The Cards got to start off this tournament as the number one overall seed. A big part of their success this season and the reason they were able to win enough to reach that number one overall seed is because of their great defensive efforts. Tonight that defense was clicking on all cylinders. At times it was just downright relentless forcing A&T into 25 turnovers and getting 20 steals. Coach Pitino said after the game during his press conference that the Cards had 67 deflections. That is the highest total of the year. This defense just keeps getting better and better. Another thing that keeps improving with every game is the front-court production. Tonight the Cards scored over 40 points and dominated in the paint. They also dominated the offensive glass 12 to 4. Stephan Van Treese with another great rebounding night had 4 of those. Between Chane, Wayne, Montrezl and Gorgui they scored 36 of the Cards 79 points. Was great to see Wayne with a little more fire in his belly tonight. He loves the tournament. And if we can count on him to produce for the next 5 games be afraid rest of the field, be very afraid.

Our back-court duo of Russ and Peyton were very solid tonight. Russ had a great stat line of 23 points, 7 steals and 3 assist. He was the most active player on the floor offensively. Peyton just went about his business and really knows how to dominate a game very quietly. He just has those intangibles that are so valuable to this team. He had 5 steals to go along with 8 assist and really was solid.