| Game Summary: WKU | Score: Louisville 93, Western Kentucky 63 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Luke Whitehead (22) WKU: Nigel Dixon (15) |
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| The true sight of the way the Cardinals like to play basketball was on display as U of L trounced Western in a neutral setting in Nashville. In the second half, U of L had five dunks and ten lay-ups en route to shooting 62% for the period, which included 18 Cardinal assists. U of L did get off to a slow start, however, as WKU led by as many as six in the early going. U of L grabbed its first lead around the seven-minute mark, and led at halftime 34-28. |
But Western committed turnovers on three of its first four possessions of the second half, leading to three U of L lay-ups. Luke Whitehead, who led the Cards with 22 points plus 10 rebounds, had back to back steals and a three-pointer to put the Cards up 43-28. A 2:06, 14-0 run a few moments later gave the Cardinals a huge advantage at 62-34. For U of L, Kendall Dartez bounced back with 13 points, while Francisco Garcia, Taquan Dean, Alhaji Mohammed and Nate Daniels each had 11 points. Notably, Garcia had eight assists while Dean tracked down nine rebounds. Also in double figures for U of L was Larry O'Bannnon, who had 10 points. Otis George suffered a hip pointer and will miss at least one game. Nigel Dixon led the way for Western by scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.  |
| Game Summary: Holy Cross | Score: Louisville 56, Holy Cross 40 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (24) Holy Cross: Nate Lufkin (9) |
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| U of L scores the second fewest points for a single game under Coach Pitino while holding Holy Cross to their second lowest point total ever. It was also a record-setting day in terms of blocked shots, as Kendall Dartez had the third-most blocks in a game for a Cardinal with nine, while the team set a school record with 18 on the day. That defense led to only 22.7% shooting for the Crusaders. |
| But neither was U of L an offensive juggernaut. After taking a 7-2 lead at the 14:32 mark of the first half, the Cards missed their next ten shots. The game was so low-scoring that a three-pointer from Larry O'Bannon pulled the Cards to within 11-10 with 4:04 to play in the first half. Three straight threes from Francisco Garcia, who led all scorers in matching a career-high with 24 points, put U of L up 19-15; the Cards' halftime lead was 22-19. Up 31-28, U of L embarked on a 15-0 run that held Holy Cross scoreless for 5:46. Besides Garcia, U of L received 11 points from O'Bannon and 10 from Luke Whitehead, who also had seven rebounds. Nouha Diakite made his U of L debut, scoring one point with two rebounds and four blocked shots. Holy Cross outrebounded U of L 44-43. |
| Game Summary: Seton Hall | Score: Louisville 80, Seton Hall 71 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (24) Seton Hall: Andre Barrett (21) |
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| It was an emotionally heavy night for the Cardinals, as just days earlier the team learned of the shooting death of Francisco Garcia's younger brother. But Garcia somehow found the will, energy and focus to troop on against the Pirates, and for the second straight game he matched a career-high in scoring with 24 points, again leading all scorers. But the Pirates didn't hand anything to U of L, and never let the Cardinals put the game away like they did in last year's match-up. Coming into the game, Seton Hall had converted 16 three-point shots all season; on the night against U of L, they hit on 10. U of L built an early 23-10 lead, with Luke Whithead scoring a quick 10 points. But the Pirates used their three-point shooting to pull within 33-31 at the half. U of L then hit two threes early in the second period to go up 44-36, but Seton Hall then drilled two threes of their own. Seton Hall was down five when U of L went on a run to take a 60-51 lead. |
| But the Pirates played tough. Seton Hall scored 10 straight points, including a breakaway dunk to cap the run and take a 61-60 lead. Garcia hit a free throw, and was fed the ball after Taquan Dean rebounded Garcia's ensuing miss. Garcia hoisted a long three-pointer, getting it to drop after bouncing high up off the front of the rim. A pair of free throws by Seton Hall at the 1:23 mark tied the game at 71, but Taquan Dean, who finished with 13 points, hit a huge three-point shot to break the tie. Garcia was then clutch on the line by making four free throws in the last 35 seconds. Seton Hall was paced by all-conference guard Andre Barrett, who scored 21 points on 5-7 three-point shooting in the second half. For U of L, Whitehead had yet another double-double, scoring 14 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Also contributing for U of L was Kendall Dartez, who had seven points and eight rebounds. |
| Game Summary: Florida | Score: Louisville 73, Florida 65 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (21) Florida: David Lee (24) |
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| For the first time since 1953, Louisville defeated a team ranked #1 in the country during the regular season, knocking off top-ranked Florida, coached by former Pitino player and assistant Billy Donovan, in the Billy Minardi Classic. Francisco Garcia, who led U of L with 21 points and was awarded MVP of the game, was still reeling from the death of his younger brother. Garcia had returned to Louisville from New York the day before the game, and decided to play against the advice of the coaching staff. |
| The Cards struggled early offensively, making only eight of their first 27 shots. Two late three-pointers from Nate Daniels put U of L up 32-24, and the Cards led 32-27 at halftime. David Lee, who led all scorers with 24 points, hit on a few dunks to pull the Gators within three at 36-33, but U of L warmed up from the outside with two three-pointers from Taquan Dean and one from Luke Whitehead, his first three of the season. That run gave the Cardinals a 52-40 lead, and later, a driving lay-up by Garcia put U of L up 66-51 with 4:46 remaining. The Gators didn't give up, however, and, taking advantage of U of L's poor free throw shooting (12-26) Florida pulled to within 67-61 with 2:15 left. Florida missed on some three-point shots, and the Cards were able to withstand the rally. |
| Although the Cards were 9-26 from behind the arc, defense was the key for U of L, which limited the Gators to 41% field goal shooting, including only 5-17 from three-point range, and scored 24 points off of 18 Florida turnovers. For U of L, Dean finished with 14 points, and Whitehead had eight points and nine rebounds, but was only 1-6 from the line. Kendall Dartez finished with nine points and seven rebounds. With the win, Coach Rick Pitino earned his 400th career victory. |
| Game Summary: Austin Peay | Score: Louisville 80, Austin Peay 63 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (21) Austin Peay: Adrian Henning (15) |
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| U of L knocks off Austin Peay, who the Cards beat in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament, by sharing the ball: 23 of U of L's 29 field goals came off assists. Francisco Garcia, who led U of L with 21 points (his fourth straight game with 20 or more points) also led U of L with eight assists, matching a career-high, and has established himself as U of L's MVP so far this season. Austin Peay scored the game's first six points, but a three from Garcia gave the Cards a 9-7 lead which lasted the rest of the game. With U of L up 18-16, U of L forced Austin Peay's fifth turnover, which led to a dunk by Otis George that started an 11-1 run. Austin Peay had two turnovers in their next three possession, both leading to Cardinal lay-ups. The Governors went almost six minutes without a field goal, but a three with 2:13 remaining drew Austin Peay to within 37-29. But a three and fast break lay-up by Garcia pushed U of L's lead into double digits; the Cards led 42-30 at halftime. |
| Two straight threes from the Governors pulled Austin Peay to within 42-36 to open the second half, butt he Cards went on an 8-0 run after a timeout. The run actually was built into a 23-10 spurt, with the Cards taking their biggest lead of the game at 65-46. Austin Peay pulled within nine at 69-60 with five minutes left, but two free throws by Luke Whitehead after a steal, a Whitehead basket off an assist from Garcia, then a three from Garcia ended all hopes for Austin Peay; the Cards closed the game with an 11-3 run. |
| U of L shot 49% for the game, while the Governors only made 33.9% of their shots, though they were 9-24 from three-point range. Alhaji Mohammed sparked U of L on both ends of the court in the first half, and wound up with nine points and two steals. For U of L, Whitehead finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, though was criticized by Pitino for having no steals or assists. Taquan Dean had 11 points and five assists. U of L scored 24 points off of 17 Austin Peay turnovers. The win was U of L's 20th straight home win against non-conference opponents. Austin Peay was led by Adrian Henning, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds. |
| The game also served as a fund-raiser for former Cardinal Marques Maybin, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident over the summer. $22,867 was raised from a collection in the stands, while Austin Peay contributed $10,000 from its guarantee of the game to the Marques Maybin Fund. Austin Peay is located in Maybin's home town of Clarksville, TN. The Daniel Pitino Foundation also added $5,000 to the fund. |
| Game Summary: VMI | Score: Louisville 107, VMI 56 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Taquan Dean (31) VMI: Matt Murrer (11) |
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| On the night of the 700th U of L game played in Freedom Hall, guard Taquan Dean set a school single-game record by making nine three-pointers en route to scoring a career-high 31 points against overmatched VMI, who was missing two starters due to injuries and one other due to academics. The previous record was eight, shared by Francisco Garcia (vs. Cincinnati on Feb. 5, 2003) and James Brewer (vs. Oral Roberts on Jan. 2, 1993). The contest was pretty much over as soon as it began. VMI committed turnovers on nine of its first 11 possessions as the Cards jumped to a 16-0 lead. U of L also set a single-game assist record with 34, breaking the old mark of 32 which had been reached five previous times. Francisco Garcia led the team with eight of those assists. This stat pretty much sums up the game: in the first half, the Cards had 19 assists, while the Keydets had 19 turnovers (VMI had 23 for the game). At halftime, U of L led 58-24. |
| Dean then made three three-pointers to open the second half, as the Cards went on a 15-4 run build a 73-28 lead. Garcia finished with 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists; Luke Whitehead had 15 points and matched a career-high with 15 rebounds, and reserve Nate Daniels had a career-high 17 points. The Cards shot 51.2% for the game, and by hitting a season-high 18-39 three-point tries, fell one short of the school record for most threes made in a game. Joshua Tinch hit a lay-up and a three in his action of the season; his three put U of L over the century mark. |
| Game Summary: Kentucky | Score: Louisville 65, Kentucky 56 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Otis George (13) Kentucky: Cliff Hawkins, Kelenna Azubuike (12) |
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| Coach Rick Pitino called this year's win over UK the biggest win of his tenure at U of L. And considering that UK was ranked #1 in one national poll and had won 27 straight regular season games -- dating back to last year's loss at Louisville -- it is certainly U of L's biggest win in the series in quite some time, and U of L's biggest win on the national stage in years. It was U of L's first win at Rupp since the 1997-98 season. The Cards had waited about 50 years before knocking off a top-rated team before beating Florida earlier this season; now U of L has done it twice in one month. And the feeling of silencing the Rupp Arena crowd, especially in light of their treatment of Rick Pitino, and the sense that the Cardinals may be taking over this series really for the first time -- well, it doesn't get much better than this in December, does it? |
| Kentucky was riding emotion early, publicly saying earlier in the week that this match-up was a payback game for last year. That emotion fueled UK to a 14-point lead and forced U of L to call two early timeouts. Taquan Dean and Francisco Garcia were each held scoreless in the first half, but both came up with huge shots for the Cards in crunch time. The rough-going at the open was started by a Cliff Hawkins three, another three from Kelenna Azubuike, then a putback and dunk from Chuck Hayes and Erik Daniels. At the first TV timeout, UK was up 12-2. At the 10:00 minute mark, the Wildcats led 24-10, their biggest lead of the game. But like last year, when the Cards erased an 11-point deficit in beating UK, U of L let its pressure defense do the work and its offense eventually show up. As UK was running out of steam (even Coach Tubby Smith admitted U of L had better conditioning and that the Wildcats couldn't match their opening level of intensity), both teams received unexpected help from the bench. 20 of U of L's 26 first half points came from the bench, especially Otis George, who led all scorers with a career-high 13 points plus eight rebounds, Larry O'Bannon and Alhaji Mohammed. Mohammed at one point had back-to-back steals, one of which led to a three-point play that pulled U of L to within three. The Cards trailed at halftime 31-26 after UK made just two of its last 14 shots of the first half. |
| With 9:43 left, George converted a three-point play off a putback to finally even the game at 41. A steal and assist from Garcia led to another George dunk, which gave U of L the lead, and then a three from Garcia on the Cards' next possession put U of L up 46-41. But UK responded. An 8-0 Wildcat run, with six points from Daniels and two from Gerald Fitch, gave UK a three-point lead. UK had its last lead of the game at 51-50 with 4:12 left after two free throws by Azubuike. But the Cards took the lead for good on a Kendall Dartez dunk off a feed from Luke Whitehead. Taquan Dean then hit his first three-pointer of the game, from nearly 30 feet, with 3:11 left, and two free throws from George gave U of L a 57-51 lead with 1:42 remaining. Fitch then converted a four-point play after being fouled by Dean on a made three-pointer, but Garcia came up with his big-time moment by hitting a three with Azubuike in his face that left the Cardinals with a 60-55 lead at the 1:01 mark. UK was held to one field goal in the final 5:47, and missed three three-point attempts in the final minute. |
| The keys to the Cardinal victory was the performance of its bench, which outscored UK's by an incredible 33-10, including 11 from O'Bannon. Also, the Cards outrebounded UK 38-30, and 20-10 in the second half, when U of L had fresher legs. U of L also limited UK to 33.9% shooting from the field after UK had made nine of its first 18 shots. Meanwhile, U of L shot 54.2% in the second half, and for the game was 15-16 from the line. Garcia finished with 10 points, while Whitehead had 11 points and six rebounds. For UK, both Azubuike and Hawkins finished with 12 points. It was the first U of L-UK game with both teams ranked since Dec. 31, 1996. |
| Game Summary: Toledo | Score: Louisville 92, Toledo 56 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Luke Whitehead (19) Toledo: Keith Triplett (15) |
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| Coming off of their emotional win over Kentucky, the Cards came out and laid the hammer down on Toledo, even after leading scorer Francisco Garcia was injured in the first half with a hyperextended knee. Garcia is not expected to miss any practice or games. U of L scored 20 points off of 12 first half Toledo turnovers, but the Rockets' shooting kept them in the game. U of L made only one of its first six shots, but then made six straight to go up 19-7. Garcia had two assists to help put U of L up 26-11. A Luke Whitehead dunk put the Cards up 35-17, but six straight Toledo points pulled the Rockets within 12. U of L was up 39-23 when Garcia injured his knee; he stayed in the game three more minutes before going to the locker room. A 10-3 Cardinal spurt made the score 45-26, but the Cards led only 48-34 at halftime before Toledo cut the Cardinal lead to 10 early in the second half. |
| Toledo missed 15 of its first 21 shots in the second half, though, with the Cards making 12 of their first 16 off of nine assists. At one point, U of L made eight shots in a row in an 18-4 run that pretty much iced the game. That run was fueled by two three-pointers and four free throws from Nate Daniels, who had a career-high 18 points, and two threes from Taquan Dean, who scored 14. Daniels had four three-pointers on the night in scoring his 18 points in only 13 minutes of action, while Dean was 4-8 from behind the arc. When Garcia returned to the bench at the 16-minute mark, the Cards were up 59-40. Midway through the final period, the Cards had built an insurmountable 78-46 lead. U of L held Toledo to only 29% shooting in the second half, and for the game had a 41-28 edge on the glass. Meanwhile, the Cards were 9-16 from three-point range in the second half; Toledo was only 2-11. The Cards finished on the night shooting 52.6% from the field, even though they missed several shots in garbage time at the end. Whitehead led U of L with 19 points and also had nine rebounds, while Larry O'Bannon pitched in 11. Otis George came off his performance against UK to score 10 points and pull down seven rebounds. For the game, U of L scored 34 points off of 20 Toledo turnovers. U of L's bench accounted for 41 of the Cardinals' points. |
