Louisville NCAA Rewind: March 19th

With the 2020 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament cancelled, Louisville Report will go back in time to recap all of the University of Louisville men's basketball's NCAA Tournament games from each date in March and early April. Special thanks to Sports-Reference.com for boxscores and the Courier-Journal for newspaper archives.

Louisville's March 15th NCAA Tournament Record: 2-3

1988: Louisville defeats Brigham Young 97-76

After barely squeaking by Gary Payton and his unranked and 12th-seeded Oregon State Beavers, the No. 5 seeded Louisville Cardinals kicked it into high gear and blasted the No. 4 seeded BYU Cougars for a 97-76 upset in Atlanta, GA.

The rout was fueled by balanced scoring for the Cardinals, their ability to take care of the basketball and the execution of their pressure man-to-man defense. Led by a game high 24 points from Pervis Ellison, six Cardinals scored in double figured against the Cougars. Keith Williams had a game high 12 assists, with Herbert Crook also dishing out 7. Louisville collectively only turned the ball over 6 times, while forcing BYU to cough it up 10 more times than themselves.

The Cougars thought they were in for an easier time than what they were led to believe, after watching this Cardinals team lose 77-58 to DePaul to end the regualr season.

"I guess DePaul was a little deceiving," reserve BYU guard Brian Taylor said. "It seemed like tonight they played on a whole different level."

1993: Louisville defeats Delaware 76-70

Louisville's 1993 Sweet 16 run started with a victory that nearly escaped them, as the No. 4 seeded Cardinals held off the No. 13 seeded Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens just long enough to escape with a 76-70 opening round win in Indianapolis.

Before the ball was even tipped from the RCA Dome, pre-game chirping had already taken place from the other side. Delaware center Spencer Buckley declared that he would "crawl across the court and walk back to Delaware" if Louisville took down his Blue Hens.

The contest had the makings of a blowout, as Louisville took an 8 point lead into halftime then led by as much as 60-42 with 6:50 left in the game. But then a three point barrage from the Blue Hens cut the Louisville advantage to as little as 7 with 56 seconds remaining before Dwayne Morton and Co. pulled away.

"They're a feisty team, and they made a nice comeback," Morton said. "But we're a better team." He and Clifford Rozier would finish with a game high 20 points.

2004: Xavier defeats Louisville 80-70

A year before current Louisville head coach Chris Mack would join the Xavier coaching staff as an assistant, his No. 7 seeded Musketeers would send the No. 10 seeded Louisville Cardinals home early in the opening round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament down in Orlando, FL.

Louisville looked like the might have the game in hand thanks to an uptick in their offense, which had deviated from the norm over the course of the season. The Cards held an 11 point halftime lead and led by as much as 14 in the second half.

But their defense, which had been their calling card all season, faltered down the stretch. Down 14 at the 15:19 mark, the Musketeers used a 16-3 run and a 15-3 run in the second half to pull away from the Cards and advance to the Round of 32.

"They just spread us out defensively, beat us off the dribble and we couldn't defend them," head coach Rick Pitino said. "They were just better than we were."

Louisville had a combined 49 points from Francisco Garcia, Taquan Dean and Luke Whitehead, but the Musketeers got a combined 49 from their seniors in Romain Sato and Lionel Chalmers while also getting an additional pair of double digit performances.

2010: California defeats Louisville 77-62

Louisville's 2010 appearance in the NCAA Tournament lacked any real drama, as the No. 8 seeded California Golden Bears went wire-to-wire against the No. 8 seeded Cardinals, bouncing them out early behind a 77-62 defeat in the opening round.

Cal's Jerome Randle, Theo Robertson & Patrick Christopher combined for 59 points while the Golden Bears as a whole shot 51.0% for the game, 77.3% from the foul line and a blazing 53.3% from beyond the arc.

"They're just an explosive team," Louisville guard Edgar Sosa said. "The whole game we were playing catch up."

Conversely, the Cardinals shot just 43.3% from the field, connected on just 5 of their 19 three point attempts and only attempted 9 free throws (sinking just 5). Rakeem Buckles came off the bench to lead the UofL scoring effort at 20 points, with Samardo Samuels chipping in 16 was well.

2017: Michigan defeats Louisville 73-69

A bad shooting night from the Cardinals and domination on the interior from the Wolverines spelled doom for No. 2 seeded Louisville's title aspirations as No. 7 Michigan pulled off the 73-69 upset from Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

German-born Michigan forward Moe Wagner got anything he wanted against the Louisville defense down low, going off for a game high 26 points on 11-14 shooting. The Wolverines also had 3 additional scorers in double figures.

"These guys have given me A+ effort," head coach Rick Pitino said. "we lose games because mentally we have a very difficult time focusing on what to do defensively."

Donovan Mitchell led the way for Louisville with a team high 19 points and 7 rebounds, with Mangok Mathiang and Deng Adel also having 13 & 16 respectively. Louisville shot just 25.0% on three point attempts, including 0-7 from Quentin Snider and an 0-9 performance overall.

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