By Noah Allison
The faithful fans of Louisville basketball can go ahead and shave their beards, the winning streak is no more.
Louisville fell to Memphis 72-66 March 1 to end their seven-game win streak.
The Cards fell to the Memphis Tigers earlier in the season at home and were hoping to have revenge on the conference rivals of old, in their house. The Tigers started the game losing six to zero. The Cardinals, who had averaged fewer than 10 turnovers a game, uncharacteristically committed 14, including three in their first four possessions.
Early in the game senior guard Russ Smith carried the Cards, either scoring or assisting on six of the Cards’ seven first field goals. But throughout the game it was sophomore power forward Montrezl Harrell that proved the most consistent. He led the Cardinals in scoring with 25 points and rebounding with 12.
Louisville had a 65-57 lead with 4:46 remaining on the clock. The Cardinals totally halted all momentum as Memphis ended the game on a 15-1 run.
The Cardinals were out-hustled and out-performed when they went into Memphis on Saturday. They were able to display brief moments of the seven-game win streak team, but in the end let the Memphis Tigers go on an 11-0 scoring streak to take the lead. The Tigers sealed the deal in their regular-season conference sweep of the Louisville Cardinals with the victory.
Smith scored 19 points, but 15 were in the first half. Luke Hancock was the only other true contributor, scoring a quiet 11 points throughout the game. The rest of the Cardinal team scored a combined 11 points.
Although the Cardinals were able to have fun during their seven-game win streak it remains evident that this team has major flaws. Unless they are able to show up and play a nearly-perfect game, night in and night out, they will leave Louisville fans wondering what this season could have been.
