Sophomore Kuric Sensational on Senior Day; Cards Down #1 Syracuse 78-68

Recap

On a day with so many storylines, the last thing 20,000 Louisville fans expected was to see a quiet sophomore from Evansville, Indiana to steal the show, but that’s just what Kyle Kuric did. Rick Pitino has tried, sometimes pleaded, to get Kuric to come out of his shell and become more aggressive offensively. In the final Louisville game at Freedom Hall, Kuric firmly launched himself into Louisville basketball lore.

With his 22 points, including 4-6 from the three-point line and three dunks, Kuric propelled the Cards to a win over #1 Syracuse in as emotionally charged environment in all of college basketball. Oh, and it was also Senior Day and Louisville needed a win to essentially lock themselves into the NCAA Tournament.

The Cards were down 35-30 at halftime and their chances did not look great as Jerry Smith injured his thumb, thus leaving him unavailable for the second half. With thirteen minutes to play, the Cards took the lead at 43-42 and would not relenquish it.

Senior Edgar Sosa played a solid final home game with 9 points and 10 assists. Jerry Smith was on his way towards a great game before his injury, but finished with 8 points and 4 rebounds. Reginald Delk added 5 points and unfortunately, fourth senior Chris Brickley did not enter the game.

Samardo Samuels failed to score in the first half, but tallied 12 points and 9 rebounds. Jared Swopshire had a very good game with 10 points and 8 rebounds.

My Take

This was the loudest I have ever heard Freedom Hall. When Kyle Kuric threw down the alley-oop from Edgar Sosa, the Hall was literally shaking. Today was more than a game, it was an event.

I walked into Freedom Hall about forty minutes prior to tip-off and it was already about 85-90% full. Less than five minutes later, pretty much every seat was filled. On the big screens, they were showing highlights from the 1980 and 1986 NCAA Title games which no doubt got the crowd excited.

Twenty minutes before tip, the Senior Day festivities began. Regardless of how successful a class is, Senior Day is always special. Edgar Sosa, Jerry Smith, Reginald Delk, and Chris Brickley have sacrificed a lot for the Louisville program and for them to be rewarded with a win in the final home game at Freedom Hall was great to see.

For me, the highlight of the day was seeing two of my favorite players to ever play at Louisville return to Freedom Hall: DeJuan Shontez Wheat and “Never Nervous” Pervis Ellison. During the second television timeout, Wheat was introduced to the crowd to a roaring response and Pervis was honored along with the 1986 National Championship squad.

I have so many thoughts about the game, but I don’t want to spend all night writing, so I’ll just do some quick hits:

-Slick Rick’s red jacket was great, if for no other reason than it was a nice homage to Denny Crum
-It was truly a shame for Jerry Smith to get injured, he was on his way towards a huge game. Hopefully, he can     come back because he deserves to end his UofL career on the court and not on the bench.
-I was hoping Milt Wagner could make it, but his commitments as an assistant at UTEP prohibited him from attending
-Darrell Griffith was dressed in a spectacular red and black ensemble, which prompted Denny Crum to remark, “I wish I could afford to dress like Griff”
-Extremely classy gesture by Slick Rick after the game. He had Denny Crum say the final good-bye to Freedom Hall because, as Rick said, Denny was the one who built Freedom Hall into the place it became.
-Rushing the court after the game was extremely close to small-time. Ultimately, I give them a pass because it was the final game at Freedom Hall, but still very close. We’re Louisville, not Virginia Tech or Oklahoma State, we don’t rush the court.

Big Picture

It will be awfully tough for Louisville to not make the NCAA Tournament now. They reached 20 wins, including 11 in the Big East, and have two wins over the the top ranked team in the country. Keep in mind, Joe Lunardi still had Louisville in the Tournament after their loss to Marquette, so I’m quite certain their win today would put the Cards into “lock” status.

The Cards also have the 6th seed in the Big East Tournament. They will play on Wednesday evening and face the winner of Cincinnati vs Rutgers. We’ll have more on that this week, but until then, a truly great day in Louisville history as the Cards leave Freedom Hall the right way, with a win.