| Game Summary: Indiana | Score: Louisville 95, Indiana 76 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (23) Indiana: Tom Coverdale (14) |
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| A school-record Freedom Hall crowd of 20,086 saw U of L extend its winning streak to 15 games, hand Mike Davis his worst non-conference loss as IU coach, and come back from a double-digit deficit to win for the sixth time this season. The Cards are off to their best start since the 1974-75 team was also 16-1. IU missed its first four shots of the game, but then made nine of their next 11, mostly on putbacks ad easy lay-ups scored from a patient, passing offense. Although the Hoosiers had to sit big men George Leach, Jeff Newton and freshman star Bracey Wright for most of the first half due to foul trouble, the Cards still had a hard time getting things going. U of L missed eight of its first 11 shots, and Indiana used an 18-4 run to build a 23-10 lead. Indiana led by as many as 16 in the first half, and dominated the boards, outrebounding U of L in that time frame 22-15. U of L used its defense to get back into it, though, holding IU without a field goal for the last 5:22 of the first half and using an 11-3 run to claw within eight by hafltime. |
| U of L outrebounded IU 24-11 in the second half, with Indiana not claiming a single offensive rebound. The Hoosiers also did not get a field goal in the final 7:55, with the Cards scoring the game's final 17 points and winning the second half by a score of 60-33. The Cards were led by freshman Francisco Garcia, who scored a career-high 23 points. His dunk following a steal gave the Cards their first lead at 52-51 with 13:47 left, but IU fought back on a three-pointer from Tom Coverdale. With the Hoosiers leading 64-60, Garcia then blocked a shot and fed Ellis Myles for a three-point play. Myles finished with 13 points and five rebounds, and went an impressive 9-11 from the line. Coverdale, who led IU with 14 points, hit a leaner to put Indiana up 70-67 with 7:55 left, but Garcia then converted on a three-point play of his own to tie the game. The Hoosiers were then outscored 25-6 the rest of the game. |
| Kendall Dartez scored six straight for U of L, including a dunk off of a Reece Gaines miss. After IU pulled within 74-73, Dartez hit a long-range jumper just inside the three-point line. Dartez finished with eight points and six rebounds. Up 78-76, the Cards finally began to put the game away. Taquan Dean, who had been 0-6 up to that point, hit a three-pointer to push U of L's lead to 81-76 with 3:17 left. Garcia then hit a three after a scramble for a loose ball, and then after a steal, Dean pulled up for a three-pointer that gave U of L an 87-76 lead with 2:13 left. Reece Gaines, who was 1-6 in the first half, finished with 17 points and six assists, five of them in the second half. U of L outscored IU 40-20 in the paint, and scored 21 points off of IU's 20 turnovers. Also contributing for U of L was Luke Whitehead, who had 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds. For Indiana, Leach and Newton each scored 12. |
The last time U of L won 15 in a row was the 1985-86 championship season. National TV coverage of the game was preempted due to coverage of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.  |
| Game Summary: Cincinnati | Score: Louisville 77, Cincinnati 71 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (24) Cincinnati: Jason Maxiell (21) |
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| In running their winning streak to 16 games -- the longest in the nation -- and advancing to 17-1, the Cards' best record since they went 19-1 in 1955-56, the Cards were led by freshman Francisco Garcia. Garcia had his second straight career-high, scoring 24 points on 8-11 three-point shooting, tying James Brewer's school record for most three-pointers in a game. Cincinnati turned the ball over eight times in the first 6:38, but the Cards couldn't capitalize; U of L missed nine of its first 12 shots. Neither team led by more than three until a Garcia three-pointer gave U of L a 21-17 lead with 6:47 left in the half. The Cards then hit seven of their next 12 shots to end the half on a 16-7 run. Garcia hit 5-6 on three-pointers in the first half, which propelled U of L to its 37-25 halftime lead. |
| The second half was an uncharacteristic one for the Cards. Instead of dominating, the Cards let the Bearcats back into the game and had to continually thwart off UC challenges. After building their lead to 16 off of a Garcia three that made it 45-29 with 16:07 left, the Cards then had Garcia go to the bench with his third foul, and UC went on a 12-4 run. Cincinnati kept coming, and drew to within 53-48 with 8:10 to play. A three from Garcia, plus a steal and two free throw from Larry O'Bannon, put U of L up 70-58 with 2:23 left. UC got two free throws from Leonard Stokes at the two-minute mark to pull within 70-60; the teams swapped possessions, then after a missed U of L shot and a foul on O'Bannon, the Bearcats hit two more free throws to make the score 70-62. Repeated offensive rebounds allowed Jason Maxiell, who led UC with 21 points, to convert inside to make it a 72-64 game with 55.7 seconds left. Reece Gaines, who had 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists and was 8-10 from the line, hit one of two free throws before another UC putback made the score 73-66. Gaines hit on two more free throws, but Maxiell then dunked to make it 75-68 with only 29.6 seconds remaining. Taquan Dean then hit two free throws to give the Cards a nine-point lead with 26.9 seconds left. UC hit a three-pointer to pull within six with 13.6 seconds left, but then allowed U of L to run out the clock the rest of the way. |
