By Glypie Grider
ST. LOUIS — Senior Ellis Myles has nothing to be ashamed of after his final performance as a Louisville Cardinal: He crashed the glass, made the points, and scrapped for the loose balls. But his 17 points and 37 minutes on the floor weren’t enough to carry the Cards to the championship game of the NCAA Tournament. Louisville fell to the top-ranked Illinois Illini 72-57 in the semifinal national round.
“Illinois was a better basketball team than us,” U of L head coach Rick Pitino admitted. Illinois was the only top-ranked seed in the Final Four held in St. Louis in the Edward Jones Dome.
Myles carried the Cardinals with 17 points, seven rebounds, three blocks, two assists, and two steals against the Illini.
“I thought Ellis played brilliantly,” Pitino said.
But the power forward’s efforts paled in comparison to the Illinis’ Roger Powell and Luther Head.
Powell and Head both had the game-high 20 points, but Powell made 18 of his in the second half.
“Roger Powell, he just caught fire in the second half. That was really the difference in the game,” Myles said. The Cards were neck-and-neck with the Illini, only down 31-28 at halftime, but once Powell went on a scoring rampage in the second half, he widened the Illini lead. In a span of 4:36, Powell scored 12 of 14 points, including nine in a row.
Powell’s efforts sparked Head who only had six points in the first half.
“I think when [Powell] caught fire, Luther Head caught fire. He stepped to the outside in the second half and made big shots,” Myles said. Head made six 3-pointers in the game. The Illini outshot the Cardinals 12-6 from the arc.
Overall, Louisville shot 39 percent from the field. Illinois, in contrast, shot 48 percent.
“We liked our shots—we got open ones. We just couldn’t put them in,” junior guard Taquan Dean said.
Francisco Garcia, Louisville’s leading guard who averaged 21 points in the NCAA tournament before the Illini game, was disappointed with his contribution in the Final Four. He only made four points and dished out two assists.
“I was frustrated,” he said of his 2-of-10 shooting percentage in the national semifinals. “I couldn’t make easy shots. I gave it everything I had. I’m sorry it had to turn out this way.”
Garcia admitted the clear background on the baskets might have been the reason most of Louisville’s baskets didn’t drop.
“The clear backboard made it tough on us. It made it look a lot closer than it was. We kept hitting it short,” Garcia said.
The background wasn’t an issue for the Illini, however, as they connected on 15-of-24 in the second half for 63 percent field goal shooting.
The Cardinals effectively limited Deron Williams, the third leg of the Illinois guards, to 5 points, and shut down Dee Brown and James Augustine. But, as senior Cardinal Larry O’Bannon said, “[Illinois’] overall talent isn’t what kills you, it’s their teamwork. When other players don’t step up, other players do.” Powell and Head proved it.
The Cards used their 2-3 zone defense to counteract Illinois’ outside shooting, but after Louisville trailed by 11 in the second half, Pitino abandoned the plan.
“It was going our way in the first half with the zone because they were shooting just 37 percent and we weren’t turning it over. But it’s not a game of statistics,” Pitino said.
It’s a game of heart, talent, and occasional luck—and that’s what Myles brought to the table.
When it was over, Myles sat on the floor under Illinois’ basket. He kept shaking his head, dejected, but he was one of the main reasons the Cards stayed in the game as long as they did.
In the first half, Myles drove around Nick Smith and Augustine for the easy baskets. In the second half, he ended Louisville’s five-minute drought and stopped Illinois’ 11-0 run. But at that point, the margin was too big for the Cardinals to overcome.?Troy Fortwegler, a lifelong fan and U of L student who attended every game this season, said he could tell the Cardinals were dragging late in the game. “You could tell they were tired there at the end. They went cold and their legs got tired, and they just started getting sloppy with the ball.”
Louisville dropped to 33-5 on the season, while No. 1 Illinois improved to 37-1. And although U of L’s hope to be in Monday night’s championship game was cut short, Dean said, “Everyone should know who Louisville is now.”
