Cards Win Again, Beat Bearcats 72-63; Rolf’s Recapsulation

By: Miller | February 21st, 2009 | Category: Cards

Louisville kept pace in the Big East race by putting away a tough Cincinnati team 72-63. The Cardinals and Bearcats are longstanding rivals, but in recent years the rivalry seemed to lose some of its luster as the two teams entered the Big East conference. However today’s game reminded everyone the intensity of this series. With their win today, Louisville improved its record to 52-39 all time against Cincinnati. There were three stories to today’s game and story one was the play of Terrence Williams.

T-Will cramming it in the 2nd half

It sounds like the same story every game, but T-Will yet again put the team on his back and refused to allow them to falter. Playing all forty minutes, he finished with a game high 20 points and did his typical stat stuffing with 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. If this man is not unanimous first team All-Big East, then something is seriously wrong. Another huge factor in this contest was the relentless pressure Louisville put on the Bearcats’ star player, Deonta Vaughn.

Andre McGee hounding Deonta Vaughn

Louisville held Vaughn to only 9 points, well below his season scoring average. While the Cardinals pressure did not force Cincinnati to turn the ball over, only 11 turnovers for the Bearcats, the Cards did manage to speed up Cincinnati enough to get them playing faster than they would like. And the third story of today’s contest was rebounding.

Louisville completely dominated the Bearcats on the glass, finishing the game with a 38-27 advantage on the boards. Whenever you play Cincinnati, you know you must play tough inside, particularly on the glass, to win the game. The Cardinals did just that. Louisville displayed a toughness that sometimes appears to be lacking. Earl Clark led the Cards with 9 rebounds, T-Will added 8, Terrence Jennings added 5 off the bench, and Samardo Samuels and Jerry Smith added 3 each. All those contributions added up to a solid road win for the Cardinals.

T-Will celebrating the Cards win

The Good – Preston Knowles. T-Will gets this honor all the time, so we here at the Pinkie are finally going to recognize the continued excellent play of Clark County’s own PK-2. All this guy does is bust his arse every play and make big plays. He finished with 11 points in only 15 minutes of action, going 4-4 from the floor. However, his final shot was a dagger as he buried a three pointer inside of three minutes to play to extend the Louisville lead to thirteen.

PK-2 is well on his way to becoming one of the most beloved Louisvile players in the program's history

The Bad - Free throw shooting. Ok, I guess I’ll have to say it again, THEY’RE FREE!!!! NO ONE CAN GUARD YOU!!!! MAKE THE DAMN SHOT!!! Louisville finished 10-17 from the free throw line, it must improve to at least the 70% area in order for the Cardinals to make a deep run.

The Ari Wolfe – Not a great deal to choose from here. So I guess I’ll have to go with my girlfriend reading TIME magazine, then falling asleep during the final five minutes of the game. It made me so mad, but not nearly as mad as this poor guy: