Louisville has a front-row seat to all the action.
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By Spencer Laws
In a night that saw many top seeds going down, the Cards dominated the Texas Longhorns on their home floor from buzzer to buzzer pulling what is considered to be upset.
Louisville women’s basketball punched their ticket into the next round of the NCAA Tournament Monday, beating the Longhorns 73-51. The team will face off with eighth-seeded Ole Miss this Friday, in Seattle in the Sweet Sixteen.
This match-up comes as somewhat of a surprise; top-seeded Stanford fell to Ole Miss in dramatic fashion on Sunday, 54-49.
On Monday, the Cards finished the first quarter all tied up at 16 with the Longhorns. The other three perfectly displayed what makes the team such a force.
Hailey Van Lith led the way for the squad, leading all scorers with 21 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists while playing the whole 40 minutes of the game. Morgan Jones added 10 points off the bench, shooting 5 of 5 from the floor in 16 minutes of playing time.
After that, the team saw six players add 5 or more points, looking like the team we thought it could be at the beginning of the season.
Head Coach Jeff Walz and company again seem to get the train rolling at the right time and have everyone hitting on all cylinders.
On Monday it seemed as if the Cards simply just wanted it more. They were jumping on loose balls and out-hustling the Longhorns during the entirety of the match.
Hailey Van Lith and Texas Guard Sonya Morris ended the game with some fireworks.
Van Lith was going through post-game ceremonies when Morris exchanged some thoughts. Van Lith had no part in the drama and just walked off.
“I respect the Texas players. I don’t really want to speak on what happened at the end because I don’t want it to dim down the fact that we played really, really well. I have all the respect in the world for Texas, no hard feelings,” she said in her post-game presser.
This is Jeff Walz and the program’s sixth straight Sweet Sixteen appearance. Walz was questioned about the accomplishment after the game. He answered the question with some laughter, first stating that it is all due to the coaching staff. He corrected himself, saying it’s all due to his players, their ability to buy into the program, and the process.
Throughout the entire game, you could see the visible emotion and reactions from Walz to the way his team was performing.
The Cardinals take on the Rebels Friday, March 24th, at 10 P.M. on ESPN.
Photo Courtesy// GoCards.com //
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When it was announced that Louisville would be honoring the 2012-13 team during halftime of the matchup against Clemson (19-8, 11-5 ACC), it gave fans something to be excited about.
In a season of more downs than ups, celebrating history was just what the city and fans needed to turn the corner.
From tipoff, it was evident Louisville (4-23, 2-14 ACC) was playing with grit and passion, which has been relatively scarce this season. In their previous matchup on January 11th, the Cards lost 70-83.
They showcased some of that in their nail-biter loss to #7 Virginia (21-4, 13-3 ACC) on Wednesday, losing just by 3. Likewise, the Tigers matched their intensity — after a 3-game slide, they are one of the many teams on the bubble to hear their name called on Selection Sunday (which is rapidly approaching).
Senior guard El Ellis recorded 14 of his 28 points in the first half, nearly matching Clemson’s PJ Hall, who had 13 of his 28 in the first half, too.
A large reason the Yum! Center saw its highest attendance rate of the season was due to the fact the University of Louisville would be honoring the 2012-13 team — a group that shifted the outlook of Louisville basketball forever.
Louisville legend Peyton Siva gave a heartfelt message to Card Nation looking back on his time as a player and reflecting on what the team accomplished that historic season. Members of the historic team were greeted with applause from a crowd loud enough to be heard all the way over in Ann Arbor.
While not all members of the team were present during the celebration, Siva made sure that those absent were acknowledged. Current Philadelphia 76rs player Montrezl Harrell, Stephan Van Treese, and 2013 NCAA Final Four MVP Luke Hancock were some of the other notable members in attendance.
After leading by three at the break, the Cardinals continued their first-half success from the field and found themselves leading by as much as 14.
Shooting an impressive 51% from the field, the Tigers simply couldn’t come up with an answer despite Hall’s 28-point performance. Louisville held Clemson to 4-24 from the arc.
