Asked before tipoff if there was some sort of staff connection with Montana that influenced the scheduling of such an outlier, SID Dana Brown advised, “No, they just met the criteria we were looking for.”

So on the afternoon of the last shopping Saturday before Feliz Navidad in front of reasonably robust crowd including a lot of excited kids, the Cards faced off against the 6-6 Grizzlies. A squad with a close L at Texas A&M, and Ws over the UNLV Pastners, Ottawa (Arizona) and a foe neither you nor I had ever heard of — Salish Kootenai.

Last time out, the Grizz fell to NAIA Montana Tech. At home.

Despite the hardwood absence of Mikel Brown (back injury which predates his time at U of L) and Kobe Rodgers (concussion protocol one supposes), the Cards, once they found some rhythm, dropped 24 assists on 34 FGs, and cruised.

94-54.

Even with the absence of a true point guard, Pat Kelsey ran the usual uptempo pass and cut offense. Though there were some truly odd improbable lineups on the court at times.

None quite as much of a headscratcher as the absurd five on the court late right before walk on time.

Isaac McNeely. Kasean Pryor. Sananda Fru. Khani Rooths. And Vangelis Zougris.

During which acid flashback sequence, Kelsey actually called an inbounds play for our resident brawler from Greece.

It was that kind of day at the Yum!.

One of the commercials swirling on that board around the arena read, “Drink Cornbread.” With her voice shrill enough to cut diamonds, Allison Cook bellowed out the timeout adverts solo. One of the Ladybirds was adorned in an Ugly Christmas sweater with Bob Ross’s caricature  on the front. And TV color guy Emeka Okafor was wearing black low top Chucks.

 * * * * *

Against the shorter Grizzlies, Fru hit his first nine shots — all but one point blank — missed his last two but lead scorers with 18. And rebounders with 8.

He also crafted the singular play of the game for the last deuce of the opening stanza.

Khalifa’s alley oop was tossed over and behind Fru’s head. But he reached up and back with one hand and slammed it through. Agile.

 * * * * *

For the first sixteen minutes, the Cardinals never got untracked. Missing point guards will do that.

Then their defense and relentless attacks finally started to wear down the visitors.

Consecutive McNeely tallies including a fastbreak triple pushed the Cars up 30-20 at the last media timeout.

That was followed by another McThreely, a couple Khalifa charity tosses, and a Ryan Conwell fastbreak deuce +1.

Big Sky never got closer than 19 after intermission.

The final fortyburger resulted from a Cole Sherman second chance trey and a Will Hanke deuce.

 * * * * *

The “criteria” which brought us Montana must have been: Scrimmage before the ten day break after that four game gauntlet.

The Griz weren’t very ferocious.

On a day when the Cardinal women dismantled Tennessee in Brooklyn, NY, Brooklyn Hicks scored only 2 for the losers here. Leading scorer Money Williams was anything but. Four points. 0/6 from the field.

Louisville dominated on the glass. +23.

Louisville dominated in the paint. +24.

Louisville dominated.

 * * * * *

The Cardinals shooting was lame early on.

Under 50% from the field. In the 20% range from afar.

It finally steadied and improved in the 2d. Finishing at 34/65. 12/34. 14/19 at the line.

Uptick featured four consecutive long balls midway through. Two in a row by Conwell, followed by one from Rooths and another by Khalifa.

Etc, etc, etc.

 * * * * *

Of course my notes contain matters which are of concern should they continue.

But ya know, Festivus isn’t until Tuesday.

So, in the spirit of the holidays, I’ll remind that “Dinah Shore-A lights the Menorah.”

And leave you with the poignant holiday poetry of Mojo Nixon: