There is simply no way to make sense of what transpired at the Yum! Sunday afternoon.
An eventual 90-84 Louisville escape.
Against New Mexico State, Ken Pomeroy 250th best team in the land playing without its star, the Louisville Cardinals did not make a field goal in its first nine attempts, until JJ Traynor finally put in a follow with 12:48 left in the 1st.
It cut the Cards disadvantage to 5-9.
U of L never led before intermission, behind several times by 10, but cut the deficit to a deuce at the break.
Louisville took a lead for the first time scoring first after the break.
The Aggies immediately answered.
Cards again went ahead. Another immediate answer by State.
It happened twice again, where U of L only led until the end of the next NMS possession.
The visitors kept U of L measured the rest of way. Most of it anyway.
With 1:18 to play, after a shot clock Aggie layup, the Cards were down 8, 65-73.
In my notes, I jotted, “Worst home loss of my lifetime?” Would have been.
Nine seconds later, Skyy Clark netted two FTs. (He was 15/16 at the line.)
After a stop, Traynor hit a J, on a Skyy feed. +1. Disadvantage 3 at :56.
After a stop, out of a timeout, Tre White swished a straightaway triple at :21 to knot it at 73.
Thanks to a couple of missed FTs by the visitors at :01, the Cards got off life support.
Oooooooooooooooooooooovertime!.
During which U of L was 15/19 at the charity stripe, eventually fouling out six State players. The Aggies were 2/4. (U of L was +27 for the game.)
Louisville never trailed in extras.
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Louisville did not play well. Coach Kenny Payne acknowledged that.
They allowed the mediocre at very very best visitors to hit 58% of their shots.
They hit only 4 of 20 treys.
Louisville (3-3) won in spite of those glaring shortcomings. (Among others.)
Next, Bellarmine, in the defining game so far of Kenny Payne’s underwhelming stint in the Cards first chair.
Significant improvement in all areas is imperative for the Cardinals to prevail.
* * * * *
U of L did set a new season mark: Most Games Wherein A Cardinal Changed Jerseys. 2. Skyy Clark joined JJ Traynor, who did it a few tilts back.
* * * * *
Cranky Old Man Rant:
Bruce and Allison — I believe those are their names — are those jacked past 11 loud hucksters with shrill, grating voices, who scream at fans during breaks while doing their Tic Tok dances, wondering who wants a t-shirt.
In an era of cultural incivility, these two may be the greatest threat to the human condition since the Black Plague.
I ran into my pal Sportsbee in the hallway at halftime, and he queried, “Who’d have thought we’d ever long for the days of Joey?”
— c d kaplan
I listened to some of the post game call in show. Some people, somehow, are still defending KP and his ability to be a head coach. He is now what, 7-31 and has wins over 3 of the worst teams in college basketball this year. If he wins 12 games this year I will be shocked. We started jacking up 3’s with 6 minutes +/- to go—and we hit zero of them—instead of (FINALLY!) taking it to the hoop to foul out half of New Mexico. But for a friendly whistle or two late we would be 6-32 under KP. Love the kids; love the team; love KP—but let’s be realistic here….it ain’t going to work…
Agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Joyner.
Too many points in the paint allowed, poor perimeter defense and poor offensive spacing. Other than this, they played hard-even to the point of keeping themselves in the game. It’s once again going to be a long lonely winter.
It’s over ! I hope and pray that Josh is working on his list as we speak.