| Date: Feb. 17, 2004 | Score: Texas Christian 71, Louisville 46 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Larry O'Bannon (9) Texas Christian: Corey Santee (20) |
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| In continuing their recent slide, the Cards lost on the road to an unranked team with a losing record on national TV in an embarrassing and humiliating manner. Technically the third-worst loss of the Pitino-era, in terms of losing face, this defeat at the hands of the Horned Frogs was one of the hardest losses to swallow for U of L fans since Pitino took over the helm. The entire game was pretty much a lifeless effort, as the Cards showed little enthusiasm, less confidence and not even a hint of basketball ability or the means to score. The game's stats paint an even uglier picture. |
| U of L shot only 18.5% in the first half (finishing at 28.6% for the game), and trailed by 15 at halftime - their biggest halftime deficit of the season. TCU pulled even further away in the second half to hand the Cards their worst drubbing of the year, 71-46. It was U of L's fourth loss in five games, and was the lowest point total for a Pitino-coached team since 1982. U of L was crushed on the boards 44-28. It was the third straight loss in which a U of L opponent shot 50% or better in the second half. After falling behind by 20 with six minutes left, Pitino played the rest of the game with U of L's starting line-up on the bench. U of L had 17 turnovers, with Kendall Dartez and Otis George combining for seven of them. |
For the first time in the Pitino-era, the Cards had no players score in double-figures, with Larry O'Bannon leading the way with only nine points while Dartez had eight. A three-pointer from Francisco Garcia pulled U of L to within 9-7 with 14:11 left in the first half. But the Cards scored only one more field goal in the next 11 minutes, while getting outrebounded in the first half 30-16, and 11-3 on the offensive end. TCU went to the line on seven of their last eight first half possessions, while the Cards went scoreless in the last 3:52 to trail at the break 33-18, the Cards' lowest-scoring half of the year. The Cards twice pulled within nine points in the second half, the last time at 40-31, but were not able to capitalize on opportunities, and eventually just collapsed. U of L was down 47-37 with 9:24 left, but TCU then scored 14 points in a row to seal the game.  |
| Date: Jan. 18, 2003 | Score: Louisville 87, Texas Christian 74 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Marvin Stone (22) Texas Christian: Jamal Brown, Corey Santee (16) |
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| Probably the toughest part of this game for U of L was its lack of preparation time. The Cards returned home from Thursday's game at ECU after 2 a.m., and then had to suit up for this noon contest about 36 hours later. This lack of sleep and prep time forced U of L into one of its sloppiest games of the season, as the Cards committed a season-high 24 turnovers. Still, the one-two punch of Marvin Stone and Reece Gaines -- two seniors -- was enough to carry U of L to its 11th straight win, its longest winning streak in 14 years. The Cards' uneasy play was apparent from the outset, as Coach Pitino called a timeout only 75 seconds into the game after two Cardinal turnovers. The Cards led only 25-21 with seven minutes left in the first half; then up 27-23, U of L went on a 20-8 run to take a 47-31 lead into halftime. It was three-pointers by Larry O'Bannon and Erik Brown, plus a putback and free throw by Otis George and a jumper by Luke Whitehead that highlighted the spurt. U of L hit six three-pointers in the firt half (though only 8-29 for the game), while TCU scored nearly half of its first half points from the foul line. |
| The Cards' second half dominance showed itself again. U of L scored on its first three possessions of the second half to go up 53-33; the Cards led 61-37 four minutes into the second half. The Cards' biggest lead was 67-41 with 13:24 left. Marvin Stone set the pace for U of L for the second straight game, scoring a game-high 22 points on 8-11 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots. Gaines wound up with 20 points to go along with eight assists. TCU scored 23 points off of Cardinal turnovers, and hit for 26 points from the free throw line. |
| Date: Mar. 6, 2002 | Score: Louisville 110, Texas Christian 86 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (30) Texas Christian: 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. |
| Date: Jan. 12, 2002 | Score: Louisville 93, Texas Christian 85 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (26) Texas Christian: Junior Blount (28) |
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| The Cards played their first ever game against Texas Christian, and welcomed the Horned Frogs into C-USA in a game that saw a frenetic pace and no bashfulness in shooting. TCU, second in the nation in points per game, tried to run-and-gun as much as possible, but the Cards were able to maintain enough composure to pull it out. With freshman point guard Carlos Hurt out indefinitely due to a herniated disc in his back, guard Reece Gaines moved to the point position, though Bryant Northern and Alhaji Mohammed played most of the game at point. Gaines tired early in the contest due to the fast pace, but when the game was on the line, he came up big with another huge second half spurt. |
| U of L used a 7-0 run to take a 36-26 lead with 6:50 left in the first half, then seemed to take control of the contest by exploding for a 10-0 run that was fueled by three-pointers from Mohammed and Erik Brown. The Cards were up 15 with 3:16 remaining, but TCU made its final six shots of the first half (while U of L missed its last five shots of the opening period) to cut U of L's lead to 48-44 at halftime. Combined with their run to open the second half, TCU took a three-point lead on what was in total a 20-2 run. Gaines hit a three, however, and then got hot and asserted himself as the key man yet again for the Cards. The game was tied at 60 with 13:53 left when Gaines got hot; he the scored 15 of U of L's next 23 points to build an 11-point Cardinal lead. TCU pulled within six with only 31 seconds left, but the Cards hung on. |
| The game featured some interesting statistics. U of L outrebounded TCU 58-51, yet Coach Pitino was displeased with the Cardinals' efforts on the glass; TCU scored 28 points off of offensive rebounds. U of L attempted a school and conference record 40 three-pointers, making 11 of them. U of L's 87 field goal attempts were its second most in conference play; all told the Cards shot 40.2% from the field, and struggled from the line again, making only 12-23 attempts from the charity stripe. TCU, which led C-USA in free-throw shooting going into the game, also struggled, making only 13-22. The Horned Frogs received 48 points from its starting backcourt: Junior Blount poured in 28 points to lead all scorers, while Corey Santee had 20. Reserve Corey Valsin had 19 points and 10 rebounds. For U of L, Gaines had 26, while Luke Whitehead had 16 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Erik Brown finished in double-figures again, netting 13 points, while Mohammed finished with 10. Ellis Myles had eight points and an impressive 18 rebounds. |
