Louisville will advance to their 4th consecutive conference final and will be looking to win their 3rd conference championship in a row after eliminating Houston 94-65 in the AAC semi-finals tonight. The Cards came into the AAC Tournament leading the nation in win margin. The last 2 games didn’t hurt that beating Rutgers by 61, and Houston by 29. They have outscored their last three opponents by 123 Pts, and have 19 wins by 20+ points this season. No other team has more than 14.

It was another great defensive effort tonight and it didn’t take long for the pressure to start to take its toll on the Cougars. The Cards forced them into 16 turnovers scoring 20+ points off of those and had 8 steals. But defense was only half the story tonight as a offensive performance for the ages took center stage. Luke Hancock: “You can’t describe Russ’ game. That’s Russdiculous…Being able to play with a guy like that makes my job easier, and everyone better.” It’s one of those type performances that you tell your grandkids about someday when talking about the guy that wore number 2. For only the 5th time in the history of the Louisville Basketball program 40 points were scored by one player in a game, that player Russ Smith. Just when you think you’ve seen it all with this kid he comes out and drops 42 points on 14 of 22 shooting. It’s The third highest single-game scoring mark in the 100-year history of Louisville basketball. With his amazing performance tonight he is now one of just 8 Louisville players to score over 1,800 points, and moves into 5th All-time in scoring with 1837 points total. With 7 games to go this season he just has me asking what’s next?

There are other guys who are quietly doing their part to make this Louisville team go. One of those guys is Stephan Van Treese who has 33 rebounds in his last three games. That includes three straight with at least 10. He has become a more confident guy and is playing like he expects to grab double digit boards.
Mango has really started to look the part as well and he was one of the best defenders on the floor tonight with his 3 blocked shots. He also grabbed 6 boards.
Chris Jones had 8 assist and 2 steals tonight to balance out the tremendous offensive effort from his backcourt partner.
Great teams have a lot of things that make them great and one of those things is players on a team knowing what role they play. Every guy on this Louisville team knows exactly what their role is.

Montrezl has been killing the rims in Memphis like he has been all season. The word Beast doesn’t do him justice sometimes. After tonight he now has 90 monster dunks and number 90 might have been his most impressive of the year.
http://youtu.be/F0c88lF2FSw

If I can be critical for just one second I am a bit concerned that the guys got out-rebounded 43-38 tonight. They were able to mask this tonight, but it is something that could haunt this team down the road. Ok enough of that!
Our Cards are headed to another conference title game something very familiar to this group. It should be another great night for the Cardinals. 7 more to go. Go Cards!

Russ Smith after his amazing 42 point night:

Chris Jones after game:

Terry Rozier after the game:

Wayne Blackshear after the game:

Luke Hancock after the game: