| Date: December 7, 2002 | Score: Louisville 90, South Alabama 79 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (26) South Alabama: Chris Young (24) |
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| Coming off the loss to Purdue, one would have assumed the Cards would have come out ready to play. Knowing that South Alabama was coached by former Rick Pitino player John Pelphrey, it was no surprise was strategy and style of play the Jaguars would employ. So it was only a half-surprise when South Alabama came out firing from three-point range. Their success, though, caught many off guard. South Alabama shot an unbelievable 8-15 from three-point range in the first half, riding their shooting to 40-38 halftime lead. The main culprit was Chris Young, who made 6-7 threes in the first half to score 22 of his team-high 24 points in the opening period. |
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| In the second half, though, the Cards were able to apply the defense they needed to, while opening things up from their own offensive end. By switching on more screens, the Cards were able to hold South Alabama to only 4-13 from three-point range in the second half. The Cards turned their halftime deficit into a 57-46 lead with a 19-6 run to open the second half. U of L built three different 14-point leads, but could not get up any more than that. The Jaguars pulled within seven with 13 minutes left, and within nine at the 6:19 mark, but got no closer the rest of the way. The Cards finished with 18 turnovers in the game, but outscored their opponents 36-14 in the paint and scored 31 points off of 21 South Alabama turnovers. Although he had five turnovers, Gaines led all scorers with 26 points to go along with seven assists and six rebounds. Luke Whitehead had 17 points and six rebounds for the Cards, while Larry scored 10 points in the last 12 and a half minutes in the game to finish with a career-high 16 points. O'Bannon shot 5-5 from the field, including 2-2 from three-point range, and was 4-4 from the line. Ellis Myles had nine points and 13 rebounds. Senior Erik Brown saw his first action of the season, scoring seven points in 16 minutes of action. |
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| Game Summary: South Alabama | Score: Louisville 92, South Alabama 38 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Reece Gaines (18) South Alabama: Larry Thompson (14) |
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| This game wasn't over before it began, but it was shortly thereafter. U of L forced a turnover on each of South Alabama's first nine possessions, held the Jaguars to only one field-goal attempt in the first eight minutes and stormed out to a 19-0 lead that pretty much ended the game on the spot. The 54-point win was their largest margin of victory since a 119-61 victory over Morehead State in December 1995. South Alabama's 38 points was the fourth lowest point total of any U of L opponent in the 46-year history of Freedom Hall. |
| Four different Cardinal players scored in the opening run that put U of L ahead 19-0, including five points from Reece Gaines, who led all scorers with 18. As Coach Pitino predicted, U of L was vulnerable to foul problems, but against South Alabama it didn't matter. U of L led by as many as 36 in the first half, and scored 20 points in the opening period off of South Alabama turnovers. The Cards led 47-15 at the half, and for the game had 10 players play at least 10 minutes. Erik Brown poured in 15 for U of L with his trademark runners in the lane, while Ellis Myles had 14 points and led the team with eight rebounds. Freshman Carlos Hurt finished in double figures with 13 points on 3-5 three-point shooting. On the game, U of L shot 8-20 from three-point range. |
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| Game Preview: South Alabama | Date: Dec. 16, 2000 |
| Site: Mobile, AL | Records: U of L: 2-5, South Alabama: 6-3 |
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| The Cards return to action after a week off, and oh, what a week it's been. On Friday, the Cards learned that 6-5 guard Erik Brown was made academically eligible to play; he made the flight down to Mobile and will see his first action as a Card against the Jaguars. U of L hopes he can provide another offensive threat to help relieve the pressure on Marques Maybin and Reece Gaines. Brown led all freshmen in scoring two years ago at Morehead State; the Lexington native should be able to provide more depth for the Cards, hopefully some more experience and a much needed new offensive weapon. On the Muhammed Lasege front, a court hearing lasted over nine hours of testimony yesterday. Lasege's case against the NCAA remains unresolved, but frankly, it doesn't look good for him to regain his eligibility. It's a sad case and the only one who truly loses hear is the student-athlete, a victim of the system of college athletics and unmerciful and indiscriminate policies of the NCAA. |
| Now to the game at hand. U of L has not lost to South Alabama in seven games, but that streak could be in jeopardy tonight. Although this is U of L's only road contest during the month, they have their work cut out for them. The Jaguars this season have defeated Marquette and Auburn, and had close losses at Indiana and Southern Mississippi. It's U of L's second consecutive game against a team from the Sun Belt Conference after playing Western Kentucky last week. The Jags are led by 6-10 senior center Virgil Stanescu, who leads the team with both 13.7 ppg and 6.8 rpg. Great. Just what U of L needs to see--a 6-10 center. More frontcourt woes await the Cardinals. Does anyone on U of L's schedule not have a huge big man in the middle? And, yes, we said this last week, but at 2-5, the Cards are in such desparate need of a win it's almost frightening. Just a sign to turn things around. Hopefully, a full 40-minute game should do the trick, but who knows if that's even possible with this bunch. The Cardinals are still seeking their first win of the season in the continental U.S. after their two victories in Hawaii in November.
