By Derek DeBurger

Maybe it was luck. Maybe it was because Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow.

Whatever the reason, Louisville men’s basketball ended their proverbial Groundhog’s Day Saturday, snapping a six-game losing streak against the Florida State Seminoles.

Head coach Kenny Payne stated that he liked how the Cards scored the ball during last Tuesday’s game against Clemson when there were no guards available, and made the unorthodox choice of starting no point guards in the lineup Saturday. Louisville’s sloppiness may have been somewhat self-inflicted; only one shot was made by either team in the first two minutes. With Skyy Clark and Hercy Miller still unavailable, coach Payne was forced to bring Ty-Laur Johnson off the bench quickly.

Almost instantly, Johnson’s presence was felt. He kickstarted the Cards’ offense with an assist and a layup in transition. His speed manipulated the slower defenders of FSU, negating their major height advantage and allowing him to orchestrate the offense to near perfection. Even following a scoring drought of almost four minutes, Louisville maintained their composure by running their offense through Johnson.

In the final three minutes of the first half, Louisville was able to bludgeon FSU in the paint. The Cards went on a 14-5 run to end the half, with 10 of those points coming at the free throw line and another two off a layup right at the rim.

Louisville led at the half 47-35.

It had been quite a while since the team was in a position to hold off a second-half push, so the Cards took their punches and responded with their own. Whenever FSU would go on a mini-run to cut the lead down, Louisville would push it right back to where it was. Whenever Jalen Warley and the Seminoles began face-guarding Johnson, he and the rest of the team would not stop fighting to get him the ball. Even as fouls started piling up — Louisville lost Kaleb Glenn and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield to foul-outs — whoever the five players on the court were at any given moment stayed calm and collected.

As the game clock drew closer and closer to zeros and it became more apparent that FSU couldn’t cut into the lead, the game became a foul-fest down the stretch. The Cards have been in this situation very few times under coach Payne, and it showed. Although Louisville made many mistakes down the stretch, both forced and unforced, Florida State could not capitalize.

Louisville would win 101-92.

Everything that can and should be said about Saturday’s game starts and ends with Ty-Laur Johnson. Johnson finished the game with career highs in points (27), assists (11), and rebounds (six), and career-tying marks in steals (two) and blocks (one). Johnson became the first player in Louisville’s history to have 25-plus points and 10-plus assists in a game, and became the first player for Louisville since Francisco Garcia to have a 15-10-5 game.

Huntley-Hatfield also had an amazing game, scoring a career-high 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting, as he and Johnson ran the two-man game flawlessly. Curtis Williams and Mike James also put up big numbers, scoring 19 and 18 points, respectively. Tre White may not have scored much but contributed in a major way with seven rebounds, two steals, and one of the two assists that didn’t come from Johnson.

This was a nice win that hopefully kicks off a fun final two months of the season. Louisville advances to 7-15 on the season and 2-9 in the ACC.

Photo Courtesy // Adam Creech, Louisville Athletics