| Game Summary: Charlotte | Score: Louisville 90, Charlotte 88 (ot) |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (20) Charlotte: Jobey Thomas (27) |
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| What a way to finish the regular season, and what a way to close out Freedom Hall for the 2001-2002 season (though NIT home games remain a possibility). The Cards' first overtime game of the year is one of the most exciting, hotly contested, well-played games of the season. As it should be. The Cards broke 80 points, and won. They put five players in double figures, and won. The world still works. Charlotte had beat U of L four straight times, and also four in a row in Freedom Hall -- thank goodness both of those streaks are over. At one point in the first half, the Cardinals actually held a 14-point lead, but the incredible offensive firepower of Jobey Thomas and Cam Stephens pulled the 49ers to within 35-31 at halftime. Thomas wound up leading all scorers with 27 points, including 5-11 from three-point range, most of which came under heavy defensive pressure. Stephens finished the day with an incredible 24 points and 17 rebounds. |
| The second-half was nip and tuck, and very competitive. Charlotte led 60-56 with 8:54 left, but Luke Whitehead got a steal and threaded a 50-foot bounce pass to Erik Brown for a lay-up that started a 7-0 Cardinal run. The 49ers responded though, only to be rebuffed again by U of L. Ellis Myles, who wound up with 16 points and eight rebounds, scored seven straight points to turn a 67-66 Cardinal deficit into a 73-67 U of L lead. Whitehead then came up with one of many crucial plays for the Cards. With Charlotte up 80-77 and time running out in regulation, Whitehead rebounded a Bryant Northern three-point attempt, scored on a put-back and was fouled on the play. He confidently made the free throw to tie the game. Overall, U of L was 25-32 from the line, including 20-23 after halftime and perfect its last 19 attempts. Talk about keeping yourself in a game and giving yourself a chance to win. On the final possession of regulation, Whithead blocked a lay-up by Demon Brown, which Cam Stephens followed up with a put-back as the horn sounded. But the officials never ruled on whether or not the shot beat the final buzzer; they went straight to the TV monitor, reviewed the play, and after five torcherous minutes, ruled the shot came too late and the game was headed to overtime. What a break for the Cards. |
With 1:30 left in overtime, Whitehead came up with another defensive gem. With U of L trailing 85-84, he stripped Cam Stephens of the ball, and on the next possession, Reece Gaines was fouled and hit both shots to put the Cards up 86-85. Gaines led U of L with 20 points, but had only one field goal after halftime. Instead, he went to the foul line nine times in the second period, finishing 11-12 from the charity stripe on the day to go along with six assists. Charlotte hit a three on their next possession to regain the lead, but then Whitehead made a tough catch on a pass from Gaines, spun in the lane, and connected on an inside shot to tie the game at 88 with 52 seconds left. Whitehead finished with 19 points on 8-10 shooting along with five rebounds, four steals, and two blocks. With only 39 seconds left in overtime, Joseph N'Sima, playing his last regular season game in Freedom Hall, came up with a big defensive play for U of L, blocking a shot then forcing a turnover that gave the Cards the ball for what would be the go-ahead possession. On that final play, Reece Gaines was set to get the ball at the top of the key for a drive, but was covered. Freshman Larry O'Bannon, who finished with 12 points, drove with six seconds left. He went by Stephens, bumped into a teammate, then banked in an off-balance runner with 1.8 seconds left. After a timeout, Charlotte missed a last-second shot from midcourt. One other bright spot for the Cards was Northern, who totaled 12 points, six rebounds, and no turnovers in 35 minutes of action.  |
| Game Summary: Texas Christian | Score: Louisville 110, TCU 86 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (30) TCU: Junior Blount (31) |
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| The Cards ended a five-game post-season losing streak by handing the TCU Horned Frogs a loss in their first ever C-USA Tournament game. Although TCU led the conference in most points scored, they also gave up the most points on defense, and that trend came back to bite TCU in this game, especially since the Cards were on absolute fire from the outside. It feels nice to finally feel some post-season success, even if it is just a C-USA Tournament first round win. The Cards shattered several C-USA Tournament records in this contest, which was the highest scoring C-USA tourney game ever. The Cards set a C-USA tourney record for most points scored in game (110), three-pointers made (15), field goals made (38) and field goal attempts (74). The Cards also broke the 100-point barrier for the first time in their post-season history. The game was still tight at the 9:46 mark of the first half, with U of L leading only 22-20. At that point, TCU went into a trapping 2-3 zone, and the Cards took advantage of it with some blistering outside shooting. U of L scored on nine of its next 11 possessions, including three-pointers on four straight possessions, to open up a 45-30 lead with 4:41 left in the half. The Cards' lead was 56-43 at halftime. |
| In a span of 2:39 to open the second half, Bryant Northern scored 13 straight points for the Cards en route to a career-high 25. He finished 6-7 from three-point range. After that barrage, the rest of the game was pretty much a cakewalk. The Cards wound up shooting 51.4% from the field, and held TCU to 37.3%. And for the second game in a row, U of L put five players in double figures, with Reece Gaines leading the way. Gaines had 20 points and six assists in the first half alone, and finished with 30 points and 10 assists. Ellis Myles scored 12 points and had seven rebounds, while Luke Whitehead had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Larry O'Bannon had 11 points. Leading the way for TCU was Junior Blount, who scored a game-high 31 points, including 14-16 from the line. |
| Game Summary: Marquette | Score: Marquette 84, Louisville 76 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (29) Marquette: Cordell Henry (24) |
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| The Cards' hopes for advancing through the C-USA Tournament and getting an NCAA Tournament bid were killed by their third loss to Marquette this season. And like the first match-up earlier this year, U of L was unable to overcome a significant deficit, and to stop a crafty, penetrating point guard. Coming off of the track meet against TCU, the Cards ran into a bit of culture shock against a Marquette defense that gave up nothing easy. The Golden Eagles' half-court defense forced U of L into missing nine of its first 11 shots, including their first five three-point attempts, and Marquette was able to pull out to an early 14-4 lead. Also causing problems for the Cards was the early foul trouble of Ellis Myles. He picked up his third foul only eight minutes into the game; in fact, Marquette was in the bonus before the first ten minutes of the game had expired. The Golden Eagles went to the line 37 times, making 26, while the Cards only shot 22 free throw attempts, hitting on 16 of them. Marquette used an 8-0 run, featuring three-pointers by Travis Diener and Oluoma Nnamka, that pushed their lead to 33-15 with 7:23 to go until halftime. |
| At that point Coach Pitino called a timeout, and put the full-court press to work as a means of scoring, not just defending. A steal and lay-up by Larry O'Bannon highlighted a 10-2 run that cut U of L's deficit to 37-27; at the half, the Cards trailed 42-30. The Cards kept the press on to start the second half -- and it continued to yield results. U of L forced five Marquette turnovers in the first five minutes of the second frame, and Luke Whitehead scored seven straight points to pull U of L to within 48-41. Whitehead, who finished with 25 points on 11-17 shooting, hit another jumper to make it a 49-45 game with 13:50 left to play. But Myles and Whitehead each collected their fourth fouls in the next 33 seconds, which sucked some of the momentum away from U of L. Myles wound up fouling out with 6:55 to go, and finished with only six points and one rebound. After running roughshod over the Horned Frogs in hitting 15-30 three-point attempts, the Cards shot a still respectable 6-19 from behind the arc, though Bryant Northern, who had a career-high in the opening round game, failed to score. The key playmaker on the day for Marquette was Cordell Henry. Not only did he score 24 points, but he was mot effective in dribbling through U of L's trapping press defense, and several times went coast-to-coast and scored on driving lay-ups and floating jumpers. Even more impressive, he played 39 minutes and committed no turnovers despite handling the ball so much. |
| A dunk by Whitehead pulled the Cards to within two at 67-65 with five minutes left, but that was as close as the Cardinals got. After a Golden Eagle timeout, Henry scored on a jumper, then Dwyane Wade, who had 11 points and nine rebounds, got a dunk of his own to push Marquette back into a 71-65 lead with 2:07 remaining. After Henry dribbled the shot clock down and scored on a floating jumper with 1:14 left, it was all she wrote for the Cardinals. Reece Gaines again led Louisville scoring with 29 points (he had 30 in the tournament opener) on 9-10 shooting from the line and 4-9 from behind the arc, plus eight rebounds and four assists. Larry O'Bannon, who had 11 points, was the only other Cardinal besides Gaines and Whitehead to finish in double-figures. |
| Game Summary: Princeton | Score: Louisville 66, Princeton 65 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (23) Princeton: Mike Bechtold (24) |
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| Coming into the game, Coach Pitino said that Princeton was the last team in the 40-squad NIT field that he wanted to face, and this game showed why. With methodical patience, some brilliant passing, and some three-point shooting like you've never seen, Princeton was within a few seconds of knocking off the Cardinals in Freedom Hall. Save for U of L's dominance on the boards, and the clutch play of Reece Gaines, whose on-floor memories and legend is starting to grow and grow, the Cards might have been in real trouble. Princeton got out of the gate faster than U of L, as Mike Bechtold, who led the Tigers with 24 points, hit three three-pointers in the opening minutes to give Princeton a 14-7 five and half minutes into the game. But after U of L got used to Princeton's passing scheme, and after the Tigers cooled off a bit, U of L was able to pull back into a tie with 9:04 left in the first half. Then the Cardinals got a surprise boost from the bench. Guard Carlos Hurt entered the game, making his first appearance since mid-January, when Hurt had back surgery. Hurt was expected to return next week, but came in early. Although not as sharp as he was when he went out with the injury, he did drain a three and hit a runner in the lane to give the Cards a three-point lead. Erik Brown then hit two straight buckets for the Cardinals to give U of L a 23-18 lead, but U of L led only 29-27 at halftime. |
| The Cards looked to be in control of the game in holding a nine-point lead with 4:49 to play, but Princeton had other ideas. Princeton found the touch from three-point range again, sometimes making and taking shots from NBA three-point range. After hitting three straight threes, the Tigers were within 55-52 with 3:54 left. Ed Persia, who hadn't made a shot until he made a three with 4:46 left, made two of thoese threes, then connected on another on Princeton's next possession. Meanwhile, the Cards were getting nothing done from the field, but rather getting all their points from the foul line. For the game, the Cards were 21-30 from the charity stripe, while Princeton was only 7-10. Gaines, who led U of L with 23 points, including 10-12 from the line, made two free throws to push U of L's lead back to five with 3:41 left. At that point, U of L had scored their last eight straight points from the line. Persia, who finished with 11 points, hit a three to cut U of L's lead to 57-55 with 3:14 left; the Cards hit two more free throws before Ray Robins, who had 15 for Princeton, hit a three to pull Princeton within one at 59-58 with 2:14 left. The Cards then got a huge shot from Bryant Northern, who had been 0-5 from three-point range up until the one he hit that put the Cards up 62-58 with 1:48 remaining. Northern also had five turnovers on the game. |
| Then the Cards did their part to keep Princeton alive. Luke Whitehead, one of three Cardinal players in double-figures with 10 points, fouled Robins on a three-point attempt; Robins made two of the free throws to pull the Tigers to within 62-60 with 1:35 left. Whitehead then hit two free throws himself, but on Princeton's next possession, Erik Brown, who had 10 points for U of L, fouled Bechtold on a three-point attempt, and Bechtold hit all three to keep the Tigers one-point down at 64-63. Erik Brown missed an open jumper with 32 seconds left. Princeton got the rebound and called timeout with 28.5 seconds left. When play resumed, Ed Persia was able to go backdoor, received a perfect pass and hit a lay-up that gave Princeton the lead at 65-64 with 11.9 seconds left. The Cards did not call a timeout. Gaines took a pass from Northern at midcourt, drove the lane, and banked in a six-footer under pressure with 5.3 seconds left. Princeton got off a three-pointer at the buzzer that bounced off the rim, and the U of L victory was preserved. For the contest, the Tigers were 12-25 from three-point range, hitting five of those in the last five and a half minutes. One big edge the Cards enjoyed was on the glass -- for the game, U of L outrebounded Princeton 32-22. |
| Game Summary: Temple | Score: Temple 65, Louisville 62 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (16) Temple: Lynn Greer (27) |
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| Several times this season, U of L fell behind big. They were able to overcome most of these deficits, but always seemed to come up short. Against Temple in the second round of the NIT, it was just the opposite. The Cards took a 16-point lead, watched it quicky evaporate in the second half, and were unable to hang on in the final minutes as another senior point guard, this time Lynn Greer, chew up U of L's defense and sent the Cards to a loss. Greer was fantastic, and proved to be a scorer and force that U of L was unable to stop. In the first half, U of L shot a blistering 51.9 % from the field, while limiting Temple to only 32.3% shooting. In the second half, the tables turned. The Cards shot only 29% in the second half, while Temple, led by Greer, who scored 20 of his 27 points in the second half, shot 65.4% in the second frame. Reece Gaines, who led U of L with 16 points and became the first Cardinal since Darrell Griffith in 1980 to average at least 20 points in a season, hit three field goals in the final 8 and a half minutes for the Cards' only scoring in that time frame. |
| The Cards led 38-22 at the half, but Temple made eight of its first 10 shots to cut U of L's lead in half only four and a half minutes into the period. Greer then connected on two straight three-pointers, hit a runner in the lane, and made one of two free throws to pull the Owls to within 46-45 with 10:58 left. The Cards responded and were able to rebuild a seven-point lead, but Greer kept on coming. With just under six minutes to play and the Cards up 57-52, Greer scored the game's next nine points -- some on shots you wouldn't believe -- to give Temple a 61-57 lead. Greer left the game with 2:15 remaining after slipping on the court. As the game wore on, the Freedom Hall court became very slippery, and several players had trouble with their footing. Despite crews wiping down the court with towels, the officials made a decision that they would not penalize anyone for slipping on the slick surface, a decision that came into play later on. All told, it was an embarassing scene for U of L, and it was awful that Greer was injured. It made a poor representation for the Cards, U of L and Freedom Hall. |
| Gaines continued his clutch play by hitting a key three-pointer and a driving basket to give U of L the lead back at 62-61 with 32.8 seconds left. Temple's David Hawkins, who had 11 points, scored on a drive and was fouled with 29.9 seconds remaining. Although he missed the free throw, U of L's Ellis Myles lost the rebound out of bounds, giving the ball back to Temple. Greer re-entered the game, noticeably limping, but was able to take the inbounds pass and get fouled. An 87.6% free throw shooter, Greer hit both shots, and Temple led 65-62. On the Cards' next possession, both Simeon Naydenov and Gaines missed three-point attempts for U of L, and Temple's Niles Murray was fouled after he rebounded Gaines' miss. Murray missed the front-end of a one-and-one, but again Temple got the ball back when Brian Polk got the rebound. Polk slipped and fell out of bounds, but the officials ruled this was because of the slippery court, and Temple retained possession. The Cards were still alive, though. Temple's Kevin Lyde, who had 12 points on the game, missed his front-end of a one-and-one, but Naydenov missed an open three-point shot in the corner, and the game was over. Luke Whitehead had a solid game for the Cards, scoring 14 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, while Erik Brown scored 11 points. |
