| Game Summary: Ohio State | Score: Louisville 72, Ohio State 64 (ot) |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Bryant Northern (18) Ohio State: Brent Darby (24) |
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| Many wondered how U of L would respond in this game against Ohio State, especially after the big win over UK and playing in Columbus, where the Buckeyes had been undefeated so far this year. There were two answers: the first one was awful, the second was determined and feisty and tough. In falling behind by as many as 18 points, U of L made only six shots in the first half. The Cards endured scoring droughts of nine minutes and four minutes in what was easily their worst display of basketball this year. With three minutes to play in the first half, Ellis Myles was 3-4 from the field; the rest of the Cardinals were 0-18. After Myles put the Cards up 2-0 with a hoop within the game's first minute, the Cards didn't make another field goal until Myles hit again with 9:46 left in the half. U of L trailed only 13-5 at that point, but after they failed to score over the next four minutes, things got considerably worse. Ohio State went up 18-5, then took their biggest lead at 26-8 with 4:12 to play in the opening period. At that point, Myles was the only U of L player to have scored. The Cards were able to trim the lead a little bit by getting a three-pointer each from Simeon Naydenov and Larry O'Bannon; the Cards were down 32-18 at halftime. |
| For the second straight game, it was Bryant Northern who ignited the Cardinals' comeback. Northern finished with a team-high 18 points, and along with Kendall Dartez, sparked U of L's climb back into the game. In cutting the lead to four, Northern and Dartez each had eight points in scoring U of L's first 16 points of the second half. Reece Gaines hit his first shot of the game, a three, with 11:14 left to pull U of L to within 38-37. While U of L turned up the heat defensively, holding Ohio State to 6-21 shooting in the second half, Gaines continued to drive to the basket and either get fouled or find the open man. Gaines scored all 14 of his points in the second half. The Cards, who were able to apply their press once they started making shots in the second half, forced OSU into 13 second half turnovers. Brent Darby, who led all scorers with 24 points, hit two free throws with 6.5 seconds left to tie the game at 57. Luke Whitehead missed a three at the buzzer to win the game. Several Cards stepped up big towards the end and in overtime. Northern scored seven in the extra period, while Gaines had five points and two assists. In the last six minutes of regulation, Erik Brown had five points and three rebounds. Noticeably absent at this time was U of L's frontcourt. Marvin Stone went 0-5 from the field, did not score, and pulled down seven rebounds before fouling out after only 20 minutes of action. Whitehead, who wound up with nine points and eight rebounds, fouled out in overtime, as did Myles, who picked up a technical foul early in the game for throwing an elbow. Myles finished with 12 points and four rebounds before fouling out. |
Northern, who was 3-6 from three-point range, hit a jumper with 3:15 to put U of L up for good at 60-58. OSU hit a free throw, then an off-balanced jumper by Gaines put the Cards up 62-59. Ohio State blew a lay-up, which the Cards took advantage of when Gaines found Luke Whitehead open for an easy lay-up and a five-point lead. Gaines then came up with a steal for U of L, and followed that up by making two free throws. Northern went 5-6 from the line in the final 42 seconds to seal the win. The victory was U of L's first as a ranked team since Nov. 28, 1997, and marked their first back-to-back road wins since the 2000 season.  |
| Game Summary: Charlotte | Score: Louisville 80, Charlotte 59 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Erik Brown (17) Charlotte: Curtis Withers (15) |
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| In its conference opener, U of L went on the road to Charlotte and thankfully ended its recent trend of falling behind early. U of L attempted 20 of its first 30 shots from three-point range, making nine of them en route to making 14-29 three-pointers for the game. The Cards outscored Charlotte 42-6 from behind the arc (the 49ers were only 2-17 from three-point range) and their 14 threes were the most ever by a Charlotte opponent in Halton Arena. (The Cards have now held their last three opponents to only 9-49 from behind the arc.) It was only the second time in six years that the Cards have won three straight road games, and the margin of victory was U of L’s biggest ever in a road C-USA game. |
| The Cards were led on both ends of the floor by Erik Brown. Not only did Brown lead all scorers with 17 points, shooting 7-9 from the field to go along with a career-high nine rebounds, but he also hounded Charlotte’s leading scorer Demon Brown on defense, holding Brown to a season-low five points on 2-10 shooting and 1-6 from three-point range. Charlotte established an early 13-8 lead built on a 6-0 spurt that was capped by a Curtis Withers dunk at the 14:47 mark. Withers led the 49ers with 15 points. U of L picked up the defense, though, keeping Charlotte scoreless over the next three minutes during a 12-0 Cardinal run that led to a 36-22 Cardinal lead with 6:25 left in the first half. U of L committed turnovers on five of its next six possessions to let Charlotte creep to within 36-30 with 4:28 left before halftime, but the Cards hit on a few more threes and outscored Charlotte 8-3 in the final 3:06 of the first half to establish a 44-33 hafltime lead. |
| Even though the Cards committed four turnovers early in the first half to let the 49ers again cut the lead to six, U of L then made five straight threes to push their lead up to 13. A 7-2 Charlotte run had pulled them to within 46-40 at the 15:07 mark, but two threes from Reece Gaines and one from Erik Brown extended the Cardinal lead to 55-40 with 13:38 left. The Cards were up 61-52 with 8:57 remaining before going on a 10-0 run, fueled by six points from Luke Whitehead, to put the game away. Whitehead finished with 15 points and a career-high eight assists, taking advantage of Charlotte’s double-teaming in the post. That defense held Marvin Stone to only two points and Ellis Myles to five, though Myles did pull down nine rebounds. But the interior defense left the perimeter open for shooters like Gaines, who had 14 points, including 4-7 from three-point range, and Taquan Dean, who had 11 points on 3-4 from three-point land – all in the first half. |
| Game Summary: St. Louis | Score: Louisville 73, St. Louis 54 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (23) St. Louis: Anthony Drejaj (16) |
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| The Cards finally end their losing to St. Louis, but not before another serious scare prior to erasing a double digit deficit for the fifth time this season. SLU opened up its biggest lead at 19-6, with U of L opening up by hitting only one field goal in the first ten minutes and only five in the first half alone. U of L missed 12 of its first 15 shots. But when the Billikens leading scorer, Marque Perry, picked up his second foul and exited the game at 8:22 in the first half with SLU up 21-10, the Cards were able to wake up and even the contest -- holding SLU without a basket for the remainder of the period, at the end of which SLU led 26-24. |
| Reece Gaines, who led all scorers with 23 points but was only 1-7 in the first half, made all seven of his shots in the second half, most all on pull-up jumpers. U of L had a decisive 21-5 run after the game was tied at 35 with about 14 minutes left. Gaines had 10 points in six minutes, as U of L picked up its defense -- a second half staple for this Cardinal squad -- and started forcing SLU turnovers. Although he scored only five points, Taquan Dean contributed defensively by shutting down Perry, who finished with only seven points. Dean had a solid all-around game by pulling down six rebounds and dishing out six assists. Speaking of defense, the Cards have now held seven straight opponents below 40% shooting from the field. Also contributing to U of L's win was Marvin Stone, who had 10 points and six rebounds, and Francisco Garcia, who had 13 points. Guard Prileu Davis started for U of L, but played only five minutes. |
| Game Summary: East Carolina | Score: Louisville 87, East Carolina 70 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Marvin Stone (23) East Carolina: Derrick Wiley (21) |
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| Last year, the Cards were unprepared -- and maybe a little less talented -- in their match-up vs. ECU in Greenville. This time the Cards had a more complete deck, and knew what to expect, and came in ready. Despite an ESPN2 national TV audience, and the second largest crowed ever for an ECU home game, the Cards blew out the Pirates in their most dominating and impressive effort of the season. ECU had won five straight C-USA games at home, but after U of L went on a 10-0 run to take a 10-4 lead, the game was on its way to over. East Carolina did fight back initially, taking a 15-14 lead. But U of L responded with a 15-0 run that propelled U of L to a 31-16 lead at the 6:42 mark. The Cards led 45-26 at halftime. By the break, the Cards had 13 assists for their 19 field goals, and each starter had at least one assist. The Cards shot 59% from the field in the opening frame, and limited ECU to 1-9 shooting from three-point range and only 30% shooting in the same time period. Instead of taking advantage of outside shooting, the Cards used their crisp passing to score on the inside, with Kendall Dartez leading the team at the break with eight points, while Ellis Myles had six points and Luke Whitehead five. |
| The Cards maintained the pressure to open the second half: they made nine of their first 10 shots to open up their biggest lead of the game at 65-34. ECU tightened up on defense and was able to pull to within 14 with six minutes left, but Reece Gaines, who finished with 22 points and six assists, hit the Cards' only three-pointer of the second half to help keep the Pirates at bay. Marvin Stone provided a menacing inside presence for the Cards, leading the team with 23 points -- 21 in the second half -- and picking up a technical foul for slapping the backboard after a dunk to open the second half while pulling down nine rebounds. Myles led the team in rebounds with 11. The Cards wound up shooting 58% from the field, while ECU was only 38%. Together, Stone and Gaines were 18-23 from the floor; U of L committed only nine turnovers to ECU's 13. |
| Game Summary: Texas Christian | Score: Louisville 87, Texas Christian 74 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Marvin Stone (22) Texas Christian: Jamal Brown, Corey Santee (16) |
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| Probably the toughest part of this game for U of L was its lack of preparation time. The Cards returned home from Thursday's game at ECU after 2 a.m., and then had to suit up for this noon contest about 36 hours later. This lack of sleep and prep time forced U of L into one of its sloppiest games of the season, as the Cards committed a season-high 24 turnovers. Still, the one-two punch of Marvin Stone and Reece Gaines -- two seniors -- was enough to carry U of L to its 11th straight win, its longest winning streak in 14 years. The Cards' uneasy play was apparent from the outset, as Coach Pitino called a timeout only 75 seconds into the game after two Cardinal turnovers. The Cards led only 25-21 with seven minutes left in the first half; then up 27-23, U of L went on a 20-8 run to take a 47-31 lead into halftime. It was three-pointers by Larry O'Bannon and Erik Brown, plus a putback and free throw by Otis George and a jumper by Luke Whitehead that highlighted the spurt. U of L hit six three-pointers in the firt half (though only 8-29 for the game), while TCU scored nearly half of its first half points from the foul line. |
| The Cards' second half dominance showed itself again. U of L scored on its first three possessions of the second half to go up 53-33; the Cards led 61-37 four minutes into the second half. The Cards' biggest lead was 67-41 with 13:24 left. Marvin Stone set the pace for U of L for the second straight game, scoring a game-high 22 points on 8-11 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots. Gaines wound up with 20 points to go along with eight assists. TCU scored 23 points off of Cardinal turnovers, and hit for 26 points from the free throw line. |
| Game Summary: DePaul | Score: Louisville 71, DePaul 43 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (14) DePaul: Andre Brown (16) |
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| Like in most U of L games so far this season, this contest was a story of two halves. DePaul had been holding C-USA opponents to only 38.5% shooting and 57 points a game, and in the first half U of L shot only 37.5%. In the second half, though, the Cards picked up their defensive pressure, held the Blue Demons themselves to only 35% shooting, and torched the nets for 61%, including making 10 of their final 11 shots. Another key difference in the game was three-point shooting; the Cards outscored DePaul 36-3 from behind the arc as DePaul was 1-9 from three-point range while U of L was 12-29. U of L was also able to force DePaul into 17 turnovers, which led to 19 Cardinal points.. The Cards were able to get an early lead in the game, as freshmen Taquan Dean and Francisco Garcia contributed all of U of L's scoring in helping U of L to a 12-8 advantage. Even though DePaul went scoreless for the next six minutes, they trailed only 12-10 at the 10:24 mark. The Cards were able to open up 25-18 lead later in the half after a stretch in which they scored on five of seven possessions. Although DePaul outscored the Cards 16-8 in the paint, and had eight points off the fast break, DePaul still trailed at halftime 31-23. |
| U of L got three-pointers from Dean, Bryant Northern and Erik Brown to go on a 13-4 run to build a 44-27 lead to open the second half, and it was all downhill from there for U of L, despite the fact Reece Gaines sat for over eight minutes of action due to foul trouble. Brown helped pick up some slack, scoring eight second half points to finish with 10. With 8:31 remaining in the game, Northern hit a three, which was followed by a field goal from Ellis Myles. On the next inbounds play, Brown stole the ball and fed Garcia for a lay-up that pushed the Cardinal lead to 53-44. At that point Gaines returned, when he scored most of his team-high 14 points. Kendall Dartez returned to action for U of L; he played a season-high 21 minutes and had four points and six rebounds. Garcia finished with 10 points for U of L, while Dean and Northern each finished with nine. The win was U of L's 13th straight against DePaul. Andre Brown, who led all scorers with 16 points and 14 rebounds, was the only Blue Demon player in double figures, as leading scorer Sam Hoskins was held scoreless. |
| Game Summary: Tennessee | Score: Louisville 72, Tennessee 69 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (22) Tennessee: Ron Slay (21) |