| While Garcia was shooting 8-11 from behind the arc, the rest of the team combined for only 1-13. Cincinnati won the battle on the boards 41-39, making the game the first UC has lost when outrebounding its opponent. Still, the Cards had eight blocked shots and nine steals, and forced the Bearcats into 22 turnovers; they had been averaging a nation low of only 9.9 turnovers per game. For the Cards, Ellis Myles had 10 points and eight rebounds, while Marvin Stone contributed six points and 11 rebounds. UC made 7-15 from three-point range, the best performance against U of L from behind the arc this season. Field Williams had 14 for the Bearcats, while Stokes had 11. |
| Game Summary: Houston | Score: Louisville 81, Houston 55 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Marvin Stone (17) Houston: Cedric Hensley (14) |
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| The Cards used a dominating first half, fueled by Taquan Dean, Francisco Garcia and Marvin Stone, and played almost even in the second half to push their winning streak to 17 games (currently the nation's longest and the second-longest if U of L history) and to remain undefeated in C-USA play at 8-0. The game was held in front of the largest Houston home crowd since 1999. Garcia, making his first start in three games, had 10 points, three rebounds and two assists in the game's first 10 minutes. For the game, he wound up with 14 points and seven rebounds. With 11:13 to go in the first half, Dean took over, making four straight three-pointers to help give U of L a 36-12 lead. Dean finished the first half with 12 points, and had 15 for the game. Stone had 13 points and five rebounds in the opening period, and finished with a game-high 17 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Coach Pitino was able to use his bench liberally; 13 players saw action in the first half, while 11 Cardinal players scored. |
| For the game, U of L outscored Houston 30-3 from three-point range, and the Cardinals also held Houston below the 40% mark from the field at 38.3%. Reece Gaines, who finished with 16 points and five assists, had eight points in the first three minutes of the second half as the Cards opened up a 59-29 lead with 15:41 to play. The Cougars than scored six staight points, and pulled to within 61-40 before U of L responded with five straight points of its own. A three-pointer by Dean at the 4:50 mark made U of L's lead 75-47. The Cards outrebounded Houston 42-33. |
| Game Summary: St. Louis | Score: St. Louis 59, Louisville 58 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (28) St. Louis: Marque Perry (25) |
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| One streak has ended: U of L's 17-game winning streak, as the Cards failed to match their longest winning streak in school history. Another streak continued: U of L has still not won at St. Louis since 1996. The Billikens gave the Cardinals their first conference loss of the year, and again confounded U of L by forcing the Cards into a slow-tempo, half-court contest. Reece Gaines showed up for U of L, as he scored 28 points -- and 20 of U of L's 31 second-half points -- but no one else did for the Cards, as no other Cardinal finished in double figures. As the game began, it looked like U of L might end their road woes against St. Louis. Francisco Garcia scored the game's first five points (then didn't score agains) as U of L opened up an early 9-0 lead. SLU was 0-5 from the field and had been outrebounded 7-1 at that point, but quickly turned things around. |
| After converting on two free throws after an intentional foul on Marvin Stone (who did not score in the game but had seven rebounds) and then a three-pointer, St. Louis had made its way back into the game to stay. St. Louis took its first lead of the game at 12-11 at the 12:40 mark of the first half, and a three-pointer at the buzzer gave the Billikens a 30-27 halftime lead. Neither team had led by more than six until Ellis Myles hit a pair of free throws and Gaines hit a three-pointer to put U of L up 57-50 with 1:58 left. At that point, SLU had not scored a field goal in more than six minutes, but they closed the game with a 9-1 run. Perry hit a jumper with 1:15 left, then a steal and breakaway dunk by Chris Sloan cut U of L's lead to 57-54 with just 50.8 seconds left. The two teams traded turnovers before Gaines tracked down a long pass against the St. Louis press before being fouled by Perry. Gaines hit one of two free throws to put U of L up 58-54 with 24.4 seconds left. Perry then drove the lane and converted on a three-point play after being fouled by Luke Whitehead to cut SLU's deficit to 58-57 with 13.2 seconds left. |
| Whitehead tried to inbounds the ball against the press, but his pass was deflected by Perry and picked up by St. Louis. Perry got the ball back, drove the lane again, and hit from close range to put SLU up 59-58 with 3.2 seconds left. After a U of L timeout, Gaines missed on a long shot from just inside midcourt to end the Cardinal winning streak. It was the lowest point total for U of L so far this season. SLU scored 26 points off of 15 Cardinal turnovers, while the Cards scored only two points off eight St. Louis turnovers; for the game, U of L did not even have a single steal while St. Louis had nine. SLU grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to the Cards' seven, and had a 13-5 edge in second-chance points. |
| Game Summary: Marquette | Score: Louisville 73, Marquette 70 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (20) Marquette: Dwayne Wade (15) |
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| It was another classic battle between Louisville and Marquette, a game that saw 20 lead changes and 16 ties and that came down to the final possession. No team ever led by more than six, and by no more than four in the second half. The Cards rebounded from their tough loss at St. Louis -- which ended their 17-game winning streak -- with their most impressive road win of the sesaon to reclaim first place in C-USA. U of L opened up an 8-2 lead early, but that turned out to be the biggest lead of the game for either team. The Cards got significant bench play all day, but especially in the first half when Reece Gaines, who led U of L with 20 points, and Marvin Stone had to sit with foul trouble. Alhaji Mohammed and Bryant Northern played solid ball as Gaines sat out, while Kendall Dartez, Erik Brown and Francisco Garcia each scored four points while Gaines was on the bench. In the second half, Otis George came on in relief of Stone and helped out well. At the half, the Cards trailed 36-35. |
| Reece Gaines, who wound up 7-10 from the field and 4-6 from three-point range, hit a three to tie the game at 62 with 5:20 left. Marquette didn't score a field goal for four minutes as U of L built a 67-63 lead with 1:55 left. Taquan Dean, who finished with 18 points on 4-9 shooting from three-point range and who played the last part of the second half clutching his jersey in his mouth to disguise a cut on his chin, had hit a shot to put U of L up 66-63 at the 2:45 mark. A free throw by Gaines put the Cards up 68-65 with 1:20 remaining. Dwayne Wade, who led the Golden Eagles with 15 points and nine rebounds but was only 3-13 from the field, made two free throws to cut it to 68-67 with 1:10 left. Ellis Myles, who had six points but a game-high 14 rebounds in an absolute monster effort on the boards that really gave the Cards a chance to stay in the game and win, then converted two huge free throws after a controversial foul call with 29.6 seconds left. Marquette's Travis Diener responded with a three-pointer to tie it with 11.3 seconds left. U of L did not call a timeout, as Gaines dribbled the ball down the court. Wanting to take the final shot but to avoid a trap from the Marquette defense, Gaines pulled up from 24 feet at the top of the key and drilled a three with 5.5 seconds left. It is the fourth time in the past two seasons he's hit a winning shot for U of L in the closing seconds. After a Marquette timeout, the Golden Eagles threw the ball to midcourt and fed it to Diener, who was guarded heavily by Garcia and missed badly on a three-point attempt. |
| The game was won on the glass. U of L had 13 second-chance points to Marquette's 10, and after being killed on the offensive glass by St. Louis in their last game, the Cards did a much better job against the Golden Eagles, though they were outrebounded 41-38. The loss ended Marquette's 10-game winning streak and 28-game home winning streak, their last loss coming in a triple-overtime game to the Cards in 2001. U of L shot 41.3% from the field while holding Marquette under the 40% mark at 35%. Another key stat was free throw shooting: U of L was only 12-19 from the line, while Marquette was a sizzling 21-22. Also finishing in double figures for U of L was Garcia, who had 10 points and four rebounds. For Marquette, forward Robert Jackson had 14 points before fouling out. Diener wound up with 13 points, eight assists and five rebounds, while Steve Novak had 11. The Bradley Center crowd of 18,850 was the largest ever to see a college basketball game in Wisconsin. |
| Game Summary: Memphis | Score: Memphis 80, Louisville 73 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (19) Memphis: Antonio Burks (16) |
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| The Cards lost their first home game of the year in getting totally outmanned on the boards by a bigger Memphis team. It was an ugly game, with a total of 61 fouls being committed. Still, if being pushed around was the measuring stick for this contest, it comes down to who got position under the boards, and that team was Memphis. The Tigers outrebounded U of L by an amazing 47-31, and had 20 offensive rebounds compared to U of L's 10. It marked only the third time this season U of L was outrebounded by double-digits; the other times came in close wins over Ohio State and Tennessee. Memphis big men Chris Massie and Earl Barron each had 11 rebounds, while the Cards' top two rebounders, Ellis Myles and Marvin Stone, had four and two rebounds, respectively. |
| As the game started, the Cards built an early 7-2 lead. But Memphis scored on five straight possessions to take a 13-7 lead. Memphis used a 7-0 spurt to build their 35-31 halftime lead. The first half belonged to Chris Massie, who had 10 points in the opening period as Memphis shot better than 53% from the field in the first 20 minutes. Massie finished with 12 points. The Tigers scored five quick points to open the second half to go up 40-31, its biggest lead of the game. U of L responded with a 16-6 run over the next 5 1/2 minutes, though, as Reece Gaines completed a three-point play and hit a 3-pointer. Stone capped the spurt with a lay-up, giving the Cardinals a 47-46 advantage with 13:49 remaining. A jumper by Francisco Garcia increased the lead to 56-53 with 10:49 left, but the Cardinals went the next 9:38 without a field goal, hitting nine free throws in that span as Memphis went on a 20-9 run. |
| Memphis led by only 61-59 with six minutes left, but scored on six straight possessions to take a 71-65 lead with just under three minutes to go. Memphis went to the line in four of five trips during that run, and, after starting the game 0-7 from the line, made 26-35 in the second half. For the game, the Tigers shot only 65% from the line (31-48). Three Cardinal players fouled out of the game: Stone, Taquan Dean and Francisco Garcia. Memphis was up eight, with 1:28 left, but gave U of L one last chance to make it a game. Erik Brown hit a jumper with 1:11 left to end the field goal drought for Louisville. Up 74-67 with 50 seconds left, the Tigers' John Grice made the first of two free throws, but then drew a technical foul by making a slashing motion across his throat. U of L's Simeon Naydenov made both free throws, then Grice missed his second attempt. Gaines connected on 1-2 from the line, and after a U of L stop, Erik Brown hit a pair of free throws to pull the Cards to within 75-72 with 35.5 seconds left. It then took the Cards 15 seconds to foul and stop the clock, and after Grice made a pair of free throws, the game was wrapped up. |
| Memphis put five players in double-figures, including Massie, Grice (10), Rodney Carney (12), Jeremy Hunt (10) and Antonio Burks, who led the Tigers with 16 points, four assists, four rebounds and only one turnover. Gaines led U of L with 19 points, but was only 5-18 from the field and 1-9 from three-point range, many of them from very long distance and very early in U of L's possessions. Garcia finished with 17 on 3-5 shooting from behind the arc, but as a team, the Cards were only 5-23 from three-point range and shot only 36% from the field. Marvin Stone was the other Cardinal player in double-figures, as he scored 10 points. |
| Game Summary: Cincinnati | Score: Cincinnati 101, Louisville 80 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (18) Cincinnati: Leonard Stokes (31) |
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| The ugliness continues, as the Cards have their first losing streak of the season in their most lopsided loss of the year so far. The Cards committed a season-high 40 fouls (more on that later) and sent UC to the line a C-USA record 58 times, with the Bearcats converting on 42 of those free throws, also a C-USA record. After U of L opened an early 5-4 lead, the wheels quickly came off for the Cards. U of L committed turnovers on six of its next seven possessions, half on illegal screens. Reece Gaines picked up two early fouls, his second at the 14:57 mark of the first half. Gaines hit a three to give the Cards their last lead at 18-17, but then at the 8:07 he picked up his third foul, a technical, after a no-call on a lay-up attempt. Gaines sat out the rest of the half. UC then went on a 15-6 run (with nine of those points coming from the line) to build a 32-24 lead with 4:15 left in the half. Even though U of L committed 13 first half turnovers, they were down only six with just two minutes left to play in the opening period. But Tony Bobbit of UC hit three straight three-pointers in the last 1:45 of the first half, which helped UC build a 47-33 halftime lead. Bobbit stayed on fire to open the second half, hitting another three and getting a steal and a lay-up to put the Bearcats up by 21. Bobbit finished with 25 points on 5-8 three-point shooting and 8-15 shooting overall. |
| Bobbit and Leonard Stokes combined for 13 points in UC's 15-5 run to open the second half, which left the Bearcats up 62-38 with 15:15 remaining. The low point of the game came when Coach Pitino drew consecutive technical fouls and was ejected with 11:02 to play. Pitino argued a foul-call against Erik Brown immediately following a no-call on a blocked Alhaji Mohammed lay-up; after receiving his first technical, Pitino continued passed midcourt to argue his point, and drew a second technical and an automatic ejection. Pitino may have had a case: at that point of the game, Cincinnati had shot 42 free throws compared to U of L's 12. (Not that added trips to the line would have helped the Cards; U of L shot a woeful 43% from the line, making only 15-35 attempts in their worst free throw shooting performance of the year.) By the time Pitino was ejected, the Cards were down 34; they outscored UC 37-24 the rest of the way. |
| Cincinnati was led by Leonard Stokes, who had a season-high 31 points; he made 15-18 of his free throw tries. Also hitting double-figures for the Bearcats were Kareem Johnson with 10 points and Field Williams, also with 10. For U of L, Gaines led the team with 18, all but three in the final ten and a half minutes of the game. Gaines was only 6-13 from the line. Kendall Dartez had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Cards, while Erik Brown had 12 points. The game marked the first time Cincinnati has ever scored 100 or more points against Louisville. |
| Game Summary: Marquette | Score: Marquette 78, Louisville 73 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (24) Marquette: Dwayne Wade (28) |
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| The last time U of L played Marquette, their last second win proved to be the highlight of the season. In the rematch in Freedom Hall, the Cards may have hit rock-bottom. After an impressive start that seemed to erase the ill-effects of their two-game losing streak, the Cards lost a 19-point lead, dropped their third in a row, saw any chance of claiming a C-USA championship evaporate - and may have lost power forward Ellis Myles for the season due to a knee injury. Another element of disruption is the continued investigation of center Marvin Stone's association with his AAU team while he was still in high school; what few games Stone may have had left in his college career are in doubt now, though a final decision is still pending on his eligibility. Despite all these complications however, the game of basketball remains a simple one, and even there, the Cards could not execute. U of L shot only 15-30 from the foul line for the game, and only 7-17 in the second half. It's fair to say that this may have cost them the game, though it was a complete meltdown countered with some impressive play from now likely C-USA Player of the Year, Marquette's Dwayne Wade. Along the lines of shooting, the three-point line was the story. In essence, U of L, including Francisco Garcia, who led the Cards with 24 points, was brilliant from three-point range in the first half, but they wouldn't go down in the second, as the Cards shot only 2-12 from behind the arc in the second period. Wade was the game's MVP, scoring a game-high 28 points complemented by eight rebounds and seven assists. |
| Garcia got things going for the Cards, opening the game with a three-pointer and lay-up to put U of L up 5-0. The Cards were up 7-0, and then built a 17-8 lead after two more threes from Garcia and a lay-up from Taquan Dean. Garcia had 11 points in the game's opening five minutes. After a hiatus, Garcia hit another three to put the Cards up 37-21 at the 4:45 mark; a lay-up by Gaines and yet another three by Garcia gave the Cards their biggest lead at 42-23. But Marquette trimmed the lead down by halftime. The Golden Eagles hit one of two free throws, but rebounded the miss and got a three-pointer. At the half, U of L led 46-35. The start of the second half was an exciting one. Gaines hit a three-pointer to put U of L up 50-38, but then Wade hit a basket to cut the lead to 52-42. Gaines hit another three, but Wade followed with a three of his own. Gaines then drove to the hoop for a dunk, but Wade then drove and fed for an assist on a Marquette dunk. Marquette was down 57-47 before a 7-0 run made it 57-54. Garcia lifted the Cards with a three-point play, but then Steve Novak hit a three to keep the score at 60-57. Travis Diener scored off a U of L turnover to pull the Golden Eagles within one. The Cards missed consecutive front ends of a one-and-one as Marquette took its first lead at 63-61 with 9:56 remaining. Ellis Myles, who even leaving the game early had 12 points and 11 rebounds, kept the Cards in it by scoring off three putbacks after offensive rebounds. A bank shot by Wade put Marquette up for good at 66-65 with 7:23 left. The Golden Eagles' biggest shot was a three-pointer by Diener with the shot clock expiring that put Marquette up 72-67 with 4:28 left. |
| After Myles was injured at the 1:15 mark, Luke Whitehead made one of two free throws to pull the Cards within 75-73; Marquette's Novak missed a three, but the Cards' Dean, who was only 1-7 from three-point range for the game, missed a three himself with 25 seconds left. Wade got the rebound, was fouled and made one of two free throws. Down three, Reece Gaines, who had 12 points and six turnovers, just missed a three with 9.6 seconds remaining; Marquette's Diener rebounded, and made two free throws to seal the game. For Marquette, Scott Merritt had 18 points and seven rebounds, while the 6-1 Diener had 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds. |
