mustangs in the first half. The Cardinals had 17 steals tonight, scored 25 points off of 23 turnovers, hit 54% (13-24) from 3-point range and 70% (19-27) from the free-throw line.

I said in my post game article that Russ and Luke would have to step up tonight. While sick to his stomach for most of the game Russ had 26 points, 9-15 FG, 6-6 from 3-point, 6 rebounds, 5 assist, 2 steals, and 3 turnovers. Maybe one of his most courageous and gutsy performances of his career. Pitino on Russ being sick “(He said) put me in when you can..just let me throw up.” Pitino: “If you put a harness on Russ, you are not going to see greatness.” Well tonight we saw greatness from a great kid.
Cool hand Luke had 15 points, 3-10 FGs, 3-8 from 3-point, 3 rebounds, 4 assist, 1 steal, and 3 turnovers. Pitino: “I told Luke to go over to (George W. Bush) and just say, ‘It’s an honor that you’re here tonight. We’re so happy to see you.'” I still don’t think his game is where it was a year ago around this time, but he is showing signs that it is going in that direction. If his game is on it puts this team at a different level.

I also said in my post game that Montrezl would have to continue doing his thing and that it was time for Chris Jones to step up and have a big game. Montrezl had 19 points 7-9 FGs, 8 rebounds, 3 assist, 3 steals, and 2 turnovers in another beastly performance. After his abuse of the rims at Moody Stadium tonight he now has 80 dunks on the season. He is playing with the type of domination that a team could ride to a Final Four.
And Chris Jones did step up tonight and then some. He had 21 points, 6-14 FG, 4-7 from 3-point, 2 rebounds, 6 steals, and 2 turnovers. We found out after the game that he’s dedicating the rest of the season to his brother, Demetrius Ray, 24, who was shot and killed in Memphis Saturday. Jones on death of his brother: “I’m doing what he wanted me to do. He wanted us to win the whole thing, so I’m dedicating the season to him.” It’s unreal what some of these kids have to overcome on a daily basis. CardNation is behind you Chris.

This was a fun one tonight Cardinal fans. The great Paul Rodgers called it the “greatest road win ever” and he’s seen a lot of em. If our guys can build on this one and keep it going it won’t be our last trip to Dallas this season. I think you will start to see the same sentiment from a lot of the college basketball talking heads after this one. I know that I couldn’t be more excited. Only thing bad about tonight was knowing that in the next game we have to say good-bye to some of the most awesome kids to ever lace em up in the Cardinal Red. Saturday will be bittersweet…

The Women came out swinging last night but #1 UCONN proved to be the better team this time around beating the Cardinals 68-48. A Louisville program-record crowd of 22,163 had the KFC Yum center rocking as the Cardinals exploded out to a 7-0 lead which was the largest deficit this season for the Huskies. It looked like that there might be some magic on senior night, but trailing 22-21 with 11:57 left in the first half, the Huskies scored 11 straight points as part of a 22-7 run. Louisville went scoreless for 5:05. The score would be 43-31 UCONN leading at the half.

Louisville would have another scoreless stretch of 9:33 in the second half. The ladies just couldn’t get anything going their way missing 31 of their last 44 shots of the game and the Huskies weren’t giving anything up on their end and were playing great basketball. They out-rebounded the Cardinals 47-30 and had a season high 19 offense rebounds that lead to 15 second chance points. Tia Gibbs had 16 points (6-of-10 FG) to lead Louisville (28-3, 16-2) in the loss.

Even though it was a losing effort the night still had its special moments as the Louisville fans honored seniors Tia Gibbs, Shoni Schimmel, Antonita Slaughter and Asia Taylor. It was also Native American Appreciation Night, to honor some of Louisville’s most dedicated fans. Native Americans, with 40 states including Alaska were represented in the Yum Center last night. Many were there to support Shoni Schimmel, and sister Jude, a Cardinals guard, both of whom are members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla in Oregon. It was hard to grasp the magnitude of the evening for college sports and the Native community. Glad I got to be a part of it.

Native American Halftime:

This group of seniors and women’s basketball team have provided many great moments over the last four years. They became America’s Sweethearts last year after pulling off the biggest upset in the history of the women’s tournament beating Baylor and making that magical run to the Final Four. During the post game last night Shoni Schimmel vowed that before the season was over that they would beat this UCONN team. I don’t think any of us doubt that could happen and I think these ladies still got some magic moments left.

After the game thousands of fans stood in line for hours to get player autographs. Just another testament of how much love and passion Cardinal Nation has for it’s women’s basketball program. It is really special. And the ladies stayed until the last person was through.

Home » Cards Fall Short On Memorable Night » Women's Basketball Senior Night » Women's Basketball Senior Night

   

 

Senior Night Ceromnies:
http://youtu.be/wJ3fDur14kg

UofL coach Jeff Walz after loss to No. 1 Connecticut;

UofL seniors after the UCONN game:

Tough loss today Cardinal fans and this one has a lot of us singing the blues. It’s ok to feel frustrated and ok to vent those frustrations. Only a true fan lets a loss ruin their whole day and just maybe the whole weekend. With the 77-62 win Memphis sweeps our beloved Cards this season, but we still got the overall lead 53-36. If that helps you any. Louisville could have taken the lead in the AAC today with the win, but they are now tied with Cincy for 1st with a 13-3 conference record and are now 24-5 overall.

The Cards were scrappy today and did hold their own against a very good team in a hostile environment. They played a decent defensive game, out rebounded them but they just didn’t execute down the stretch. The problem for our Cardinals in this game today wasn’t what happened between the lines as much as it was what happened between the ears. This group has got to learn how to be more mentally tough at the end of big games. Coach Pitino was really disappointed in the way his Team acted down the stretch saying: “I knew we were in trouble when we went up seven and our guys acted like a junior high kids (celebrating),” “We weren’t focused to put the team away.”

Montrezl Harrell scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. He was unstoppable yet never touched the ball in the final four minutes. Russ Smith scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half and fouled out in the final minute. He was a one man show in the first half and without his effort Louisville wouldn’t have come close to Memphis. Luke Hancock had 11. Luke has got to get that shot going in. Gonna be hard to make a run if he doesn’t. Both Russ and Luke have to step up at the end of games and be leaders.

It’s on to the next.., and our guys are going to have to shake this loss off fast and not let it snowball. Another big game and another hostile crowd awaits on Wednesday at #23 SMU. It’s bye-bye to the beards, but hopefully we can still make a run at Dallas. The Cards just have to get tougher at the end of tough games and on the free-throw line. The talent and effort are there.

U of L coach Rick Pitino after loss to Memphis:

Terry Rozier reacts to Louisville loss at Memphis:

U of L senior Like Hancock after a loss to Memphis:

Russ Smith talks to media following Louisville’s loss to Memphis:

Montrezl Harrell after Louisville’s 72-66 loss to Memphis: