| Game Summary: St. Louis | Score: Louisville 75, St. Louis 48 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (17) St. Louis: Reggie Bryant (15) |
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| For the first time since 1996, the Louisville Cardinals were victorious on the road against the St. Louis Billikens. Determined to keep the momentum going from their win over Memphis, the Cards thrashed SLU, and all but sealed an NCAA tourney bid. Three straight SLU turnovers led to five U of L points as the game opened, and U of L built an early 8-3 lead. After back-to-back steals by Brandon Jenkins, the Cards' lead grew to 20-8. Down 20-10 with 7:50 left in the half, SLU got only more field goal before halftime, at which point they trailed U of L 40-19. |
The Cards received fantastic post play, with Kendall Dartez scoring 12 points and pulling down a career-high 11 rebounds, while Otis George had 13 points and six rebounds. The Cards had been outrebounded in five straight games, but won the battle of the boards against SLU 36-26, and outscored the Billikens 30-8 in the paint. St. Louis also committed 20 turnovers, compared to only nine for the Cards, and U of L was able to score 27 points off of Billiken turnovers. The Cards had a total of 11 steals, with four by Larry O'Bannon. Despite shooting a woeful 1-11 from three-point range, Francisco Garcia led U of L with 17 points and six assists, and also had five rebounds. Taquan Dean looked as good as he has since his groin injury, making 3-6 shots to finish with seven points in 19 minutes of action. Pitino finally called off the full-court press with U of L up 69-39 with 6:58 remaining. The Cards led 75-39 with 4:26, then went scoreless in their last six possessions. It was SLU's second-worst loss ever at the Savvis Center, and matched their worst C-USA loss. St. Louis shot only 34.9% for the game. Reserve center Nouha Diakite left the Cardinal squad a day before the game to pursue a professional career in France.  |
| Game Summary: Marquette | Score: Marquette 81, Louisville 80 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (23) Marquette: Steve Novak (20) |
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| In its final regular season game of the year, the Cards lose at Marquette in one of their most heart-breaking losses in a long time. Yet again, the Cards found a way to lose, and practically handed a team a win that the Cards easily could have had. Rick Pitino is now a lame 1-6 vs. Tom Crean, and even though the Cards played well, they lost one they shouldn’t have – an all-too familiar trend with this Cardinal squad. U of L has lost seven of its last nine games. The Cards shot 54% for the game, and made nine three-pointers. But it was on the glass where U of L got beat. Marqette scored on putbacks three times in the final eight minutes, once after Dameon Mason had missed two free throws. The Golden Eagles outrebounded U of L 30-22, including 12-5 on the offensive end. A Steve Novak three-pointer sparked a 13-1 Golden Eagle run that gave Marquette a 41-32 lead. Marquette led at halftime 43-36. |
| Alhaji Mohammed got a steal, and with U of L up 73-68, was headed to the basket when Marquette's Novak grabbed his jersey twice. An intentional foul was not called, and Mohammed missed both free throws. Travis Diener hit two free throws with 12 seconds left to tie the game at 78, but was then called for his fifth foul when Taquan Dean split a double-team. Diener, C-USA's leading scorer, had 14 points, but was only 3-14 from the field and missed all of his second half shots. It was a questionable call, with replays showing if a foul occurred at all, it should have gone on another Marquette player. Pitino and Crean met with officials and reviewed the play on video, but the call stood, and Dean made both free throws to put U of L up 80-78. Marquette then missed a wild three-point shot, but in the scramble for the rebound, the Cards knocked the ball out of bounds with 2.6 seconds left. Dameon Mason took the inbounds pass all alone on the left baseline, and buried a 16-foot jumper before being hammered into by Alhaji Mohammed with .8 seconds left. After a Cardinal timeout, Mason made the free throw, and U of L never got off a desperation shot. Many were quick to blame Mohammed, but he was credited with solid defensive play on Novak, who had killed U of L in this year's earlier meeting. Novak made four three-pointers on the game, but did not attempt a shot after the first few minutes of the second half. Taquan Dean continued his resurgence, hitting three three-pointers and scoring 16 points in only 25 minutes. Francisco Garcia was 4-7 from three-point range, and finished with a team-high 23 points plus five assists. Otis George pitched in 13 points, while Mohammed had 11 points and five assists. |
| Game Summary: East Carolina | Score: Louisville 61, East Carolina 54 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (22) East Carolina: Mike Cook (14) |
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| The Cards opened their 2004 C-USA Tournament in beautiful fashion. It was an ugly game, and the Cards barely hung on to win, but any win in March is beautiful. The Cards matched a season-high with 19 turnovers, and, after taking an early 8-1 lead in the first two and a half minutes, scored only 13 points the rest of the first half. But U of L shot 52% in the second half, and, after not going to the free throw line in the first half, made 15-16 free throws in the second period, including 8-8 by Larry O'Bannon, who finished with 11 points. Francisco Garcia led all scorers with 22 points, and for the sixth straight game led the Cards offensively. |
| U of L was up 21-20 at halftime, but to open the second half, the Cards missed a shot, committed a turnover, and gave up an uncontested putback. It looked bleak with 10:21 remaining. East Carolina had moved ahead 38-34, and Garcia went to the bench after picking up his third foul. But O'Bannon drove to the basket and was fouled, and made both shots. A three-pointer by Garcia gave the Cards the lead back, then O'Bannon got a steal off the press and hit his own three-pointer. A key three by Taquan Dean at the 2:20 mark gave U of L a 57-50 cushion. Up 57-52 and needing a basket, the Cards were then bailed out by Luke Whithead, who hit a 10-footer with the shot clock expiring to give the Cards a 59-52 lead with just 55.1 seconds left. |
| For the game, the Pirates shot only 33%, and U of L was able to score 23 points off of 17 ECU turnovers. The Pirates shot only 2-14 from three-point range. U of L held ECU's leading scorer, Derrick Wiley, to only 10 points. A big key for U of L was scoring on 12 of its final 16 possessions, while ECU managed only three field goals in the last three minutes. For U of L, Kendall Dartez had eight points and 10 rebounds, plus three blocks and two steals. ECU won the battle on the glass, but only by 37-35. |
| Game Summary: Cincinnati | Score: Cincinnati 64, Louisville 62 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (28) Cincinnati: Jason Maxiell (15) |
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| This U of L team has lost more close games than it seems possible to remember. With the exception of the blowout against TCU, the Cards have had a chance to win every game they've lost...including a three-point shot at the buzzer that would have given the Cards a win over C-USA tourney host Cincinnati. As it is, the Cards drop another heart-breaker, and lose in the quarterfinals. It was a case of not having as much of a balanced attack as is needed against top competition in March. Francisco Garcia led U of L in scoring for the seventh straight game, and for the second straight game against the Bearcats, set a new career-high in scoring, this time leading all scorers with 28 points on 10-14 shooting. It was U of L's fourth straight loss that came down to overtime or the final possession. |
| Garcia, whose mother was in the stands for the C-USA tourney games, scored eight points the first four and a half minutes. U of L scored on seven of its first 10 possessions, using an early 12-2 run to build an impressive 15-4 lead. But when Garcia went to the bench with two fouls midway through the first half, the Bearcats came back. UC's Tony Bobbitt scored five quick points off the bench, but he too got into foul trouble and had to sit. The Cards missed 11 straight shots at one point, and endured a stretch of 9:13 without scoring. UC went on a 12-0 run to turn a 19-11 Cardinal lead into a 23-19 Bearcat advantage. Fortunately for the Cards, it wasn't worse. A late Nate Daniels three-pointer gave the Cards a 25-23 halftime lead. |
| As usual, what felled the Cards was the inability to rebound. The Bearcats had 10 second-chance points in the first 11 minutes of the second half, and shot a blistering 56% from the field in the second period. A three-pointer by UC's Nick Williams put the Bearcats up 48-43 with 8:34 left; UC then went up 50-43. Another three, this one by Field Williams, put Cincinnati up 58-53 with just 4:06 left. But it was Garcia to the rescue for U of L, as he scored 10 of 13 Cardinal points in one stretch to keep the Cards close. |
| With 1:13 left, Taquan Dean was able to force a five-second violation on UC's Armein Kirkland. On the next possession, goaltending was called on Jason Maxiell for touching Taquan Dean's lay-up in the cylinder; that tied the game at 62 with 48.7 seconds left. After Kendall Dartez knocked the ball loose, Bobbitt came up with the ball and called timeout with 25.9 seconds left, and 13 seconds on the shot clock. Kirkland then made a short bank shot to put UC up 64-62 with 16.9 seconds left. The Cards did not call timeout, and with Garcia double-teamed, he fed the ball to Taquan Dean on the right-wing. Dean's three-point attempt did not even hit rim as time expired. For the game, Dean was 1-8 from three-point range. For U of L, Luke Whitehead had 12 points and eight rebounds, though they received very little support from other players. The Cards shot 35.8% for the game, while UC made 48.9%, the best of any Cardinal opponent all season. |
| Game Summary: Xavier | Score: Xavier 80, Louisville 70 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Taquan Dean (19) Xavier: Lionel Chalmers (25) |
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| It was a frustrating, but not altogether surprising, loss to Xaxier in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Cards, playing as a 10-seed, their second lowest seed ever, dropped their second straight tournament game in which they held a double-digit lead. And even though Francisco Garcia and Taquan Dean looked healthy, the Cards couldn't hold on against the Muskateers. For the first 25 minutes of the game, U of L was in control. Then Xavier's senior backcourt, and zone defense, took over. U of L finished the season 20-10, and losers of nine of their last 13 games. |
| U of L was 53-39 with 15:19 to play when the wheels came off this Cardinal squad for the last time. Guards Romain Sato and Lionel Chalmers, plus center Anthony Myles, showed why seniors are so valuable in March and propelled Xavier to an unbelievable run, leaving the Cards in awe and with no answers. Xavier went on a 16-3 run, and from then on the Cards were history. U of L was up 60-58 when Xavier hit a three-pointer and was fouled on the attempt; the made free throw gave the Muskateers a 62-58 lead with 7:55 left. It was Xavier's first lead since 18:25 in the first half. From there, Xavier went on another 15-3 run, and by that time the Cards were off national TV, done for the year, while Xavier was on its way to the second round. |
| Xavier made eight of their first 11 second half shots, and scored on 16 of their first 20 possessions. They shot 14-23, almost 61%, in the second half; it was the best half of shooting against U of L all year. Where was the defense? The Muskateers took their biggest lead at 75-63 with 3:14 remaining, at which point Dean fouled out. Larry O'Bannon hit a three for U of L, which was followed by a Xavier turnover. Garcia then was fouled on a three-point shot, but missed two of the three free throws. Garcia then fouled out with 1:07 left. An indication of how little U of L got into the paint was the fact Xavier committed only four fouls in the second half. Dean scored 19 points, including six three-pointers. Garcia had 15 points and seven assists, while Luke Whitehead, in his final game with U of L, had 15 points. For Xavier, Chalmers, the Atlantic 10 tourney MVP, had 25 points, while Sato had 24. All told, it was a 36-10 Xavier run after U of L had its 14-point lead. U of L missed 21 of 30 shots in the second period. |
