Our Cards held off a pesky Irish group and get the win 69-57 to advance back to the Championship game of the Big East tournament for the fourth time in five years and for the third year straight. It will be the last time that these teams will face each other as members of the Big East but this rivalry will go on as both teams move into the ACC. Notre Dame will move there this year and Louisville the next. Louisville now leads the all-time series with Notre Dame 19 to 12 and finish leading the Big East series 6 to 5. They also faced this Irish team 3 times in the Big East tourney and won them all.
Tonight was just one of those games where the win was very blue collar. There wasn’t many stunning plays and there wasn’t much dazzle. The guys just grinded it out with a team that wanted to slow it down and make it ugly. Ugly like their horrible green uniforms. The defense was solid again tonight and did a great job at not letting the Notre Dame sharp shooters have any clean looks and they did a great job at keeping their big guys away from the basket. The offense struggled at times especially in the half court sets. It’s good that the Cards have seen a match-up like this because they will see a team like this in the NCAA tourney that will take care of the ball and refuse to let our guys speed them up. In these games where teams get Louisville in the half-court battle our front-court is going to have to step up and do a better job. These are games where Gorgui, Chane and Wayne are going to have to show up. Offensive rebounding is also very important in games like this and tonight the Cards had a lot of one and done possessions. Good effort tonight but not great. This one could be best described by the old tourney cliche “survive and advance.”
Three players really deserve to be named the players of the game in this one. Russ, Peyton and Luke really carried their team tonight and all of them came through with some clutch plays when their team needed them.
Russ Smith is playing on a different level now and you can see the intensity in his eyes. He scored 20 points tonight but also had 6 very good assist. I’ve said it all year that when he scores and shares the ball he is really special. And so far in the post season he is really special.
In my opinion Peyton Siva is one more great game from winning the most outstanding player award in the Big East tournament for the second consecutive year. Tonight he had 12 points, 6 assist and 7 steals. He broke Ray Allen’s record for most steals in a league game and is now the all-time steals leader at the University of Louisville passing the great Darrell Griffith for that honor. What a leader he is for this program and this team. Looking forward to what he has in store for tomorrow night.
I mentioned weeks ago that Luke Hancock was a big X-factor for this team and their national title hopes. And he has made me look like I know what I’m talking about. This guy hits big time shots in big time situations. Tonight he went 3 for 3 from behind the arc and scored 11 points. All of those shots came at times when the offense needed them the most. Luke is the man!
Front-court was non-existent in this one and its a good thing they took the night off because tomorrow night they are going to be needed.
Honorable mention to Stephan Van Treese. This guy is a work horse and goes after rebounds with ruthless aggression. Tonight he had 5 but it seemed like he had 20. He is always around the ball when it comes off that glass. I love the guy.
I was glad when this one was over. Notre Dame is like a rock in your shoe. They just wear on you after watching them for very long. My dislike for them and their players has reached UK levels. It’s going to be nice getting a break from playing them for a year in my opinion. After winning nine straight and this win tonight I finally got that bad taste out of my mouth from that 5 overtime debacle. Good to send the green packing. Now on to the Big East title game to defend our championship and send this conference out Cardinal Style.
