Cardinals escape from Jaguars’ claws

By Charlie Leffler

Cardinals escape from Jaguars’ claws

By Charlie Leffler

Sports Editor

When South Alabama came into Freedom Hall last season, they were tagged with an embarrassing 92-38 loss. This year, the Jaguars came to Louisville with a new head coach and a new attitude.

South Alabama head coach John Pelphrey learned to play college ball at Kentucky under current U of L head coach Rick Pitino, learned to coach under current Florida head coach Billy Donovan, and was back in his home state for the first time as a head coach. All three were factors that inspired his team.

“Our three main things going into the game were attack, show a little toughness in extended periods of time, and have fun,” said Pelphrey. “We did the first two and, I think, some had some fun.”

However, after trailing 40-38 at the half, Louisville’s defensive intensity was too much for the Jaguars, and the Cardinals pulled out a hard-fought 90-79 win.

It looked like Louisville was going to run away with the game early, as the Cards suddenly seemed to find their three-point shooting touch. Coming into the game, Louisville was 9 of 36 from deep for 25%. Reece Gaines found an open Luke Whitehead under the basket to put the Cards up 2-0; then it was three consecutive triple-shots by U of L, two by Gaines and one by Erik Brown, that put Louisville ahead 11-3 at the 15:58 mark of the first half, causing Pelphrey to call a timeout.

Coming out of the break, the Jaguars appeared to be settled and ready to play, and the game turned into “The Young and the Restless”; South Alabama’s Chris Young went on an unbelievable tear, causing Louisville fans to become restless. Following the timeout, USA outscored U of L 16-4 over the next 4:32 to pull out to a 19-15 lead. Young fed Marques Ivy for an inside jumper, then followed that with back-to-back threes and an assist to Henry Williams on another three. Louisville’s Bryant Northern fouled Demetrice Williams on a three-point shot attempt, and he converted all three free throws to create a Jaguar lead.

Nearly two minutes passed before either team scored again. After seeming to hit every shot against Purdue, Whitehead missed back-to-back-to-back inside jumpers. It was a short jumper by Northern that finally ended the bleeding with 9:41 left in the half. A Gaines feed to Otis George then tied the game at 19.

Following a timeout at the 7:47 mark, South Alabama led 23-21; however, Taquan Dean nailed a three, Ellis Myles took a charge from Young, and Larry O’Bannon hit a three to push Louisville ahead 29-23.

But then it was Young-time again. Young hit back-to-back threes, the second coming from far behind the line, to pull USA within one at 30-29 with 4:43 in the half.

Louisville then worked the ball inside and got to the foul line four out of the next five trips down the floor. Unfortunately, they went 4-8 on those free throws.

Young then added two free throws, a three-pointer, a jumper, and an assist to his totals before the break to push South Alabama ahead 40-38 at the intermission. Young finished the half with 22 points, going 6-7 from three-point range.

Despite trailing at halftime, the Cardinals said they were not alarmed. “We just got to focus on, are we giving 100%, are we doing what we’ve got to do,” said Gaines. “We weren’t doing that. Once we started doing that, I knew we would take the lead eventually.”

“With the three-point line where it is today, you can have inferior talent at every position and win because of that,” said Pitino. “We flat out did not do a good job with Young.”

“We knew he was a good shooter,” said Gaines. “He was making some shots from deep, with guys in his face. He hit some big-time shots.”

“Out intensity was good; it was more their excellence,” said Pitino. “It wasn’t our lack of intensity. We were fired up to play tonight. I’ll get on our team when they deserve it, but it was their [South Alabama’s] excellence.”

While Pitino’s words to the press may have been calm, his halftime speech to his players was more emotional. “I don’t think I can say it on camera,” Brown laughed following the game. “It wasn’t too good. He [Young] just hit some tough shots.”

Coming out in the second half, Louisville turned up the pressure on defense, and the Cardinal leaders took control. 17 seconds into the half, Myles found Gaines open under the basket to tie the game. A shot by Whitehead and a three by Gaines pulled U of L ahead 45-43.

USA’s Williams drove into the lane looking to retie the score, but he was met by a resounding block by Myles, who then fed the ball down court to Gaines for the slam. A Whitehead jumper and a three by O’Bannon pushed U of L ahead 54-46 with 15:56 in the game.

After going 1-7 from the floor in the first half, Whitehead put together a string of scores. Luke followed a pair of free throws with an assist to Brown for a score. Then, after having missed so many open looks at the basket in the first half, Whitehead tried something new. On a sharp pass from Myles, Whithead went up backwards to score on a flip shot and was fouled to give Louisville a 62-51 lead. From that point on, the Jaguars hung tough but could not cut into the Cardinal lead. U of L closed out the game with six consecutive points by O’Bannon to win 90-79.

In the second half, Louisville’s defense tightened the clamps on Young, only allowing him a single uncontested layup with 1.6 seconds left in the game.

Pitino was concerned with Louisville’s mishandling of the ball in the game. “We had ten turnovers on the break,” he said, “on our fast break. That’s a lot. You have to advance the ball and release it. The big thing that pressing teams do is back-tip. We do a pretty good job of that; they do a great job. We held on to it too long.”

“In the second half, we had a feeling Louisville was going to come out and pop us in the mouth a little bit,” said Pelphrey, “and certainly they did. But overall, I was pleased with the way the guys played.”

“I knew John Pelphrey, in time, would be a terrific coach,” said Pitino. “He is a really, really terrific young coach. He knew there was only one way he could win tonight, and he was prepared to win. He didn’t come in here for any moral victories. He didn’t come in here to come close, and I can’t tell you how proud I am of John, because he did a wonderful job and he’s got a great career ahead of him.”

When asked how he felt about the good things Pitino said about him, Pelphrey joked, “Well, it’s different. He used to say a lot of bad things about me all the time. But if coach didn’t say a word, I knew the way he felt about me. He’s special.”

Erik Brown finally made it onto the floor after spending the first two games of the season on the bench. “I did feel a little rusty,” said Brown, “but it felt real good. The crowd gave me a nice little ovation when I came in. I just wanted to contribute. There’s still a lot of work to be done.” Brown finished with 3-6 from the floor for seven points, one assist, one turnover and one steal in 16 minutes.

Brown, a Lexington native, said it was special playing against the former UK player. “It’s an honor,” said Brown. “Anytime you see or play against a Kentucky legend, it feels great, because you always remember them from growing up.”

Gaines’ 26 points and seven assists led Louisville. Whitehead finished with 17, and O’Bannon scored 16. Myles pulled down 13 rebounds, and Northern dished out four assists. As a team, the Cardinals finished with 21 assists and 18 turnovers. South Alabama had 15 assists and 21 turnovers.