Before Tuesday night, it had been nearly 11 years since the last time the University of Louisville Cardinals (8-0) played the Indiana Hoosiers (7-2). This time around, both teams traveled to New York’s Madison Square Garden for the Jimmy V Classic’s marquee game. The contest didn’t disappoint with the Cards coming out on top 94-74. It was closer for most of the game.
The 4th ranked Cardinals are one of the nation’s top defenses. The Hoosiers are one of the nation’s top offenses so sparks were expected. Louisville keeps team from scoring and Indiana throws it up from anywhere. It had the makings of the perfect main event.
The Cardinals got the good news that recruit Shaqquan Aaron has been cleared to play after that illegal benefits related to housing investigation, but his return isn’t due until December 20 so he wouldn’t be available for this one.
Predictably the Hoosiers drew first blood.Unlike their early games, the Cards didn’t take 5 minutes to get their offense started. Wayne Blackshear stepped up to keep pace. An early three point basket by Chris Jones kept that potent Indiana attack from running away early.
The three point line kept Indiana in the game through the first half. Louisville maintained the pressure on offense and defense and led more often than not, but before the Cards could run away, a Hoosier would knock down a triple.
Coming off the bench a formerly banged up Mangok Mathiang made his presence felt and had the biggest impact he’s ever had as a Cardinal. That ankle injury seemed to be totally gone as he helped Louisville go on a 12-2 run.
By halftime, the Hoosiers shot 70% from outside the arc which, statistically, couldn’t be maintained. IU would only hit one other triple for the balance of the game.
The Cards led 46-41 at the break on the strength of their rebounding, including 17 off the offensive glass. That kind of rebounding led to second chance points. Louisville would finish with 31 offensive boards.
Indiana came out firing on all cylinders to open the second half and took the lead early on and the Garden crowd were clearly backing the Hoosiers. They broke into “I-U” chants at random times.
And then Louisville went on a 10-0 run to retake the lead thanks to the starting backcourt of Jones and Terry Rozier. Rozier would get hot from the three point line to extend the lead. He finished with a career high 26 points. Jones went career high as well with 24.
Harrell used the smaller Indiana team to take the number one spot on the all time dunks list with 164, one more than Cardinal legend Pervis Ellison. Harrell also finished with another double-double, 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Photo by: Tim Girton/Louisville.com
