Southern Indiana Times » Sports

Cards fall to Villanova 92-84

Publisher — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:36:39 +0000

In a contest that many described as the longest basketball game they had been to in a long time, the Louisville Cardinals lost to 4th ranked Villanova 92-84 after building a first half lead of 17 points. Coach Rick Pitino was pleased with the teams defensive play in the first half, but said that they were outsmarted in the second half especially at the junior and senior levels.

Samardo Samuals led the Cards with 21 points, while the story of the evening was the number of fouls called and the exceptional play of Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds who stayed for his senior year. After a lackluster performance in the first half, Reynolds cam alive near the end of the game, scoring all of Villanova’s final 16 points, shooting 5 for 5 from 3 point country and dominating the foul line.

The “white out” at Freedom Hall was the first one that has not resulted in a victory over a Top 10 opponent.

Cards face a tough test in Villanova tonight

Editor — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:20:58 +0000

The University of Louisville men’s basketball team has been doing better lately. They defeated St. John’s on Saturday keeping their Big East record spotless. Samardo Samuels seems to be progressing nicely and especially in the 2nd half of the St. Johns game, Edgar Sosa is (finally) paying some big dividends in the shooting department.

The Cards are arguably coalescing as a team and things appear to be coming together. That said, Villanova is going to be a tough test. There are no “gimmes” in the Big East. And the 14-1 Wildcats are ready for the Cards after a narrow victory at Marquette.

The game at Freedom Hall tonight (7pm) will tell us a lot about the coming few weeks. Are the Cards ready for the big time? Have they developed enough to take on the Big East in the manner that they did last year despite not having the services and athletic presence of T Will? We will see.