(Louisville’s Chris Jones walks off the court following Louisville’s 72-71 loss to North Carolina in an NCAA college basketball game in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
In sports you win some tough ones and you lose some tough ones. The Cards have done both in the last ten years but this one was gut wrenching. Coach Pitino said after the game that this loss ranks in his top 10 as toughest of career, “it stings” he said. Well I concur this one did sting and will for a few days. North Carolina with a late rally today beat our Cardinals 72-71. North Carolina now leads the series 10-3, have won three in a row and the last six out of seven. Coach Pitino is 0-6 against the Tar Heels. The Tar Heel is more like the Achilles Heel to the Cardinals.
In Greek mythology a guy named Achilles grew up to be a man of war who survived many great battles. But one day, a poisonous arrow shot at him was lodged in his heel, killing him shortly after. We aren’t talking about life or death here but it felt like an arrow had been shot through my heart when our Cardinals surrendered a 13 point lead in the final 8 1/2 minutes of the game today.
Our Cardinals fought a great battle today but ultimately their Achilles Heel was the lack of a great performance from Montrezl Harrell who seemed to disappear towards the end of the game. He only had 5 rebounds and 9 points to go along with three turnovers. The teams lack of production at the 5 spot, with 12 rebounds and 8 points. The Cardinals were outscored in the paint 40-26. Their lack of production from the bench hurt and they were outscored 20-0. The team’s loss on the glass 40-30. Carolina had 17 second chance points.
TERRY ROZIER POST GAME
There were also some positive things from this game today. Terry (25 points, 5 assist, 3 steals) and Chris (19 points, 5 assist) played incredible and both hit big time shots in clutch situations. These guys kept the Cardinals in a position to win this game all day. It’s on a stage like today when great players make great plays and these guys did that proving to the rest of the country why they are one of the best back-courts in college basketball. I also thought Wayne (10 points, 4 rebounds) had a solid game. Other positives included the Cardinals defensive effort that held one of the best transition teams to just 4 fast break points and got 10 steals.
Some of us take these losses harder than others do and I am one of those people. I had my very first ACC melt down today and this loss really put a damper on my Saturday. But when looking at the overall performance of the team it really was one of the best efforts of the early season. Also we’ll get the Tar Heels again here in a few weeks on January 31st, so the thought of revenge helps. Coach Pitino took this loss as hard as any of us and he knows what has to be done to fix this team shortcomings. The college basketball season is a process and we are still in the early stages of that process. I have total confidence in our players and our coach. There is still a lot to look forward to this season. Go Cards!
