Louisvile Earns Resume Win, Close Out #2/#3 ‘Cuse 66-60

The University of Louisville men’s basketball team earned an enormous road victory and put themselves back into the Big Dance conversation by downing the Syracuse Orange 66-60 at the Carrier Dome.  Just when everything seemed hopeless for the Cards coming off a thumping at St. John’s on Thursday, they rebounded and earned themselves a quality win over the #2/ #3 team in the nation.  Most bracketologist and analysts had the cards dead and buried after the St. John’s game, but tonight they are singing a different tune.  Louisville finally got that resume building win they had lacked and they did it on the road which is doubly impressive.  As of now, you have to think Louisville has put itself back into the field of 65. 

Recap

The Carrier Dome was packed with 31,053 fans in Orange, making it the largest on-campus crowd to watch a basketball game in Syracuse history and it was a big advantage for the home team early.  Louisville got off to another terrible start just like they did in Madison Square Garden Thursday night.  In that game, Louisville didn’t score a point for the first 6 1/2 minutes and today looked like it was headed in that direction as the Cards first points came on a Jared Swopshire floater 3:47 into the game.  The Cards continued to struggle shooting the ball for the first several minutes as they opened the game 1-9 from the field and fell behind by 11 with 8:02 to play in the first half.  Louisville looked lost on defense as Syracuse was moving the ball withease and getting whatever looks they wanted both inside and beyond the arc.  Pitino called a timeout, and Louisville came back looking like a different team. 

Preston Knowles and Mike Marra combined for two big three’s, sparking a 17-5 run by the Cards, including 12-3 over the final six minutes to put Louisville up a point at 28-27 with a minute left.  Syracuse got a bucket from Scoop Jardine late to put the ‘Cuse up 29-28 at the break.   Despite the slow start and Samardo Samuels being on the bench with no points because of two early fouls, the Cards battled back and were in position to pull the upset.

The second half started a lot better for the Cards.  Louisville got the ball at the start and Knowles nailed an off balance deep two as the shot clock buzzer sounded.  Syracuse then scored four straight to take a 33-30 lead when Knowles came up big again.  He knocked down another huge three to tie the game at 33.  The two teams battled back and forth, matching bucket for bucket with neither team able to pull away.  With the Cards up three with 11:30 left, the Syracuse crowd and team seemed to be dejected.  Then Andy Rautins decided to strike.  Rautins nailed a three from the top of the key to tie the game at 42 and seconds later drilled another from the right wing to bring the crowd to its feet, prompting a Rick Pitino timeout.  Louisville found themselves trailing 45-42 and the Orange had all the momentum.  It could of been the time the Cards would fold but they didn’t. 

The Cards would fall behind by four at 50-46 when the under eight media timeout hit, but that’s when a sleeping giant awoke.  Samardo Samuels had been held scoreless up to this point, but after the timeout he went to work.  He hit two free throws to close the gap to 50-48, then made a tough off balance layup on the next possession to tie the game at 50.  Marra then nailed another clutch three, capping a 7-0 run and putting Louisville up 53-50.  The Cards would never trail again. 

The ’Cuse  closed the gap to 53-52 when Samuels hit another tough off balance shot in the lane.  About a minute later, Rakeem Buckles gathered a huge offensive rebound off a Samuels miss, and stuck it back in for a 57-52 lead.  It was the first time the Cards had been up by more than one possession.  After a Mike Marra missed three pointer, Louisville recorded another offensive rebound and had it knocked out of bounds with 3:05 on the clock, prompting the under four media timeout. 

Coming out of the break, the genius of Rick Pitino came to light.  He designed one of the best inbounds plays I can ever remember him doing during his time at Louisville.  He had Edgar Sosa throwing the ball in, and started Samuels at the top of the Key.  Samuels came off a delayed screen right down an open lane and Sosa lobbed him the ball.  The pass barely eluded a leaping Arinze Onuaku and landed right in the hands of Samuels who threw down a thunderous jam on the alley-oop.  The Cards had their largest lead of the game at 59-52. 

Louisville would go scoreless over the next minute and a half, allowing Syracuse to get back within a possession at 59-56.  With a 1:41 on the clock, the Cards best free throw shooter Jared Swopshire had a chance to give the Cards a two possession lead again.  But just like the common theme has been over the last several weeks, Swopshire missed the front end of the one and one in a clutch situation. 

 However, Marra came through with the biggest two plays of the season thus far for the Cards.  He flew into the lane on the miss and corralled another offensive rebound.  This allowed Louisville to run some more clock up by three.  The Cards took full advantage as they ran the time down to 1:21 and moved the ball around.  With the shot clock at 10, Swopshire made an excellent ball fake in the lane and found a wide open Marra set up in the left corner.  Marra released and nailed the open three right in front of a fired up Louisville bench, delivering the dagger by putting the Cads up 62-56 with 1:22. 

Even though the Cards were up six, the game was not over just yet.  Kris Joseph made a pair of free throws with 1:04 to play cutting the lead to 62-58.  Syracuse then fouled Edgar Sosa with 45 seconds left, putting the point guard at the line for a one and one.  Sosa once again choked in the clutch by bricking the first shot.  The ‘Cuse rebounded the ball and  Joseph drove the lane and dunked on the ensuing possession making it a 62-60 game with 32 ticks remaining.  Buckles inbounded the ball to Sosa who was immediately trapped in the corner.  He threw it back to Buckles who then tried to pass along the base line.  The ball landed out of bounds for the 12th Louisville turnover of the game.  At this point, the common reaction was “Here we go again!”. 

With 23 seconds left, Wesley Johnson drove baseline and tried a reverse layup to tie the game, but was denied by Buckles who blocked the shot off the bottom of the back board.  The ball ended up in the arms of Jerry Smith who was immediately pulled to the ground by Joseph.  In a controversial call, the referees whistled Joseph for an intentional foul.  The Cards would have two shots and the ball.  Smith stepped to the line and knocked down both free throws, ending any hope of a Syracuse miracle.  After two missed three point attempts with 10 seconds left, Sosa scooped up a lose rebound, threw it ahead to Buckles who slammed home the exclamation point as the buzzer sounded.  Louisville had pulled off the upset, 66-60. 

Louisville was led by a balanced scoring attack as four players scored in doubled figures.  Sosa and Marra led the team with 12 points each while Swopshire and Knowles  pitched in 10 apiece.  Samuels and Buckles both contributed eight.  Samuels was also the Cards leading rebounder with six. 

Syracuse also had four players score in double figures, led by Johnson who finished with 14.  Onuaku and Rautins recorded 12 points each, while Joseph pitched in 10 off the bench.  Johnson and Joseph both tied for the team lead in rebounds with eight each. 

Why Louisville Won

This was a very impressive performance for the Cards.  After the loss at St. John’s I thought this team had given up.  I was in the boat that thought the Big Dance was out of reach, and this team was incapable of winning a big game on the road. 

This team proved me wrong by getting off the mat and coming back with a vengence.  Things started off terribly once again, with the Cards not scoring a point for the first 3 1/2 minutes, starting 1-9 from the field, and allowing Syracuse to get open looks wherever they wanted.  When they got down by 11 and 31,000+ fans were fired up, the game could of easily gotten out of reach.  But the Cards didn’t falter.  They made several adjustments and tightened things up on the defensive end.  They held the best shooting team in the nation to just 41% when they normally shoot 52.7%.  They contained Rautins and shut down the ‘Cuse leading scorer Wesley Johnson. 

Rautins finished with only 12 points on 4-8 shooting, including  just 3-7 from beyond the arc.  Johnson, who averages better than 16 points per game, was held to a dismal 5-20 from the field and was a non factor all game long.  

The Cards also didn’t allow the ’Cuse to get out in transition and give up easy buckets.  Syracuse has one of the best offensive transition games in all of basketball, but the Cards did a great job of slowing the game down and forcing the Orange into their half court sets.  Pitino felt that the Cards needed to keep the game a low scoring one and that’s exactly what happened. 

Offensively, the Cards were very patient.  Louisville did a great job of moving the ball against the tough Syracuse 2-3 zone and took several open shots.  The Cards didn’t force much and did an excellent job of taking care of the ball.  They wound up with only 12 turnovers and limited the fourth best steals team in the nation to only four steals.   After the tough shooting start, the Cards got on track. They finished the game shooting better than 42% and converted on 9-30 three’s. 

The biggest factor that led the Cards to victory could be found on the offensive glass.  Louisville did an outstanding job of crashing the boards on the offensive end and wound up with several second chance opportunities that they would cash in on.  Louisville outscored Syracuse in second chance points 22-12 and seemed to always get a clutch offensive board down the stretch.  The biggest offensive rebound came from Marra, who then hit the three on the extra possession effectively ending the hopes of the ‘Cuse. 

Key Performers

Mike Marra-  I still am not buying into this whole “Mike Marra is the best shooter I’ve ever seen” nonsense that Pitino keeps preaching, but the kid was huge in this game.  He had his role increased due to a back injury to Reginald Delk and foul trouble by Knowles.  Marra made the most of his opportunity by hitting big shots and coming up with a huge offensive rebound.  He didn’t exactly shoot lights out, going 4-12 from the field (all three’s), but he didn’t get rattled.  He was very confident and kept shooting, knowing his shots would eventually fall.  Playing in front of 31,000 fans as a Freshman is not easy and this kid stepped up to the challenge.  His play was without question the biggest reason the Cards pulled this one out.  He had four rebounds, an assist, and a block to go along with his 12 points. 

Rakeem Buckles-Buckles saw the most playing time that he has seen in recent weeks and was a big factor.  He finished with eight points on 3-4 shooting and knocked down his only two free throws of the game.  He always seemed to come up with a big play whenever the Cards needed one.  Whether it is the offensive rebound and put back late in the game to put the Cards up five or the blocked shot when Syracuse tried to tie the game in the last 30 seconds, Buckles was active on both ends and gave Louisville some crucial play off the bench. 

Samardo Samuels-Samuels had a tough match up today going against two physical big men in Onuaku and Rick Jackson.  Samuels spent most of the first half on the bench in foul trouble and was non existent for most of the second half.  But down the stretch when the Cards needed him, Samuels answered the call.  He scored all eight of his points in a four minute stretch late in the second half with the game within one possession.  He also finished the game as the Cards leading rebounder with six and dished out four assists. 

 What’s Next

The Cards can celebrate this major victory for one night, but they must realize there is a lot of work left to do in order to get to the Big Dance.  They may of played their way back into the tourney as of now, but it will all be for nothing unless they take care of business down the stretch.  This stretch run starts Wednesday night when the Notre Dame fighting Irish invade Freedom Hall for a 7:00 game.  Notre Dame is another team on the bubble with the Cards that is fighting for one of those last tournament spots.  It’s another must win for the Cards as they look to avenge the 30 point beat down they received in South Bend last season.