| Date: Mar. 23, 2003 | Score: Butler 79, Louisville 71 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (26) Butler: Darnell Archey (26) |
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| The Cards suffer a season-ending upset loss to 12-seed Butler in the second round of the East Regional of the NCAA tournament. It was Butler's Darnell Archey who did in the Cards, as he matched a career-high with 26 points on 8-9 three-pointing, including all six of his attempts in the second half. It really was a brilliant display of shooting, and a brilliant display of offensive execution that got Archey open for so many good looks. On the game, Butler shot an amazing 14-22 from behind the arc; their 14 three-pointers were a season-high. That helped Butler overcome an early 24-9 deficit, fueled by turnovers caused by U of L's intense defensive pressure. The Bulldogs slowed U of L down by going into a 2-3 zone; the Cardinals made 11 of their first 16 shots, but only 3-12 after that against the zone. The Bulldogs scored 14 straight points to take a 26-24 lead with 4:35 left in the first half, and led at the half 34-33. |
| Butler went on a 13-3 run to open the second half. Archey hit back-to-back threes from the left corner to push a three-point Bulldog lead to 50-39 with 14:30 left in the game. But Reece Gaines went on a tear, scoring 11 of U of L's next 13 points in helping pull the Cards back into a tie with 9:20 remaining. A three-pointer by Archey gave Butler the lead for good and Duane Lightfoot added two free throws for a 59-54 edge with less than seven minutes left. Archey hit another three off a U of L turnover, and after Francisco Garcia, who finished with 16 points, pulled U of L to within three at the 5:30 mark, Archey hit another three-pointer to double the Butler lead. Gaines, who led the Cards with 26 points on 10-15 shooting, including 6-10 from three-point range (with all six coming in the second half), hit one of those threes a minute later to pull U of L to within 64-61, but Archey responded with yet another three-pointer from the corner. Press repeat: Gaines drilled another three for U of L at the 1:50 mark to make it 70-69, but then Archey responded with another three-pointer of his own with 1:28 left. Gaines had scored 11 straight points for U of L within the last five minutes until Garcia got a lay-up to make it 73-71, but Butler got a lay-up of its own to establish a 75-71 lead with 33.1 seconds to go. Reece Gaines then missed a three for U of L, and Archey hit two free throws to put the game out of reach. |
U of L shot only four free throws in the game, two coming off of a technical foul, but the Cards were 11-25 from three-point range. Luke Whitehead had 14 points and a team-high 6 rebounds for the Cards. For the game, Butler outrebounded U of L 28-27. Besides Archey, pitching in for Butler was center Joel Cornette, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Mike Monserez had 14 points on 4-7 three-point shooting plus nine assists, while Duane Lightfoot, Jr. had 14 points as well. U of L forward Larry O'Bannon did not dress for the game for undisclosed reasons. The loss matched the lowest seed to ever beat U of L in an NCAA tourney game; the Cards also lost to 12-seed Ball State in 1990. The Cards finished the season with a school-record 272 three-pointers, eclipsing the mark set last year of 261.  |
