By Matt Adkins
PHOTO GALLERY: UofL VS. Pittsburg Highlights (Photos by Chuck Stinson | Louisville Cardinal)
The University of Louisville’s men’s basketball team played even with Big East rival Pittsburgh but fell short 61-57 in the final minutes of the game on Sunday afternoon.
Coming into Freedom Hall, the Panthers (14-0, 3-0) were one of only three teams still undefeated in the nation, while the Cards (13-3, 1-2) were looking to get their first Big East win at home.
Louisville started out sluggish until freshman forward Terrance Williams hit a three off of a kick out from junior Brandon Jenkins just less than three minutes into the game. With the crowd behind them, the Cards struck again from beyond the arc with Williams and freshman Andre McGee to make the score 9-3 early in the half.
Sophomore center David Padgett would get in on the action as he would get the lay-up to push the Cardinal lead to eight. However, the Panthers junior center Aaron Gray would answer to make it an 11-5 Cardinal lead early. After a miss by sophomore Juan Palacios, Pittsburgh’s Keith Benjamin would find Sam Young under the basket for the dunk to make the lead only 2 points.
Palacios answered back with two straight threes to push U of L ahead 17-9 midway through the first half, but the Panthers battled back and took the lead late in the first half before Jenkins converted two free throws to give the Cards a 26-25 lead at halftime. U of L’s quick start was due in part to their shooting, hitting 6 for 6 from beyond the arc and out-shooting Pitt 42.1% to 37.9% in the first.
The Cards opened the second half on a roll once again as Padgett hit a jumper and Williams hit a triple to extend the lead to six. After the tough start by Pitt, sophomore guard Ronald Ramos would hit a three, beating the shot clock to cut into the early run by the Cards. As the half continued on, the physical play by both teams escalated.
"That was a real tough, physical basketball game,” Pitino said. “This isn’t C-USA, which is a finesse league. This is a football league in a basketball league. This is a tough league.”
As time began winding down in the game, Gray would spark a Panther run with a two-handed slam as the Panthers would tie the game with less than five and a half minutes to go. After Gray responded, so did the rest of the Panthers as they took the lead and kept it that way until the Cards nipped at their heels with under two minutes left in the game. Gray helped extend the lead as he connected on one of his two foul shots to give the Panthers a 59-54 lead with a little over one minute left.
But Taquan Dean, who had limited playing time and was still limping with an injury, hit a three and cut the lead to two points with his first shot of the game. With less than 10 seconds left, Dean once again had the ball in his hands for the last shot.
With time winding down, Dean lined up for the three, but the ball just missed off the back of the rim. Despite the tough loss, Pitino felt optimistic about the way the Cards played.
"Our guys played terrific. I can’t fault them one bit, they played their asses off. They played hard, just going against more experienced teams that are stronger physically and mentally. We’re playing their tails off. We’re not executing because we’re new at certain points. But you can’t blame that. If we continue to play with this effort we’ll get better and better,” Pitino said.
As U of L battled the whole game, so did leading scorer Taquan Dean, as he couldn’t seem to overcome his injury suffered a couple of games earlier. "He’s playing on one leg. He didn’t practice all week. We’re a banged up team, a young team. Our backs are to the wall a little bit in this league. We’re just going to have to get what we can out of him. He will definitely not playing [against St. John’s]. We’ve got to get him better,” Pitino said.
Terrance Williams led the Cards with a career high 25 points and five rebounds. David Padgett was the other top scorer with nine points and seven rebounds. Levance Fields and Aaron Gray led Pitt with 13 and 10 points respectively.
U of L’s next game is on the road against St. John’s on Tuesday at 9 p.m.
