Louisville just wore out the Irish in the 2nd half and Ben Hansborough had the worst game of the year for the Irish. Even so it went to OT with Louisville winning. That constant defensive pressure on us in the 2nd halt was key, we were so smooth in the 1st half but so not so smooth in the 2nd half. All the credit goes to an excellent Louisville team that is exceedingly well coached. Should be a great BET Champ game tomorrow night.
Wow, that is a number of comebacks by teams trailing by double digits. Tough loss by the Irish, good win for Louisville.
Very disappointing loss for the Irish. Game was won at the foul line where Louisville was almost perfect coming down the stretch and Hansbrough threw up a double brick late. Also the achillies heal, the defensive boards resulted in 2 critical tip ins late in the game for the Cards. Irish had the ball in final 20 sec. and did nothing more than throw up a three that missed the mark. A TO with a set play trying to get the ball inside might have worked better but Irish burned their last TO with a minute and a half to play.
Gipper, I caught the tail end of the game and OT. Louisville traditionally is not a good foul shooting team. Last night they were in almost perfect form. Big difference maker along with their defense in the second half.
Don I thought Patino did a great job getting his team to play pressure defense in the second half. ND seemed enamored with their big halftime lead and was really lethargic in the second half. Cards had 19 offensive rebounds. They really took it to us.
Gip I agree Pitino's pressure defense took us out of our comfort zone. Plus the 'Villes athletic guards started to heat up and a number of spectacular drives to the basket interspersed with some great jump shooting. Pitino had the luxury as well as having his stating guards either foul out or get into foul trouble and having a deep enough bench not to miss a beat.
Gip, I agree with all your points. It looked like we were mentally ambushed by Louisville's defensive tenacity and offensive rebounding in the 2nd half.
Outstanding game tonight in the BET Championship. Both teams played very well, Louisville made their run in the 2nd half but UConn just wouldn't cave. Depending on how things are seeded, both these teams are Sweet 16 material. Only Kansas and Texas could have competed in the Big East this year out of the Big 12 and Only Purdue, OSU and maybe Wisc could have competed in the Big East from the Big 10.
I am still surprised UConn waded through that quality of team to win the tournament. They could be a driving force in the NCAA tournament.