By Harry Barsan and Derek DeBurger

Louisville came up short against hated in-state rival the No. 5 Kentucky Wildcats in a tightly contested match for 40 minutes.

Against the odds

The Cards came into the game very thin, with eight scholarship players available, and only seven who receive consequential minutes.

While a Chucky Hepburn three-pointer gave the Cards the lead early on, the Wildcats just could not miss. Kentucky made four-straight buckets, including back-to-back threes, putting the Cards down 5-14 and forcing Pat Kelsey to call a timeout.

Even though Kentucky held the momentum for much of the first half, Louisville was determined to stay in the game. The Louisville offense kept attacking, and the defense started honing in behind the arc.

While a James Scott Dunk cut the deficit to five points, the Cards focused too much on the perimeter as the Wildcats hammered the paint. Kentucky ballooned their lead to 12 points, the biggest of the game for either side.

Soon after, the Cards went on a 9-2 run including a three-minute drought by the Kentucky offense. All of the Cards points came from behind the arc, and all from different players.

The lead was cut down to five points, and more or less stayed that way through the end of the first.

With just over a minute left and the shot clock running down, Hepburn was forced into a deep three but nailed it to cut the lead to just four. Hepburn collected 12 points the half, including 3-of-6 from three.

Louisville had a number of opportunities to cut into the lead even more, but J’Vonne Hadley missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Terrence Edwards Jr. blew an open layup right at the rim.

After failing to tie the game up, Lamont Butler drove right down the middle for a layup before the buzzer.

Louisville trailed at the half 40-46.

While the game was close at the half, the Cards were giving up 69.6% from the field and 71.4% from deep. What kept Louisville in the game despite the defensive woes was the turnover margin and rebounding. The Cards forced six turnovers while only giving it up once, and when the had five offensive rebounds to Kentucky’s one.

The Cats shot it better but the Cards gave themselves more opportunities, which kept them not only in the game but competitive.

Not enough horses

The Cards came out of the half strong with a lob from Hepburn to Scott. While the Cats responded with a three, Reyne Smith replied with one of his own to make it 45-49.

After a back-and-forth, Scott picked his fourth foul of the game forcing him to hit the bench. Kentucky then pushed the lead to 10 points, the largest of the half.

Louisville then went on another 9-2 run to cut the lead back down to three points.

Unfortunately, as Edwards Jr. picked up his fourth foul and with a very tight bench, Scott was forced into the game, who very quickly picked up the fifth of his own. He was disqualified from the game, and Louisville’s already short bench grew even shorter with just six players who would enter the rotation.

Kentucky again pushed the lead back up to 10 on a number of occasions, this time on turnovers and fast breaks off a couple of lazy passes.

With their backs against the wall, the Cards looked unflustered. They were still able to claw back into the game largely thanks to Edwards Jr. and Smith who each nailed two key three’s a piece.

Later on, during a loose ball, Kentucky’s Brandon Garrison fouled Smith. Things got a bit chippy as Garrison was pushed into Louisville’s bench after standing over Smith and a bit of a mosh pit broke out including everyone on the court, the Louisville bench and even Mark Pope.

After a replay review, the referees determined there was nothing to assess after the common foul by Garrison.

With only a few minutes remaining and a potentially momentum shifting skirmish right in mind, Hepburn sank two free throws to bring the lead down to five.

In spite of multiple possessions and some good looks, the Cards would never draw any closer for the rest of the game.As garbage time ensued, the  hack-a-Cat method did not bare any fruit for the Cards.

Louisville would lose 85-93.

Should’a, could’a, would’a

Louisville was outmanned and out matched in this edition of the Battle for the Bluegrass, but it’s not all bad. The fact that the Cards had an actual chance to win the game late in year one of the Kelsey-era with the mounting number of injuries they have shows a glimmer of good things to come.

However, a loss is a loss.

The Cardinals’ keys to success in this game was to disrupt and discomfort the Wildcat offense, not allowing anything from deep. If anything, the Cats looked more comfortable than ever as they just took what the defense gave them.

Somehow the most dangerous player in Kentucky’s offense was Butler, who scored 33 points on 100% shooting from the field. Butler hit 6-of-6 threes after only hitting 7-of-24 going into the game. Butler played his heart out in a performance that is not replicable.

However, Hepburn had a night of his own scoring a team-high 26 points. Hepburn and Butler combined for 59 points, the most ever by leading scorers in the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry.

Edwards Jr. continued his scorched Earth approach to offense, scoring 23 points off the bench for his third-straight 20-point game.

The Cards kept the rock tight, turning it over a mere seven times this game. Ironically, Louisville’s six turnovers in the second half may have cost them the game, but it’s hard to ask a team to only commit two turnovers for a whole 40 minutes.

Louisville falls to 6-5 with conference play fast approaching.

Photo Courtesy // Caleb Bowlin, UK Athletics