Sunday, December 16, 2001
Louisville 66, Ohio State 61
Cardinals' 'D' steps up vs. Buckeyes
The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE — Louisville had no trouble scoring points in its first five home games, averaging 84 points in five victories.
On Saturday, the Cardinals were forced to win with their defense, and despite Reece Gaines' foul trouble, Luke Whitehead's injury and poor shooting from the free throw and 3-point lines, they did.
Ellis Myles scored 17 points and Gaines, who scored 12, went 5-for-6 from the foul line in the final 39 seconds as Louisville beat Ohio State 66-61.
The Buckeyes led the Big Ten in field goal and 3-point percentage coming in, but went 1-for-7 on 3s (14 percent), 22-of-33 from the foul line (67 percent) and 19-of-49 from the floor (39 percent).
“It was a game of winning in the trenches, winning it on defense,” said Louisville coach Rick Pitino. “In a night when our offense wasn't good, we still were able to overcome all of that with great defense.”
The Cardinals (6-1) shot even worse than Ohio State, going 22-of-58 from the floor (38 percent), 4-of-28 from 3-point range (14 percent) and 18-of-34 on free throws (53 percent). They were also outrebounded 44-40, but still continued the best Louisville start since the 1996-97 team began 10-1.
“Our guys learned a valuable lesson — regardless of your offense, defense wins games,” Pitino said.
“This is a very good defensive team,” Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien said of Louisville. “They really challenged our guys on the perimeter.”
The Cardinals played most of the second half without Gaines and Whitehead, their two leading scorers. Whitehead hurt his back in a hard fall in Wednesday's win over Coppin State.
He played only 12 minutes Saturday, getting a rebound, a steal and three assists with no points. Gaines picked up his fourth foul three minutes into the second half, and sat out until the five-minute mark.
Louisville pulled away without him. Pitino's lineup without Gaines was primarily freshmen Carlos Hurt, Larry O'Bannon and Brandon Bender, the sophomore Myles and junior Erik Brown.
Myles had six points during a 15-6 spurt that followed Gaines' departure, and Bender's layup with 12:16 left gave Louisville a 44-37 lead. Bender finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
“He just doesn't know how good he can be,” said Myles. “He's still immature. He kind of thinks things are funny out there, but he really matured today.”
Hurt fouled out with seven minutes left, but the Cardinals only padded the lead. Brown converted a midcourt steal into a fast-break layup with 5:25 left to give Louisville its biggest lead at 55-45.
Gaines returned, and Louisville stayed comfortably ahead until Brian Brown's breakaway layup with 2:44 left started a 7-0 Buckeyes' run. Erik Brown fouled Boban Savovic on a 3-point shot with 1:35 left, and Savovic sank all three foul shots to trim the deficit to 59-58.
Gaines hit a free throw 12 seconds later, and Brian Brown traveled on a drive with 1:03 remaining to give possession back to Louisville.
Gaines hit two more free throws with 39.1 seconds left, Brian Brown missed a layup, and Erik Brown rebounded with 25 seconds left. He hit a free throw with 23.7 seconds left for a five-point Louisville lead, and Gaines hit three more in the final 12.6 seconds remaining to keep the Buckeyes at bay.
Brian Brown scored 12 points and Zach Williams added 11 for Ohio State (6-1), which lost in its first road game.
A Big Ten officiating crew called a combined 54 fouls. Myles, Hurt and Ohio State forward Terence Dials all fouled out.
OHIO STATE (6-1) — Williams 4-9 3-4 11, Radinovic 2-2 0-0 4, Darby 2-9 6-9 10, Brown 4-11 4-7 12, Savovic 1-3 5-5 7, Fuss-Cheatham 0-2 2-3 2, Connolly 3-5 0-0 7, Dials 2-2 1-2 5, Dudley 0-2 0-0 0, Martin 1-4 1-3 3. Totals 19-49 22-33 61.
LOUISVILLE (6-1) — Myles 5-6 7-12 17, Whitehead 0-2 0-0 0, Northern 2-10 3-4 9, Gaines 3-9 6-8 12, Brown 3-10 1-2 7, Bender 5-5 1-4 11, Hurt 1-7 0-0 3, Naydenov 1-1 0-0 2, O'Bannon 2-7 0-0 5, N'Sima 0-1 0-4 0. Totals 22-58 18-34 66.
Halftime—Ohio State 26, Louisville 25. 3-Point goals—
Ohio St. 1-7 (Darby 0-1, Brown 0-3, Savovic 0-1, Connolly 1-2). Louisville 4-28 (Northern 2-10, Gaines 0-5, Brown 0-3, Hurt 1-5, O'Bannon 1-4, N'Sima 0-1). Fouled out—Dials, Myles, Hurt. Rebounds—Ohio St. 44 (Dials 13), Louisville 40 (Myles 9). Assists—Ohio St. 11 (Connolly 4), Louisville 14 (Whitehead, Bender, Hurt 3). Total fouls—Ohio St. 26, Louisville 28. A—19,523.
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Louisville 66, Ohio State 61
