| Date: Feb. 7, 2004 | Score: Louisville 73, UAB 55 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Larry O'Bannon (15) UAB: Gabe Kennedy (15) |
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| The Cards snapped a two-game losing streak by handing the UAB Blazers their worst loss of the season. Taquan Dean and Francisco Garcia both played for U of L, but neither started. Garcia finished with seven points and five rebounds before spraining his right ankle early in the second half and sitting out the rest of the game. Dean played 20 minutes and scored 11 points, but was only 2-8 from the field, though he was perfect from the line (6-6), hitting key free throws late in the game. The difference in the game was U of L limiting UAB to only five steals, as the Blazers came into the game second in the nation in steals per game. Instead, U of L had 11 steals, and held UAB to only 6-29 shooting in the second half. The Cards also had a tremendous advantage on the glass, outrebounding UAB 55-39, and 21-10 on the offensive boards. A big positive for U of L was the fact they had only 12 turnovers, fewer than in their last few games. The Cards set the tone by getting three offensive rebounds in the first three minutes to open up an 8-0 lead. But the Blazers then scored on five straight possessions, and a 6-0 run put UAB up 18-15 with 12:50 to go. UAB led 20-19 when the Cards forced four quick turnovers, leading to seven points, and U of L held UAB without a field goal for the final 6:11 of the first half. The Cards led 40-33 at halftime. |
A dunk by Gabe Kennedy, who led UAB with 16 points and 15 rebounds, ended the nine-minute field goal drought for the Blazers. But U of L hit 5-6 from the line early in the second frame to build a 47-36 lead. Garcia sprained his right ankle and left for good at the 15:26 mark. Two free throws and a three-pointer from Larry O'Bannon put the Cards up 61-46 with less than six minutes remaining. UAB scored only two field goals in the final 12 minutes of the second half to help U of L put the game out of reach. The Cards overcame their worst shooting night of the season, making a paltry 31.9% from the field. O'Bannon led the Cards with 15 points, and he also pulled down a career-high eight rebounds. Luke Whitehead recorded another double-double, scoring 13 points to go along with 18 rebounds. He also brought the ball up the floor several times, and was 7-8 from the line. Kendall Dartez had nine points and five rebounds. For the game, U of L's bench outscored UAB's bench 22-7, and the Cards outscored the Blazers 14-9 off turnovers. UAB shot only 31.5% for the game and had 18 total turnovers. The Cards made only 6-21 from three-point range.  |
| Date: Mar. 13, 2003 | Score: Louisville 83, UAB 78 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Luke Whitehead (17) UAB: Morris Finley (20) |
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| The Cardinals win their first ever C-USA tournament championship in a heart-stopping win over UAB. Leading scorer Reece Gaines was held to a season-low eight points, but Luke Whitehead had his fourth straight double-double in leading the Cards with 17 points and 14 rebounds. The Cards win their first conference championship in eight years, and now will make their first NCAA tourney appearance since 1999-2000. It will be the Cards' 30th appearance in the NCAA tournament, and this year's berth ends their longest drought from the tourney since 1969-1971. UAB did not look like a team playing its fourth game in four days. The Cards went up 3-0, but the Blazers scored on seven straight possessions and led 16-10 after a three-pointer by Eric Bush at the 14:06 mark of the first half. The Blazers refused to wear down, and led 37-35 at the half. Early in the second half, the Cards made a move, but were unable to put UAB away. The Cards went on an 11-0 run to turn a 46-43 deficit to a 54-46 lead. The Cards led 67-56 with 7:50 left, and had their biggest lead at 72-60 with 5:29 left, but the Blazers didn't fold. |
| With greater defensive intensity that caused several U of L turnovers, and with dribble penetration that got them to the line, UAB pulled to within 72-64 with 5:15 to play. Gaines then was able drive to the hole and either get fouled or find the open, as he helped the Cards maintain a 10-point lead. Still, after Erik Brown, who had 10 points, scored on a field goal after a steal, the Cards scored their final basket of the game with 4:00 left. UAB caused turnovers on four of U of L's next five possessions, and drew within 76-73 before Kendall Dartez hit two free throws to put U of L up five. UAB's Morris Finley responded with a three-pointer to make the score 78-76 in favor of the Cards with 1:34 left. U of L's Francisco Garcia hit one of two free throws, but UAB freshman Demario Eddins drove the lane and was fouled, hitting both free throws to pull UAB within one. Eddins finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers. |
| With U of L up 79-78, Taquan Dean was stripped of the ball, but UAB's Finley, who led all scorers with 20 points, missed a tough scoop shot with 25 seconds left. Reece Gaines got the rebound, was fouled and calmly made both free throws to put the Cards up 81-78 with 11.4 seconds left. The Blazers' Eric Bush drove to the basket instead of pulling up for a three-point attempt; he missed the lay-up, Whitehead got the rebound, then was fouled and made both free throws for the game's final margin. Whithead's 37 rebounds in the C-USA tourney was a tournament record and propelled him to the tournament MVP award. Francisco Garcia was also on the all-tournament team (along with UAB's Finley and Bush and Marque Perry of St. Louis) as he scored 14 points and had six rebounds in the championship game. Dean finished with 15 points and six rebounds for the Cards, and was the third-leading rebounder in the tournament. With center Marvin Stone scoring 10 points to go along with seven rebounds, the Cards put five players in double-figures for only the fourth time this season. The crowd of 17,202 was the largest ever for C-USA tourney title game. |
| UAB Game Summary: Jan. 5, 2002 | Score: Louisville 88, UAB 77 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (25) UAB: Morris Finley (23) |
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| As the Cards opened up conference play at Alabama-Birmingham, they not only wanted to get off on the right foot for this season, but to make some amends from last year, when UAB won at Freedom Hall two games in a row and ended the Denny Crum era. Perhaps a permanent grudge against UAB? We will see. For this game though, we did turn things around. Essentially, when the shots fall, they fall, and the system works, and everybody looks good. The team credited it to passing, but whatever the reason, the Cards hit 9-20 from three-point range, and from the foul line, where the Cards have been atrocious, U of L started off badly by making only 5-12 in the first half, but refocused to shoot 20-25 from the line in the second half. Reece Gaines led all scorers with 25 points and made 11 of 14 from the line. Luke Whitehead, making his first start since his fall in the Coppin State game, shot a perfect 7-7 from the line, finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds. |
| After UAB jumped to a 14-10 lead with some hot three-point shooting, the Cards got just as hot from the outside, and made their first major run: after a timeout at the 14-minute mark, U of L held UAB without a field goal on seven straight possessions. Carlos Hurt, who wound up with 14 points on 5-10 shooting (including two three-pointers) and led the team in assists with six, hit the first of his threes to start a 13-1 run fueled even more by Erik Brown, who hit a pair of threes and a baseline jumper during the run. Brown finished with 13 points on 5-10 shooting himself, including 3-6 from three-point range. The Cards then received some hot shooting from Alhaji Mohammed, who hit two quick threes to push U of L from a 27-19 lead to a bulge as big as 16 before the Cards led 43-30 at the half. It was UAB who came out hot from outside in the second half, hitting on four of its first five three-pointers to eventually trim the lead to 59-53 with 11:05 left. The Cards scored the next seven points in an 11-2 run to help end that threat. In the latter stages of the game, the Cards endured foul trouble to Ellis Myles and Luke Whitehead, and an ankle injury to Erik Brown, who missed the last 12 minutes of the game. But Joseph N'Sima came up big for U of L on the glass (Myles actually led the team with 10 boards) to help U of L hold on. UAB pulled to within 9 with less than two minutes remaining, but the Cards made 17-18 free throws in one stretch to seal the game. For the game, the Cards outrebounded UAB 45-34, and held a 21-7 advantage in points off the bench, fueled by Larry O'Bannon's 10 points. Brandon Bender did not travel with the team, and is serving an indefinite suspension for an undisclosed violation of team rules. |
| UAB Game Summary: Mar. 7, 2001 | Score: UAB 74, Louisville 61 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Rashad Brooks (21) UAB: LeAndrew Bass (16) |
