By Harry Barsan

The Cardinals snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a close victory against the UTEP Miners.

Louisville came into this game as nearly 15-point favorites, but the confidence of the Miners and Louisville’s performance would tell you otherwise.

Blood in the water

The Cards missed two three-pointers off the rip, but claimed their first lead with a Noah Waterman triple to make it 5-4.

Both teams traded simple buckets for much of the first half. The Cards were down by three going into the first TV timeout before a Reyne Smith three right out of the break tied it up at 17-17.

Louisville made their first big push after that with an 8-0 run, including five from Chucky Hepburn, to make it 25-18 at the second TV timeout. However, after Hepburn was given a breather, the Miners quickly crawled their way out and retook the lead.

Despite being outrebounded and shooting only two compared to Louisville’s 14 free throws, the Miners found themselves in great position going into the second half.

Louisville trailed 32-36 at halftime.

Saving face

Louisville shot a disheartening 3-of-13 from deep in the first half alone, including six-straight misses to end the half. Louisville unfortunately knew that type of shooting performance was a recipe for a loss.

Out of the gate, the Miners stuck to what was worked. A James Scott jumper was the first shot on the board, but UTEP nailed back-to-back shots. UTEP kept the Cards at bay mostly until Louisville rattled off seven-straight to tie it up at 43-43.

The game was tight as can be from then on. No team led for more than two points for roughly eight minutes until Khani Rooths capped off a steaming 9-0 run with back-to-back dunks, forcing a UTEP timeout with Louisville ahead 63-55.

The Miners sunk four-straight buckets out of the break and clawed their way back to just a one-point deficit with a little over a minute remaining.

Both teams went ice cold down the stretch, only scoring on free throws, before UTEP’s Devon Barnes nailed a jumper to make it just a 73-72 deficit for the Miners. James Scott crammed a dunk out of the break to push the lead back to three.

While a UTEP responded with a jumper, Smith nailed two clutch free throws to seal the deal.

The Miners heaved up a tying-three to no avail.

The Cards came out on top 77-74.

Lessons in a win

Terrence Edwards Jr. dropped 22 points off the bench to lead all scorers, including 8-of-10 from the free throw line.

J’Vonne Hadley recorded his third double-double of the season with a 13-point 12-rebound performance, while Scott picked up the first of his career with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Hepbrun had another solid performance, pairing his dozen points with a solid seven assists.

Despite the end result, this game was absolutely not what we expected after the strong performances in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Chucking up 32 threes and only making six of them is in no way to see success. However, the team shot very well from inside the arc, as they’ve done all year. Their 70% accuracy from two-point range this game was beyond elite.

When you don’t count the threes, the Cards have top 20 efficiency from the field. And when you do include threes, the Cards have the sixth-best shot selection in the country. The metrics say this team should be much better than they are, they just consistently fail to hit open shots.

The Cards kept UTEP far from where they wanted to be on defense. They shot much better from the field and from three than Louisville did, and if it wasn’t for the 23-more free throws the Cardinals shot, this game could have very well gone the other way.

But a win is a win, no matter how it comes, as the Cards advance to 6-4 on the year.

A white-hot Kentucky team is exactly what this team does not need to face up next, yet they take on the Wildcats in Lexington.

Photo Courtesy // Annabelle Merz, Louisville Athletics