By Charlie Leffler
Cincinnati- The Louisville Cardinals felt that this was a magical season. Not only did they have a new coach, but a new attitude as well. For the first time in four years they had won a post-season game. Throughout the year there were wins that had the hints of magic running strong. A miraculous comeback against Tennessee, a powerful victory over No. 4 Cincinnati and an incredible overtime win over Charlotte. But on Thursday afternoon the Cards could not complete the spell that would keep the magic flowing as Marquette (25-5) defeated U of L (18-12) 84-76 in the second round of the C-USA tournament.
As has happened each time Louisville faced the Golden Eagles the Cards found themselves in a huge deficit. And even though they fought hard to close the gap they could not quite get over the hump.
“We gave them everything we had,” said Louisville head coach Rick Pitino. “It just wasn’t enough and that’s a tribute to Marquette.”
After a great offensive performance against TCU on Wednesday, the Cards may have managed to focus the Golden Eagles attention upon them today. “They had so many open shots yesterday that I think our players probably understood any look like that they’re fully capable of making those plays,” said Marquette head coach Tom Crean. “It was probably very good for us to watch them have the success that they had.”
The Cards jumped out to a 2-0 lead 15 seconds into the game on a short jumper by freshman Larrry O’Bannon, but it was the last time Louisville would lead all afternoon. Marquette began the game with five straight misses and did not hit a shot until nearly two minutes into the game, still they found that the basket merely tied the score at two.
The Golden Eagles then went on a 17-4 run over the next 5:27 to pull out to a 19-6 lead. As the Cards continued to miss shots the lead grew and with 7:38 left in the half Marquette had pulled ahead by 18 at 33-17.
Louisville managed to narrow the margin to 42-30 at the break, but had to do without the services of forward/center Ellis Myles for much of the half. Myles had picked up his third foul at the 11: 18 mark and was forced to sit the remainder of the period. The Cards closed out the half hitting a mere 9.1% from three-point range on 1-11 shooting.
In the second half, without the presence of Myles the Cardinals went to Luke Whitehead who responded with a powerful performance. Whitehead nine of Louisville’s first 13 points to trim the Golden Eagle lead to 49-45 by the 13:16 mark. But Marquette’s Cordell Henry seemed to have an answer for every run.
“Their point guard (Henry) has probably given us more problems than any other player this season,” said Pitino.
Yet, after having found some offensive spark with their inside game the Cards were hampered when Myles picked up his fourth foul at the 13:16 mark and Whitehead was called for his fourth thirty seconds later. Over the next three minutes the Golden Eagles when on a 9-2 run to pull out to a nine point lead.
“For us, if you lose Ellis, he’s really your only low post player on the team,” said Pitino. “He’s hurt Marquette cause he forces them to double team and he finds open people.”
But the Cards were not through yet. With 7:15 to go Louisville’s Alhaji Mohammed drilled a three pointer to cut the lead to 64-58. A three by Gaines along with a jumper and dunk from Whitehead narrowed the margin to four with 5:02 left in the game.
“We just focused in on what the coaches were telling us,” said Gaines, “the press would bring us back. A faster pace and throwing things inside I knew we’d get back in the game.”
“We pressed and did what we were supposed to do,” said Whitehead, “our hats are off to them, they’re just a great team.”
Despite the run, a jumper by Henry and dunk by Wade pushed the margin back to six with four and a half minutes to go and as the clock ticked away the Cards were forced to foul and could cut the margin no closer.
“We played a lot of minutes with guys with four fouls and were still able to hang in there,” said Pitino. “Marquette was just the better team.”
Gaines led the Cards in scoring with 29 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Whitehead added 25 points and fiver rebounds. Marquette was led by Henry who had 24 points two turnovers and two assists in 39 minutes of play.
With the loss the Cards will most likely not receive an at large bid for the NCAA tournament but should be a lock for the NIT. “We’ve got to just keep working and doing what our coaches are telling us to do,” said Whitehead. “We’ve got a lot of young players and we’ve still got some game to play in the post season. We’re going to still try to win a tournament.”
Associate Athletic Director in charge of ticketing, Brad Barber, said that if Louisville is invited to the NIT tickets will go on sale Monday morning.