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| When you've got a 12-game winning streak and everything is going right, you're just waiting for the wheels to come off. Well, the wheels did come off, but the car kept on moving, as the Cards overcame their sixth double-digit deficit of the season to extend their winning streak to 13 games. U of L was a woeful 2-15 from three-point range in the first half, and only a three at the halftime buzzer by Francisco Garcia kept U of L to within 41-33 at the half. The Volunteers became the first U of L opponent in 11 games to shoot over 40% (they were 50% from the field in the first half but finished at 43%). The Cards never led in the first half, though they did tie the game twice, and kept it close until UT went on an 11-3 run. Coach Pitino was called for a technical foul for arguing with the officials; after UT made both free throws, the Vols were up 31-24 with 5:01 left in the half. At the 3:22 mark the Volunteers led the Cards 35-24. The Vols went up 37-26 when Otis George accidentally tipped in a hoop for UT. |
| The Cards opened the second half in typical fasion, trimming the lead to four as Reece Gaines scored seven straight points for the Cards. Tennessee used a 7-0 run of its own though to push its lead back to 11 with 14:04 remaining. After a dunk, UT still led comfortably, up 57-48 with 10:04 left. The Cards picked up their defense at that point, however, and slowly chipped away. The Cards forced UT into 18 turnovers, a key factor in the Cardinals' comeback. In fact, after a steal and a lay-up by Taquan Dean, the Cards were within 62-60; a Bryant Northern three-pointer tied the game for the first time since the first half with 4:44 remaining. U of L got its first lead of the game after Dean hit a three-pointer to put U of L up 66-65 with 4:14 left, capping an 18-8 run. Kendall Dartez hit two free throws to put the Cards up 68-67, but Tennessee then got two free throws from Ron Slay, who led his team with 21 points but tired down the stretch and committed a few turnovers. Slay had one of those turnovers with UT up 69-68; Reece Gaines drove down the floor, and surprisingly dished the ball to Dartez, who sank a 12-foot jumper to give the Cards the lead for good at 70-69 with 54.2 seconds left. Slay then fouled out on UT's next possession, and Erik Brown hit both free throws to put the Cards up 72-69. With UT down three on the game's final possession, the Vols' Jon Higgins passed up an open three. Thadydeus Holden got the ball and drove for a lay-up but missed. UT got the rebound, and passed the ball to John Winchester for a three; the shot was partially deflected by Dartez and missed badly, and the Cards had secured thier second straight nail-biting win over Tennessee. In their last two meetings, the Cards have won both games by a combined four points. |
| U of L did not give up a field goal in the last two minutes, and gave up only two in the final nine minutes of the game. Gaines finished with a game-high 22 points, six rebounds, four steals and only one turnover. He scored U of L's first 10 points of the second half, but didn't score at all in the final 11:26, instead finding the open man for easy shots, like an Erik Brown three-pointer off a Gaines steal that cut the lead to three with 7:55 to go. Brown finished with 11 points. Another key performance for U of L was given by Marvin Stone, who had 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Cards were outrebounded by ten in the first half, but only one in the second half. Ellis Myles played only 15 minutes due to foul trouble. |
| Game Summary: Southern Mississippi | Score: Louisville 94, Southern Mississippi 65 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Erik Brown (22) Southern Mississippi: Charles Gaines (15) |
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| In knocking off Southern Miss 94-65 Wednesday night, U of L extended its winning streak to 14 games -- its longest winning streak since the 1988-89 season -- and also handed Southern Miss its worst ever C-USA home loss. Down by eight late in the first half, the Golden Eagles trimmed their deficit to three at 38-35 with 51 seconds left to halftime. Then came one of the key stretches of the entire game. Erik Brown, who led all scorers with a career-high 22 points by shooting a perfect 8-8 from the field, including 5-5 from three-point range, hit one of those threes with 27.2 seconds left. A putback by Marvin Stone, who finished with 16 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, pushed the lead back to eight, as the Cards went into the break with a 43-35 lead. |
| U of L used a 15-5 run to open the second period that blew the game open. Southern Miss rebounded with two quick field goals, but the Cards then scored 10 in a row -- including two field goals by Luke Whitehead and two three-pointers from Francisco Garcia -- that pushed U of L's lead to 71-44. Garcia finished with 10 points, as U of L outscored the Golden Eagles 44-26 in the paint. Still, Southern Miss became the first C-USA team to shoot better than 40% against U of L (41.4%) and also put five players in double-figures, including Charles Gaines, who had 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Jasper Johnson, who had 12 points. Southern Miss also became the first team this year to have its bench outscore U of L's, 33-23. Still, the Cards played 14 players, 10 of whom scored. The Cards shot 52.7% from the field for the game, and in the second half, U of L hit nine of its first 14 shots and 7-13 from three-point range. Reece Gaines, now excelling at the point guard position, scored 16 points and had a career-high 11 assists. |