Junior JJ Traynor posted two earth-shattering dunks en route to a career-best 16 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks; he was the Cards’ second-highest scorer.
Ellis capped off his dominant performance with a late 360 dunk that sealed the deal and put the Cardinals ahead by ten. Shooting an impressive 26-28 from the line (the third-best performance in program history on at least 25 attempts), Louisville made sure to stop any attempt at a late comeback push from the Tigers.
The Cardinals are tasked with playing three of their final four games on the road, their next being a matchup against the Duke Blue Devils on ESPN. Their final game at home will be on February, 28th against Virginia Tech.
Image Courtesy// GoCards.com//
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The 2013 men’s basketball National Championship team is set to be honored Saturday, February, 18th against Clemson (18-7, 10-4 ACC) at 7 P.M. at the KFC Yum! Center.
It has been 10 years since the magic historical run ended with the Cards knocking off the Michigan Wolverines in Atlanta.
The tournament was capped off with then senior Luke Hancock being named the NCAA Most Out Standing Player; he etched his name in history with fellow Cardinals Darrell Griffith (1980) and Pervis Ellison (1986).
Many members from the 2013 team will be attending, including Mike Baffour, Logan Baumann, Wayne Blackshear, Jordan Bond, Gorgui Dieng, Luke Hancock, Montrezl Harrell, Tim Henderson, Mike Marra, Zach Price, Peyton Siva, Stephan Van Treese, and Kevin Ware.
Players Chane Behanan, Mangok Mathiang, and Russ Smith are the only players that are confirmed not to make an appearance Saturday night.
Many fans remember the 2013 run coining the “Win it for Ware” phrase. Sophomore Guard Kevin Ware endured a gruesome compound leg fracture in the first half of the Elite Eight game against Duke.
Ware is famously remembered for repeating the phrase, “I’m fine, just win the game” repeatedly after being tended too.
In addition to the players being celebrated, Athletic Director Josh Heird has worked diligently to raise a banner that does not violate the NCAA’s restrictions since the title was vacated in 2018 — a banner reading “2013 Final Coaches Poll #1” will be raised in the KFC Yum! Center Saturday night.
In addition to the celebration, fans can purchase upper-level tickets for just $13 to attend the game and help celebrate this team, which can be clicked here.
File Photo // GoCards.com //
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By Matthew Mueller
The men’s basketball team took on Florida State (8-17, 6-8 ACC) on February 4th at home. The contest finished in gut-wrenching fashion, for a fanbase that was high off their latest 68-58 win against Georgia Tech (9-15, 2-12 ACC).
During the encounter with FSU, Louisville (3-21, 1-12 ACC) took the floor and had some rough patches at the start of the first. It felt like the defense wasn’t even there, allowing Florida State to put up 45 points in the first half alone.
FSU’s Cameron Corhen played a big part in that scoring, shooting 58% from the field with 16 points. Matthew Cleveland added to that by crashing the board with 10 rebounds.
It felt like the team wasn’t even working together, and were all just out of sync with one another. Yet, the team had only a nine-point deficit at the halfway point.
The second half started out much like the rest of the game. However, the team finally showed some fight.
The Cards eventually came back from a 20-point deficit, but in the end, the team wasn’t able to close the three-point gap in the final half and lost 78 – 81. This team looked much better, however, despite the loss, the bench was more active and was a vital part of the game and wanted to compete.
El Ellis again led the team in scoring, dropping a game-high 22 points along with seven assists. Freshman Kamari Lands was another bright spot, coming off the bench to add along 15 points on 6-10 shooting.
The issue with this team all season has been the ability to fight back after going down 8 to 10 points. We normally see the team give up all effort and allow the opposing team to push that lead even farther ahead.
This game was a different story. The team worked hard to get back and eventually had a shot to win all the way down to the final buzzer.
This should hopefully be something we expect out of the team head Coach Kenny Payne produces for next year’s season.
File Photo // Matthew Mueller, The Louisville Cardinal //
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