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| Game Summary: South Alabama | Score: South Alabama 72, Louisville 65 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Marques Maybin (15) South Alabama: Ravonte Dantzler (16) |
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| Finals were over, and the Cards had Erik Brown back in the lineup. A time for a fresh start was instead wasted on maintaining the Cardinals' already stale begining of a season as they lost to South Alabama for the first time in school history. The Cards now have a five-game losing streak, one shy of the longest such streak in Coach Denny Crum's 30-year tenure as head coach at U of L. At 2-6 after another game in which U of L looked to have a hand-up only to endure a horrid stretch of not scoring that cost the game for the Cards, the milestones of losing look like they might mount over the 2000-2001 campaign. The Cardinals are bleeding and it's simply not stopping. |
| The game opened with trouble for U of L, another first half of disorientation and inefficiency. South Alabama hit two wide open three-pointers; on the other end, the Cards missed 2-4 free throws and committed four turnovers to open the contest. As they have already this season, the Cards trailed early, this time 18-10 at the 11:46 mark of the first half. But then Brown started his U of L career, and he came out firing. He pulled U of L to wihin five after hitting a three only 21 seconds into the game. He converted on an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the lead to three a few minutes later, and led the Cards with 11 points at the half, at which the Cards trailed 34-31. But like the rest of the team, he struggled in the second half, going only 1-6 from the field, and finished with 13 points. U of L led 44-42 with 12:46 left in the game when South Alabama went into a 3-2 zone. It marked the beginning of the end for U of L, as they simply could not convert from the outside and withstand the defensive pressure on the perimeter. U of L went an eight-minute stretch without scoring, missing six straight three-pointers, and the Jaguars opened up a 14-point lead to seal the victory. The Jaguars used a full-court press to cause eight turnovers during the eight-minute drought, in which the Jaguars went on a 15-0 run. The run extended South Alabama's home winning streak to 18 games. All told, U of L was 2-12 from three-point range in the second half, 4-18 for the game. |
| The Cards also committed 23 turnovers, with 14 of those coming on a South Alabama school record 14 steals. Marques Maybin led the Cards with 15 points, but struggled shooting like everybody else in going only 5-13 from the field. The senior guard also led the team in turnovers with seven. Both Maybin and Gaines were in early foul trouble for U of L, as they both missed the final ten minutes of the first half. Gaines scored all nine of his points in the second period, while Luke Whitehead finished with 10. Four Cardinal players fouled out: Whitehead, Maybin, Gaines and Hajj Turner. For South Alabama, Ravonte Dantzler led all scorers with 16 points on 4-6 shooting from three-point range. Center Virgil Stanescu also had foul trouble and limited playing time, but wound up with 14 points and nine rebounds before fouling out. South Alabama shot only 22-37 from the line, which could have made the margin even worse for the Cards. Needless to say, the woes continue unabated.
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