Manhattan Series History: The Cards lost to Manhattan 79-66 on March 9, 1953 in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament, but beat the Jaspers on Mar. 12, 1955 91-86 in the first round of the NIT.

Series History

All-Time Record: Louisville 5, Manhattan 2
*NIT (New York, NY)
+Billy Minardi Classic

DATE	U of L	MAN.	DATE	U of L	MAN.
			Dec. 18, 2002 (h)+ Summary | Box Score	89	62
Dec. 20, 1975 (h)	78	71	Mar. 12, 1955 (n)*	91	86
Dec. 8, 1953 (a)	87	76	Mar. 9, 1953* (n)	66	79
Dec. 11, 1952 (a)	63	65	Dec. 29, 1951 (a)	67	66

Date: December 18, 2002	Score: Louisville 89, Manhattan 62
Leading Scorers: U of L: Marvin Stone (19) Manhattan: Jared Johnson (18)
Like in the game vs. Eastern Kentucky the night before, in this final of the Billy Minardi Classic the Cardinals came out hot. The Cards scored the game's first eight points and led by 21-6 midway through the opening period. Manhattan then turned the tables on U of L, applying a half-court trapping defense which put the Cards off rhythmn. The Cards were still able to post a 41-27 halftime lead, built mostly with the contributions of freshman Francisco Garcia, who had all 12 of his points and three blocked shots in the first half alone.
The real story of the game, though, was the debut of UK transfer center Marvin Stone. Stone came out maybe a bit rusty but still ready to play: he led the Cardinals both in points with 19 and rebounds with 11. Stone missed five of his first seven shots, and had many balls slapped away, but hung on for the career-high point total while also blocking three shots. Surprisingly, Stone even put down a three-pointer. It was the veterans, though, that eventually paved the way for victory. Up only 53-47 at the 10:47 mark of the second half, the Cards' Ellis Myles scored five in a row, and Luke Whitehead followed with a dunk. The Cards got another hoop, then received eight out of their next 10 points from Reece Gaines. The Cards finished only 6-22 from three-point range, but were 21-29 from the line and outrebounded the Jaspers 50-33. For U of L, Gaines finished with 18, while Otis George had 10 points in only eight minutes of action. Stone took a tumble with just under six minutes left, but was fine. After the game, Reece Gaines was named tournament MVP of the Minardi Classic, and was joined on the all-tourney team by Francisco Garcia and Taquan Dean.