Rivalry renewed. Louisville basketball knocks off Cincinnati 74-64.
Pat Kelsey rolled into his hometown on Friday night, when his Louisville basketball program took on Wes Miller’s Cincinnati Bearcats. The Cards entered the game ranked sixth nationally and heavily favored, but the home town team came out with a chip on its shoulder: the Bearcats haven’t beaten a top 20 opponent since Obama was in his first term. Their defensive capabilities, combined with an abysmal first ten minutes of Cardinal shooting, gave Louisville all they could handle on their first road trip of the season.
Oh (for 8) my God!
The Bearcats jumped out to an early 9-4 lead. Louisville’s points were coming entirely from the free throw line, and the Cards couldn’t rebound to save their lives. To make matters worse, UofL committed three quick turnovers. By the time the drought finally ended, when Aly Khalifa caught a cutting Mikel Brown, Jr. for a layup, the score read 15-6. Almost eight minutes had passed without a Cardinal field goal. The usually sharp-shooting back court was 0-6 from behind the arc, and Brown, Jr. looked like a freshman for the first time since the Kansas exhibition.
Who can? Ryan Con!
Enter Ryan Conwell. The left-handed 2 guard finally connected from three, at the 10:23 mark, cutting the Bearcat lead to 17-9. It would be Conwell’s 17 point first half that kept the Cardinal boat afloat when the rest of the team simply could not score. Brown, Jr. and Kobe Rodgers finally added treys of their own, both in the eleventh minute, sparking a 9-0 Louisville run that Adrian Wooley capped off with a game-tying field goal with eight minutes remaining in the first half: after being down by as many as 11, the Cards had tied up the Bearcats at 17.
Come back…And forth
Cincinnati wouldn’t go away, though. Their frustrating defense was obviously prepared for the Cardinals. They were ready for the game-opening lob, from Brown, Jr. to Fru, that Kelsey has used at the start of most of the games this year, and knew exactly how to draw charges off of screens set by the Louisville big men at the top of the key. They even managed to confuse the stellar passing of Aly Khalifa in the early going, but Kelsey’s Cards eventually adjusted and overcame. Brown, Jr., who struggled from the field for large portions of the game, negated his streaky shooting by getting to the free throw line consistently, providing much-needed offense for the Cards when they couldn’t seem to buy a basket. Cincinnati took a 32-28 lead into the locker room at the half, though.
Starting strong second
Conwell struck first out of the break, cutting the deficit to two points and then re-tying it at 35 two minutes into the second half. Two free throws from Wooley gave the Cards the lead again, 38-37, at the 16:31 mark. Conwell then got a layup off a steal, hit a driving Fru for a 3 point play opportunity, and knocked down a jumper from just beyond the free throw line. A three from Kerr Kriisa (aptly named for NBA shooting legend Steve Kerr) cut the Cardinal lead to one, 44-43, with a little more than 12 minutes to play. Louisville would spend the rest of the game, however, slowly expanding this point differential to eventually match their greatest first half deficit of 11.
22 Point swing
Conwell hit a three with just over 11 minutes remaining, then another at 5:55, making the 22 point swing between the teams complete. A brief Bearcat run was negated by five-straight points from Brown, Jr., who then found J’Vonne Hadley on a drive and dish as the clock fell under the three minute mark. Late offensive rebounding by Ryan Conwell allowed Louisville to extend their possession and chew up over a minute of game clock, the remainder of which saw Brown, Jr. knocking down free throws.
The Cards finished on top, 74-64.
The good, the bad, and the growth
What I found so encouraging about this game was the team’s ability to get a road win in a rowdy environment against a team with top 5 defensive numbers when nothing seemed to be going their way, especially early on.
The Cards were 0-8 from the field in the first ten minutes, a cold start from which the usually-reliable Isaac McKneely never recovered. Mikel Brown, Jr. was forcing long threes and telegraphing passes for a good portion of the first half, and Louisville was unable to turn forced turnovers into points.
Yet, still, victory was attained. The fact that Mikel has the basketball IQ to switch gears and get to the free throw line when shots aren’t falling is a testament to the maturity beyond his years that he exhibits.
Ryan Conwell stepped up, carrying the Cards’ usually potent offense through its lowest scoring performance of the season with a 25-point performance. CardNation should find it quite promising the same team that buckled under similar stressors during a home exhibition against Kansas overcame the exact same problems on the road against Cincinnati.
That’s what’s so great about the team that Kelsey has put together: there’s enough talent on the court to compensate for players having poor performances. When all the cylinders are firing, however, the scoreboard has no ceiling and the sky no limit.
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