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| It was the last game of the 2000-20001 season, the last game of Coach Denny Crum's 30-year career, U of L's second straight C-USA tourney first round loss, and U of L's fifth consecutive post-season loss. And it was ugly. For the second time in nine days, UAB knocked off the Cards by double-digits in Freedom Hall. UAB advances to play top-seed Cincinnati in the quarterfinal round. With the loss comes an end to one era, and the beginning of the other. That promise and excitement, and the need to show appreciation and gratitude to Coach Crum for all he's done for U of L, helps take off the sting of another disappointing loss. |
| One of the reasons UAB beat U of L by 17 last week was because the Cards shot 30% from the field. This time, it was no different, as the Cards shot 31.4% from the field (22 0f 70). Take into account UAB shot 55% from the field, and there's your ballgame. Even though the Cards shot only 28% in the first half, it took a three at the buzzer to give UAB it's 27-23 halftime lead. UAB built up an eight point lead at 36-28, but the Cards at least tried to make a run. The Cards scored on five straight possessions after the TV timeout at the 15:05 mark of the second half, but the Cards couldn't stop the Blazers from scoring. UAB seemed to answer each time and more, going up 47-36. The Cards pulled to within seven when they trailed 51-44, but a subsequent 7-0 UAB run put the game away. LeAndrew Bass led UAB with 16 points, while four other UAB players scored in double-figures: Will Campbell had 13, while David Walker, Eric Batchelor and P.J. Arnold all had 10. For the Cards, Rashad Brooks finished his U of L career with a career-high 21 points. He was 6-11 from the field, including 4-9 from three-point range, and was 5-5 from the line to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Marques Maybin, on the other hand, ended his career with 12 points on 5-16 shooting. Ellys Myles tried hard again, scoring six points and grabbing eight rebounds in 20 minutes of action, while Muhammed Lasege struggled: Lasege fouled out in only 13 minutes of action, during which he scored two points and had four rebounds. |
| All said, it was a strange scene in Freedom Hall. First of all, it was Crum's last game, but the Cards also sat on the visitor's bench and wore their red uniforms. Crum himself went to the wrong bench by habit. But the season, mercifully, is over. More to come on the job search, plus recruiting. Hopefully, a new chapter will bring some old results. |
| Game Preview: UAB | Date: Mar 7, 2001 |
| Site: Freedom Hall | Records: U of L: 12-18, 8-8; UAB: 16-13, 8-8 |
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| The Cardinals open up the C-USA tourney as the number 9-seed, and face the UAB Blazers in the opening round. If the Cards win, they will advance to play top-seed Cincinnati in the quarterfinals. The Cards will be playing UAB for the second time in three games: the Blazers dumped U of L for its record ninth home loss of the year in a 74-57 decision last Tuesday. Who knows if it was exhaustion from the draining triple-overtime game against Marquette a few days previous to that outing, but the Cards were dismantled pretty much from start to finish, and didn't really put up much of a fight against the Blazers. |
| The Blazers are led by 6-3 senior guard LeAndrew Bass, who topped the team in scoring with a 14.5 ppg average and assists with 4.8 apg. Other double-digit scorers for UAB include 6-5 junior guard George P.J. Arnold, who scores 13.3 ppg, and 6-7 junior forward Eric Batchelor, who scores at an 11.9 ppg clip. 6-8 junior forward Will Campbell scores 8.6 ppg and is the team's leading rebounder with 8.2 rpg. The Blazers finished the season with a 73-48 home loss to St. Louis last Saturday. |
| UAB Game Summary: Feb. 27, 2001 | Score: UAB 74, Louisville 57 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (17) UAB: LeAndrew Bass (21) |
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| So much for a run on the way to the conference tournament. Coming off an exciting and apparently quite exhausting triple-overtime win at Marquette a few days ago, the Cards put up another dud in Freedom Hall. The loss was U of L's ninth at the Hall this season, a school-record. |
| Pretty much from the get-go it was a flop for the Cards. The Blazers made four of their first six shots to grab a quick 10-6 lead. After the Cards then went three and a half minutes without scoring, UAB's lead had stretched to 19-10 with 11:40 left in the first half. LeAndrew Bass, who led all scorers with 21 points, had two baskets in a row to give UAB a 31-21 lead with 4:38 left in the first period. U of L did score six straight points to keep the game close, but the Blazers led 38-29 at the half. UAB beat the Cards in second-chance points during the first half by a 13-5 margin. For the game, UAB was outrebounded 44-39 by the Cards. |
