Sunday Cardinal Couple -- UofL vs UofK Recap

Louisville 80 Kentucky 77

-Cards get 6o points from Siva, Smith and Behanan in win.
 

Louisville's Chane Behanan blows a kiss goodbye after his late dunk sealed the deal for UofL

The final score was much closer than the game as a whole. Louisville proved they were the better team, despite the fact that UK nearly clawed back to take a late lead. Louisville's patented defensive pressure forced UK into 14 turnovers, the most important of which led to a Chane Behanan slam with 17 seconds left to seal the game. However, give credit to Ryan Harrow who stayed under control the entire game for the Wildcats and managed to avoid turning the ball over at all. 

The game got off the a fast start with both teams trading punches. Kentucky opened an early 7-4 lead behind and Archie Goodwin and-1 and Nerlens Noel put back. Louisville found a way to answer though, as a Peyton Siva jumper was followed by a Russ Smith defensive board which he took past four UK defenders for an easy lay-up. This gave Louisville an early 8-7 lead at the 15:21 mark.

Louisville continue their mini-run as Russ Smith contorted in the corner to find Wayne Blackshear for an easy dunk. However, Kentucky answered on the other end as Ryan Harrow found Kyle Wiltjer open for a three. Wiltjer drained the three, causing Rick Pitino to call a full timeout at the 13:58 mark with the score tied 10-10. 

The crowd roared as Gorgui Dieng collected an offensive board and finished with a slam dunk to put the Card up 12-10 with 13:48 left in the first half. However, the excitement was short lived as UK went on an 8-0 run capped by an Alex Poythress three pointer to put UK up 18-12.

After this juncture the first half was all UofL, a Peyton Siva lay-up was followed by a Harrell tip-in that forced Calapari to call a full timeout. That timeout was followed by a Russ Smith foul and the official TV timeout. 

Louisville quickly forced three straight UK turnovers, two of which resulted in easy baskets giving Louisville a 20-18 lead with 7:44 remaining. 

Louisville would go on to finish the half on a 16-10 run that saw them take an eight point lead into the half. Peyton Siva hit two threes during said run to really give Louisville major momentum going into halftime. 

End of 1st: Louisville 36 Kentucky 28

Louisville played the majority of the first half without Gorgui Dieng who had to sit with foul trouble. Gorgui played great in his first action since Louisville beat Missouri, but it's obvious he still has a ways to go on the defensive end to get his timing back. Chane Behanan had 11 points to lead the Cards in the first, he scored in  a number of ways and seems to be the Chane Behanan of last March again.

Louisville jumped on Kentucky early, starting the half on a 5-0 run to take a thirteen point lead 41-28 with 18:04 left in the 2nd. Louisville and Kentucky traded punches after that point as the two teams scored on their next 6 possessions. Louisville got the edge though as they took a fourteen point lead, 48-34 into the first official TV timeout of the half.

Louisville pushed their lead out further after a Peyton Siva made free throw was followed by a Russ Smith steal and score. This gave Louisville their largest lead of the game at seventeen points, 51-34. The celebration was short lived though as Kyle Wiltjer hit back-to-back threes to cut the lead back down to eleven, 51-40. This forced a Rick Pitino full timeout with 13:58 left in the 2nd. 

The two teams again traded punches, a Kyle Wiltjer three at the 10:59 mark was followed by a Peyton Siva made jumper to stretch the lead back out to 10, 57-47 with 10:44 left. 

Then the worst case scenario for Louisville happened, Peyton Siva picked up two quick fouls in the span of about 30 seconds. This forced Rick to sit Peyton who now had 4 fouls. After a Chane Behanan dunk pushed the Louisville lead to 61-49 with 9:35 left, Russ Smith picked up his fourth foul. 

Kentucky went on a 12-2 run from this point on, as a Ryan Harrow jumper at the 5:35 mark pulled UK within two points, 63-61. Louisville responded with a 10-3 run which saw them take a nine point lead with 2:20 remaining in the game. 

However, two Peyton Siva free throws were sandwiched in between Goodwin and Mays three pointers. This left the Louisville lead at five points, 75-70 with 1:44 left in the game.

The two teams went scoreless for the next minute before a Nerlens Noel turnover led to a Chane Behanan breakaway slam. This pushed the lead to seven points with only 44 seconds remaining and seemingly sealed the game. 

Archie Goodwin proceeded to drain a three with Peyton Siva providing seemingly great defense. But, Siva was whistled for his fifth foul on the made three. Goodwin made the resulting free throw and this brought the game to 77-74 with 35 seconds left. 

Russ Smith was fouled immediately and made one of two. This gave Kentucky the ball down four with 33 seconds remaining. Chane Behanan jumped the lane on an Archie Goodwin pass, he strode down the court and delivered a one-handed tomahawk that brought the crowd to its feet. A meaningless Archie Goodwin three made the final score 80-77. Louisville got their first win over a John Calapari coached Kentucky team.

-Donny Yaste

Final: Louisville 80 Kentucky 77   

Russ Smith loves waffles and scoring against the Wildcats, he has 51 points combined points in the last two regular season meetings against UK

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