| Date: Jan. 7, 2004 | Score: Louisville 76, S. Mississippi 42 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Nate Daniels (15) Southern Mississippi: Charles Gaines (12) |
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| Within the first four minutes of U of L's C-USA opening win, the lead changed hands seven times. Southern Miss made four of its first eight shots to take an early 10-9 lead. A Golden Eagle three-pointer at the 10:31 mark pulled USM to within 17-13, but U of L responded with four straight three-pointers. With 7:31 left in the first half, USM scored to pull within 29-19. Few knew that would be the last ray of hope for the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss didn't score for the next 12:52 of game action, a span that included 15 straight missed shots and 15 turnovers. U of L, meanwhile, scored 22 points during that stretch to win their tenth in a row and to send USM to their 17th straight road loss. Southern Miss committed turnovers on eight of its final 16 first half possessions. U of L held a 39-19 halftime lead, then scored the first 12 points of the second half. |
Nate Daniels led all scorers with 15 points, going 6-11 from the field, including 3-6 from three-point range. Taquan Dean was the only other Cardinal player in double-figures, as he scored 11 points on 4-8 shooting and was also 3-6 from behind the arc. Still, a total of 11 U of L players scored at least three points, including Francisco Garcia, who had nine points, four assists and five blocked shots. For the game, the Cards outrebounded Southern Miss 40-38, though the Cards gave up 15 offensive rebounds. Otis George led the Cards on the glass with 10 rebounds (which matched a career-high) and also scored six points. The Golden Eagles shot only 29% from the field and committed 22 turnovers that led to 27 Cardinal points. U of L has forced four its past five opponents into 20 or more turnovers, and has held each of its opponents this year under 45% shooting.  |
| Date: Jan. 29, 2003 | Score: Louisville 94, S. Mississippi 65 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Erik Brown (22) Southern Mississippi: Charles Gaines (15) |
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| In knocking off Southern Miss 94-65 Wednesday night, U of L extended its winning streak to 14 games -- its longest winning streak since the 1988-89 season -- and also handed Southern Miss its worst ever C-USA home loss. Down by eight late in the first half, the Golden Eagles trimmed their deficit to three at 38-35 with 51 seconds left to halftime. Then came one of the key stretches of the entire game. Erik Brown, who led all scorers with a career-high 22 points by shooting a perfect 8-8 from the field, including 5-5 from three-point range, hit one of those threes with 27.2 seconds left. A putback by Marvin Stone, who finished with 16 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, pushed the lead back to eight, as the Cards went into the break with a 43-35 lead. |
| U of L used a 15-5 run to open the second period that blew the game open. Southern Miss rebounded with two quick field goals, but the Cards then scored 10 in a row -- including two field goals by Luke Whitehead and two three-pointers from Francisco Garcia -- that pushed U of L's lead to 71-44. Garcia finished with 10 points, as U of L outscored the Golden Eagles 44-26 in the paint. Still, Southern Miss became the first C-USA team to shoot better than 40% against U of L (41.4%) and also put five players in double-figures, including Charles Gaines, who had 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Jasper Johnson, who had 12 points. Southern Miss also became the first team this year to have its bench outscore U of L's, 33-23. Still, the Cards played 14 players, 10 of whom scored. The Cards shot 52.7% from the field for the game, and in the second half, U of L hit nine of its first 14 shots and 7-13 from three-point range. Reece Gaines, now excelling at the point guard position, scored 16 points and had a career-high 11 assists. |
| Game Summary: S. Mississippi | Score: S. Mississippi 69, Louisville 60 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Marques Maybin (17) Southern Mississippi: Vandarel Jones (17) |