| UAB scored the first six straight points to open the second half on two three-pointers. The Cards trailed by 11 with 11:26 left in the game, and then the floor dropped out. U of L missed 11 of its next 12 shots, went 6:19 without scoring and UAB was in cruise control to win for the first time ever in Freedom Hall. The Cards shot a woeful 30.5% from the field for the game; they also clanked 9-18 from the line. Reece Gaines led the Cards with 17 points on 7-13 shooting, but U of L simply couldn't shoot the ball. The Cards made only 4-25 three-point attempts. |
| Date: Jan. 12, 2000 | Score: UAB 56, Louisville 50 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (15) UAB: Myron Ransom (22) |
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| Just when you thought it was too good to be true lately for the University of Louisville Cardinals, it was. U of L remains winless on their opponent's home floor, losing to conference foe UAB in a low-scoring affair 56-50. The Cards have now lost at VCU, Kentucky and UAB along with their loss on a neutral floor to Xavier in the Great Alaska Shootout. This will obviously have to be remedied, since the C-USA and NCAA tournaments aren't played in Freedom Hall. |
| With the exception of point guard Reece Gaines, who scored a career-high 15 points on 4-8 field goal shooting and 6-7 free throw shooting with six rebounds to boot, it was a total team effort in the loss. Even Gaines contributed, committing four of U of L's 26 turnovers. Some other statistical blights were Nate Johnson's six points on 1-12 shooting along with five turnovers, Tony Williams' 10 points on 3-13 shooting, 1-8 from three-point range, and Dion Edward's three points along with four turnovers. About the only thing the Cards did right in the game was shoot free throws, finishing 14-17 from the line. From the field, however, they wound up 17-56 for 30.4%. |
| Louisville led by as many as nine in the first half, but was in trouble when they led by only one at the break, 27-26. The Blazers opened the second half with 7-0 run to take the lead for good. Myron Ransom, who led all scorers with 22, scored six of those seven points in the run, giving UAB a 34-27 lead with 15:21 to play. U of L missed their first nine shots from the field in the second half, scoring on only five free throws for the first eight minutes of the period. Is UAB UK or something? A free throw by Gaines cut the lead to 38-37 at the 11:14 mark, but a subsequent 13-4 Blazer run put the game away. A layup by Eric Holmes gave UAB a 51-41 edge with 4:38 to play, essentially icing the game. Said Coach Denny Crum in the Associated Press article, "I've seen seventh and eighth grade girls shoot better than that."
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| Game Preview: UAB | Date: Jan. 12, 2000 |
| Site: Birmingham, AL | Records: U of L: 10-3, 2-0; UAB: 7-5, 0-1 |
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| After a five-game homestand dating back to Dec. 23, Louisville finally takes its show on the road. Its last road game, of course, was the 30-point drubbing they suffered at the hands of Kentucky. The Cards made the most out of their homestand, winning five straight including two conference wins and two wins over Top 25 teams. And speaking of the Top 25, Louisville is ranked for the first time since a one-week stint last season, just edging into the AP poll at #25. It's the Cards' first road conference game of the season, which regardless of the opponent can always be tough. |
| UAB is 7-5 so far this season, and they are coming off their first conference game of the year, an 88-69 pounding at the hands of South Florida. UAB does have an impressive win thus far over Fresno State, but also suffered embarrassing losses against Holy Cross and a 23-point beating against Princeton. The Blazers have a balanced scoring attack, with four starters in double-figures. They are led by Eric Holmes at 12.5 a game, while Mark Kimbrough adds 11.3 ppg and Myron Ransom, who leads the team in rebounding, at 11.2 ppg. One bit of good news for the Cards: they found out that all of their players are officially academically eligible for the second semester, so the whole team will be making the trip to Birmingham. The two teams last met in last year's C-USA tournament, with U of L winning that game 77-68. |
| The battle for leading scorer for U of L now belongs to Tony Williams, who is just above Nate Johnson at 16.8 vs. Nate's 16.4 a a game. Marques Maybin is the other Card averaging in double-figures with 14.9 points a game. At 7.5 rebounds a game, Dion Edward leads the team in that category, while point guard Reece Gaines continues to strive for a balanced assist-to-turnover ratio; heading into the UAB game he has 39 assists compared to 37 turnovers though he also has 27 steals. Nate Johnson leads the team in steals with 28.
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