Welcome to the return of University of Louisville to the upper echelons of the college basketball world. The reemergence was on full display in Louisville’s 96-88 win over the University of Kentucky. A marvelous exhibition of a surging “reviville” in a packed house of 22,586 roundball fanatics at the KFC Yum! Center.
One would think that only in the dreams of a diehard fan could UofL rise from the embers to where it is today, a team that must be respected, and feared, among the game’s elite. Louisville is back, ladies and gentlemen, strong, proud, ready to compete for national honors again.
Coach Pat Kelsey has made anything possible after only 38 games during his tenure. Assembling a team with all the required elements, strength, speed, shooters, with a collective desire to win and a love for one another. All the elements needed for a team to make another storybook finish possible in the minds of the Louisville faithful.
“It was a big-time college atmosphere, two really good teams competing at a very high level, it was just genuine competition,” said Kelsey in the post-game press conference. “There wasn’t any extracurricular stuff, it was just good old-fashioned loose balls, hard screens and dudes playing their butts off.
“It’s a great rivalry, it’s one of the greatest rivalries in all of collegiate sports and this was another edition of that. The (KFC) Yum! Center was rocking, I think it was a huge factor in the game… I just know one thing, it was rocking. We got off to a good start which got the crowd in the game and there were a couple of Yum roars that I’ll remember for a long, long time.”
The Wildcats were on their heels most of the night, in shock, falling behind by 18 points in the first half before closing the gap. But they would fall behind by 20 points in the second half, dangerously close to getting blown out. But basketball is a game of spurts and UK would make things interesting late in the game. By then, however, they were expending all of their energies trying to keep the final score respectable. UofL was not going to be denied, the game a lock despite missing seven straight free throws in the closing minutes.
Only six UofL turnovers in 40 minutes? The Observer can’t remember that ever happening.
Freshman Mikel Brown powered the Cardinals with a career-high 29 points and added five assists on the night in 33 minutes played. He had 20 points in the first half, the first time a Louisville freshman has done so since 2007.
Ryan Conwell followed with 24 points, connecting on four 3-pointers and going 8-for-12 at the stripe. Sananda Fru delivered seven rebounds, and three assists, while Isaac McKneeley and J’Vonne Hadley added nine apiece. Hadley led the team in rebounding with eight, along with three assists, two steals and a block.
Maybe one of the best games in the rivalry since it was renewed in the Dream Game in Knoxville in 1983, which Louisville won 80-68. UofL scored the first 14 points in overtime to put that one away. This most recent win ranks way up there among the sweetest wins ever over UK.
Dream Game, Knoxville, March 26, 1983. We were there, you and I, Charlie, thrilling in that Hollywood-type ending. The Cards trouncing The Cats. 80-68, in overtime. One of the happiest road games we took following our Cards. And this morning, that elation, that exhilaration has returned! Thanks to a bunch of players that I am still trying to link jersey numbers, hairstyles, and names. The Cats were just plain ol’ outplayed. Go Cards!
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