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| Not to wax to literary about a college basketball game, but for the U of L Cardinals against Southern Miss, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Literally. The first half was everything Cardinal basketball can be and should be. The second half was everything Cardinal basketball is and continues to be. From the get-go, the Cards came out on fire. Marques Maybin, who led the Cards with 17 points, scored U of L's first eight to help the Cards to a five-point lead, then passed the torch to Reece Gaines, who scored the Cards next eight to give U of L a 16-13 lead. Two baskets from Luke Whitehead and two straight three-pointers from Rashad Brooks later and U of L found itself up 28-18. U of L led by eight at the half, 36-28. It was the first time Southern Miss trailed at the half at home this season. U of L's defense, rotating from a man-to-man and match-up zone, kept Southern Miss off-balance as the Golden Eagles shot only 36% from the field in the first half and shot only 2-9 from three-point range. Meanwhile, the Cards shot 4-8 from three-point range and shot 58% from the field in the opening period. |
| After intermission, however, it was lights out for the Cardinals. U of L did score two quick baskets to open the period, but then Southern Miss held the Cards without a field goal for the next 7:26. That propelled Southern Miss to a 16-1 run and a 50-41 lead and pretty much sealed up the game. The Cards pulled only as close as five the rest of the way. A huge difference in the game was rebounding. After each team had 14 rebounds at halftime, Southern Miss wound up winning the battle of the boards 39-23. U of L made only 7-22 shots in the second half, while Southern Miss took even more advantage of its inside play by going to center Vandarel Jones, who finished with a team-high 17 points on 7-10 shooting plus 12 rebounds. In scoring, David Wall came off the bench for USM to finish with 15 points, while Reece Gaines had 14 for the Cards before suffering from back spasms. Brooks and Whitehead each finished with 10 points.
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| Game Summary: S. Mississippi | Score: Louisville 69, S. Mississippi 67 |
| Leading Scorers: U of L: Marques Maybin (16) Southern Mississippi: David Wall (31) |
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| After two tough games in four days against team with records of 10-1 and 11-2, a third game two days later against a 10-2 was bound to be tough for a drained Cardinal team. Especially against a team that has defeated U of L each of the last two years. But the bench provided a necessary lift, highlighted by nine points from Rashad Brooks, and Reece Gaines and Marques Maybin hooked for the game-winning basket with only five seconds left to give the Cards a 69-67 victory and a perfect 2-0 C-USA record. |
| Southern Miss, who was holding opponents to less than 60 points a game, kept up its defensive pressure to limit the Cards to 14 points under its league-leading 83 points a game. As the game started, it looked like U of L would be lucky to score that many. Louisville missed 10 of its first 11 shots, but trailed only 8-6 with 12:22 left in the first half. The Cards then went on their strongest streak of the game, hitting on 12 of its next 16 shots to take its biggest lead of the game at 38-24 with 2:28 left in the first half. A 9-3 Southern Miss run, including a three-pointer at the buzzer, left the Cards with a 41-33 halftime lead. |
| Louisville was in control for the majority of the second period, and held a 10-point lead with 8:56 left. But with the Cards leading 61-53, USM's David Wall, who led all scorers with 31 points on 6-10 three-point shooting, scored seven straight points to pull Southern Miss within one with 4:06 left. But Marques Maybin, who had eight points at that point after scoring only two against Utah last Thursday, scored the next and final eight points for U of L. It started with an eight-foot jump shot, then continued with a dunk off an alley-oop from Tony Williams giving U of L a 67-61 lead with 1:56 left. But Southern Miss refused to die, scoring the next six points and tying the game with 34.8 seconds left on a three-pointer from Mel Cauthen. The Cards took a timeout with 26 seconds left, and Coach Denny Crum called a play for Reece Gaines, who finished with a tie for his season-high with 12 points, to drive the lane then dish to either Williams or Maybin. He found Maybin alone on the right baseline, and Maybin broke the tie with a lay-in with only five seconds left. USM's Earl Flowers then drove the length of the court, but was unable to get a shot off, sending U of L to its fifth straight win. |
| U of L shot only 43% for the game, but forced 21 Southern Miss turnovers that led to 24 Cardinal points. U of L also shot a scorching 18-22 from the free throw line. Although Southern Miss outrebounded U of L 35-28, the Cards' bench was the difference in the game, outscoring the USM bench 22-12. U of L also got 11 points from Tony Williams, while Flowers of Southern Miss finished with 10. After the game, Maybin required six stitches in his lip.The Cards will have a day off before preparing for Wednesday's conference game at UAB.
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