By Donnie Niehuas
One of the hot topics in Louisville sports over the winter break has been the inconsistent play of the men’s basketball team.
Entering the week of Dec. 13, the Cards were ranked 14th in the nation and showed tremendous promise with their 74-70 road victory over Florida.
But the Cards dropped the ball less than a week later as they gave up a 16-point margin to Kentucky and failed to put the Cats away in the second half. For the first 20 minutes of the Dec. 18 contest, the Cards ran all over the Cats. Although Louisville had no player taller than 6’8”, they dominated the Cats in the middle, outscoring them 18-6 and out-rebounding them 22-13 at the half. The second half saw the Cards struggling to make baskets. Louisville went four straight minutes without a bucket.
Behind the tremendous play of junior Patrick Sparks, the Cats clawed their way back before a dramatic win on three of Sparks’ free throws. Sparks finished the game with 25 points and was the only glimpse of offense for either team in an ugly 60-58 loss for the Cards.
Although heartbroken after losing to their interstate rival, the Cards rebounded with a big victory over IUPUI in the Billy Minardi Classic on Dec. 21. Despite the absence of seniors Ellis Myles and Otis George, the Cards rolled in an 80-60 victory. Freshman sensation Juan Palacios led the Cards by putting up career highs in scoring (25) and rebounding (10).
The next day, the Cards captured the Billy Minardi Title in a Austin Peay 77-49 thrashing. Taquan Dean was rewarded for his play in the tournament by collecting MVP honors.
The Cards’ next game pitted them against Morehead State. The crowd witnessed an outstanding effort in Garcia’s career-high 29 points and the Cards’ most lopsided victory in the history of men’s basketball: 104-40.
Although the Cards’ offensive effort was outstanding, their 30 forced turnovers were more impressive.
The Cards continued their tour of Kentucky by hosting Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 30. Similar to the Kentucky game, the Cards jumped out to an early lead only to experience a second-half letdown.
Coach Rick Pitino was not enthused by his team’s effort. “We did not know how to play with a lead,” he said. “You’ve got to give credit to Eastern Kentucky for hanging in there.” After leading 48-25 at the half, the Cards opened the second frame by being outscored 17-4. Louisville eventually got back to their game and finished off the Colonels 78-63.
Garcia surpassed the 1,000-point mark with his 23-point effort. Garcia was later voted C-USA and ESPN.com national player of the week for averaging 27.0 points, 4.7 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 steals.
Louisville opened the new year with an easy 98-64 win over Tennessee State in Freedom Hall.
The Cards began C-USA play on Jan. 5 at Houston. Despite the excellent effort of Palacios (20 points), the Cards had no answer to Andre Owens who led all scorers with 29 points, including the game-winning basket.
Trailing through most of the second half, the Cards cut the lead to one on a Palacios three. Garcia hit a 15-foot jumper with 34 seconds remaining for the 67-65 Louisville lead, but Owens hit a three. Garcia was then called for a charge on the other end. Lanny Smith’s two free throws with 10 seconds gave Houston its final points.
In their second conference game of the season on Jan. 8. Palacios scored 23 points and Garcia added 21. The No. 17 Cardinals pulled out an 86-61 victory over TCU.
Although the Cards went 6-2 during the break, the team obviously hasn’t fully meshed yet. The recent outstanding play of young Palacios is sure to have fans talking.
