Louisville men's basketball outlasts rival Kentucky, 73-70 • The Louisville Cardinal

By Dalton Ray–

No. 10 Louisville pulled out a tight victory over No. 6 Kentucky 73-70.

Louisville’s Quentin Snider led the way for U of L with 22 points, six rebounds and five assists. Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox had 21 points.

After trailing by one at the half, Louisville used a strong defensive effort to pull out the close win. Deng Adel pitched in 18 points and six rebounds. Jaylen Johnson and Donovan Mitchell added 27 points and 10 rebounds.

First half

Getting things started, Snider missed two open 3-pointers for U of L. The Cards got their first bucket from a corner three from Mitchell. Kentucky earned six points on the fast break three minutes into the game.

Snider brought the crowd to their feet with a deep 3-pointer to tie the game at 12. Malik Monk answered with a killer step-back jumper to give UK the lead. At the first media break, Snider had seven points but Louisville trailed 17-14.

The house started rocking after U of L ripped off an 8-0 run to give the Cards their first lead. Adel started it with a three off a screen and his transition 3-pointer forced John Calipari to call a timeout as Louisville led 22-20.

Teams struggled to find the rim over the next three minutes. They exchanged quick baskets from Louisville natives in Snider and Kentucky’s Derrick Willis. A big oop from Snider to Jaylen Johnson was followed by another three from Mitchell. Willis killed Louisville’s momentum by draining an open 3-pointer.

Fox gave Kentucky the lead back at 31-29 with a breakaway fast break. Ray Spalding tied the game at the line. With just over two minutes to play, Adel gave Louisville the lead back. On U of L’s next possession, they were called for their third charging foul.

Snider finished the half with Louisville’s final four points. His long-ranged jumper and spinning lay-up cut the Kentucky lead to one.

Halftime stats

The Cats owned a 40-39 lead after the first 20 minutes. Louisville knocked down 5-of-11 3-pointers while Kentucky went 3-for-12. The Cats might have trailed in the 3-point category, but hit 11-of-13 from the free throw line while Louisville went 6-of-7. From the field, the Cardinals hit 46 percent of their shots and Kentucky made 39 percent.

Louisville turned the ball over nine times to Kentucky’s five. Fox led all scorers with 14 while Snider had 13. Adel was the only other player in double figures with 10. Spalding led all rebounders with six.

Second half

Mitchell tied the game on Louisville’s opening possession with a free throw. Louisville’s first three defensive possessions ended with a stop but the Cards committed two fouls.

Monk’s and-1 gave Kentucky the one-point lead, but Johnson regained the Louisville lead. With 16:20 to play, Louisville led 44-43. Snider didn’t take long to push that lead to four with another 3-pointer.

Louisville forced UK to miss shots and secured the defensive rebounds, but failed to make Kentucky pay on the offensive end. Louisville pushed their lead to five but couldn’t get it more than that during the first eight minutes.

A big three from Michael Mulder tied the game at 51. Adel and Bam Adebayo traded baskets to put the game at 53. Sloppy play followed the next possessions as the defenses were setting in.

Kentucky got their lead to four before Johnson’s finish at the rim through contact. Tough defensive stops from Louisville gave them the chance to stay close. After Mitchell manned-up with Monk for the contested jumper, he finished at the other end with a lay-up.

With four minutes to play, Louisville owned a 63-61 lead. Louisville hustled for two offensive rebounds and that led to a huge dunk from Johnson to kick the lead back to four with 3:13 to play.

Snider hit a tough shot in the lane to give Louisville a five-point lead. The Cards didn’t close out the Cats due to fouling.

With 1:48 remaining, Snider got Adebayo in a one-on-one situation at the top of the key. The hometown product crossed over to his right, then back to his left. Snider’s hesitation lasted a split-second as he bolted to the rim for the easy finish, forcing Adebayo to nearly fall. The lay-in gave Louisville a 69-63 lead.

A big 3-pointer by Monk brought Kentucky within one with 10 seconds to play. Mitchell was sent to the line, with his team leading 71-70.

The true sophomore knocked down both free throws, putting Louisville up three with eight seconds to go.

Kentucky’s desperation heave failed to go in the net and the Cardinals pulled off the upset. The home crowd erupted as players celebrated on the court after the win.

Post-game comments

Rick Pitino on Kentucky: “So many teams that play Kentucky settle in jump shots. We made up our mind we were going to attack the rim so we could get back on defense. They put a lot of pressure on you and they’re a terrific team that will get better and better.”

Pitino on prepping his team for this game: “I told the guys, I don’t know how many more Louisville-Kentucky games I’ll coach. I hope I have six, seven, eight more. But you have to really enjoy it and embrace it because you won’t have this throughout college basketball. And I think they did that tonight.”

Pitino on what his team did well: “I felt that everyone was aggressive on offense. We’ve been aggressive before on defense but we really did on offense tonight. We did a great job of boxing out. During timeouts, we just kept talking about the Baylor game, how we didn’t execute. Mangok (Mathiang) was a great leader tonight.”