| Date: December 13, 2003 | Score: Louisville 73, Florida 65 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Francisco Garcia (21) Florida: David Lee (24) |
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| For the first time since 1953, Louisville defeated a team ranked #1 in the country during the regular season, knocking off top-ranked Florida, coached by former Pitino player and assistant Billy Donovan, in the Billy Minardi Classic. Francisco Garcia, who led U of L with 21 points and was awarded MVP of the game, was still reeling from the death of his younger brother. Garcia had returned to Louisville from New York the day before the game, and decided to play against the advice of the coaching staff. |
| The Cards struggled early offensively, making only eight of their first 27 shots. Two late three-pointers from Nate Daniels put U of L up 32-24, and the Cards led 32-27 at halftime. David Lee, who led all scorers with 24 points, hit on a few dunks to pull the Gators within three at 36-33, but U of L warmed up from the outside with two three-pointers from Taquan Dean and one from Luke Whitehead, his first three of the season. That run gave the Cardinals a 52-40 lead, and later, a driving lay-up by Garcia put U of L up 66-51 with 4:46 remaining. The Gators didn't give up, however, and, taking advantage of U of L's poor free throw shooting (12-26) Florida pulled to within 67-61 with 2:15 left. Florida missed on some three-point shots, and the Cards were able to withstand the rally. |
Although the Cards were 9-26 from behind the arc, defense was the key for U of L, which limited the Gators to 41% field goal shooting, including only 5-17 from three-point range, and scored 24 points off of 18 Florida turnovers. For U of L, Dean finished with 14 points, and Whitehead had eight points and nine rebounds, but was only 1-6 from the line. Kendall Dartez finished with nine points and seven rebounds. With the win, Coach Rick Pitino earned his 400th career victory.  |
