By Glypie Grider
PHOTO GALLERY: Basketball Classics Tourney
After sitting out the Tennessee-Martin game with a knee injury-and after sitting out last season due to NCAA transfer rules-sophomore center David Padgett finally made his Cardinal debut as the University of Louisville men’s basketball team defeated Prairie View A&M 90-65 Saturday night in the Colonial Classic.
Padgett scored 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, four assists and five blocks during his 27 minutes of play.
“For four years we haven’t had a dominant low-post player,” senior guard Taquan Dean said. “[Padgett’s] one of those guys. And you haven’t even seen 50 percent of him yet. He’s got a lot more to show.”
“After the first three minutes, I was like, ‘Coach, I need a break,'” Padgett said. “I’m out of shape, but that will come.”
“He’s out of shape,” agreed U of L head coach Rick Pitino. “But for the shape he’s in, he played great. He hasn’t played basketball in three weeks, but under the circumstances, he played awesome.”
Padgett didn’t put up big numbers Sunday night when the Cards (3-0 at press time) defeated Arkansas State 67-55, managing only five points and five rebounds in 25 minutes of play.
Instead, Dean stole the show against the Indians, scoring 24 points and going 6-of-11 from outside the arc.
Dean opened the game with a three-pointer, but the Cards had a slow first half, leading only 27-22 at the half.
“He basically has a green light,” said Arkansas State Head Coach Dickey Nutt. “He can score anytime. When you have a player like that, it makes it tough to defend.”
Nutt further admired Dean who was named two weeks ago among 50 of the nation’s top collegiate players chosen as preseason candidates for the Naismith Trophy. “[Dean] never opened his mouth, never said a word, never taunted, never made it clear that he was better than everybody on the floor-he just played basketball,” Nutt said.
Dean’s Sunday night performance was a striking contrast to his dismal shooting performance Saturday. Against Prairie View A&M, Dean missed 10-of-13 field goal attempts and 7-of-8 three-point tries.
The Cardinals faced the University of Richmond Spiders last night in Freedom Hall to close out the round-robin tournament. Results from the game were unavailable at press time.â?
