The equivalent of just a summer exhibition game in the second installment of The Basketball Tournament. But it was a performance that fans of University of Louisville basketball will treasure, with their first love breezing to an easy 82-62 romp over their counterparts from Kentucky.
What the UK alumni, or La Familia, will remember is the sight of Montrezl Harrell in their faces all night long, a wide awake nightmare for University of Kentucky fans. A monster of a game for UofL’s all-time favorite monster. Time and time again Harrell having his way despite being the total focus of the UK defense.
Harrell jumping on the press table at one point to add a memorable exclamation point to the thrashing. He knows what the UofL-UK rivalry means in Kentucky, any time these fans and teams interact. There is no substitute for a win in the rivalry, no reluctance to celebrate in a run away victory. Not a love fest, a mutual aid society, the total opposite.
La Familia had no answers for The Montrezl. He would lead all scorers with 35 points, hitting an incredible 14 or 16 shots, most of them heavily contested with people in his face or on his back. He would also have eight rebounds, tops in that category.
The Ville controlled the game in nearly every statistical category, outrebounding La Familia 43-30 while doubling Kentucky in points in the paint, 40-20. Louisville also held a 20-7 advantage in bench scoring and converted 15 second-chance points.
David Johnson and Alex Matthews each scored 14 points for The Ville, while Malik Williams contributed seven rebounds as Louisville shot 50% (31-62) from the floor.
Andrew Harrison led La Familia with 19 points, while Chris Coffey added 14 points and six rebounds. Kentucky struggled to find its offensive rhythm, shooting just 33.9 percent from the field.
Harrell and Company now head back to Lexington for a winner-take-all Game 3 on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Memorial Coliseum.
One more win would be most welcome.
