LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Louisville men’s basketball ended its historic first season of the Pat Kelsey era with an opening round 89-75 defeat in the NCAA Tournament.
“I'd like to congratulate Coach McDermott and Creighton,” said head coach Kelsey. “They played very well today. They were the better team today. Played in a very, very tough environment being right down the road from our school. Give them a lot of credit. Proud of our guys. It's been a long journey since June 5th when these guys first came together for summer school. Zero scouting report players.”
“Built the entire team in a very, very short amount of time,” he continued. “They meshed quickly. We asked them to love each other from day one and these guys went all in with everything they had with everything I asked them to do. For ten months and for the rest of my life and for the rest of my career, I'll remember this group as one of the most special groups that I've ever coached. I know they are savvy, they are veteran. They are smart, hard-working, dedicated.”
“Just been a special, special group. I told them in there, you know, it will hurt bad today. It will hurt for the next several days. It will hurt for a while. But when they event actually are able to have perspective and get above the trees on what they have done and what they have accomplished, they have done some special, special things.”
Creighton (25-10) used a 12-4 run to separate the game, taking a seven-point lead at 28-21 at 7:26 on the clock. Louisville (27-8) was able to cut the deficit to just three with a transition dunk by Khani Rooths and a bucket by J’Vonne Hadley.
The Bluejays were relentless, netting four straight 3-pointers over a minute and a half, taking a 15-point advantage at 40-25 with 4:22 remaining in the first half.
Louisville suffered its largest halftime deficit of the season, trailing by 15 points, 49-34, at the break. The Cardinals were once down by 20 just seconds before the half ended, but five straight points by Chucky Hepburn cut into the damage.
Creighton went 9 of 16 from the 3-point line during the first half and ended the period with only four fouls.
The Cardinals immediately cut it to 13, scoring the first bucket out of the break, but Creighton followed it up with five points of its own pushing its lead back up to 18.
Louisville’s Noah Waterman knocked down a 3-pointer and Hepburn added in a layup to cut the Creighton edge to just 12 points with 7:28 to go. Louisville would eventually get the difference to just 10 with 1:05 on the clock, but was never able to get over the hump, ending the game with a score of 89-75.
The Cardinals forced 10 Bluejay miscues, turning them into 14 points. Creighton shot a whopping 57.1% from the floor and 45.8% from 3-point range to secure the victory and advance in the NCAA Tournament.
Hepburn led the Cardinals in scoring with 22 points on 9 of 23 shooting. He added in six assists, one steal and two boards in his final collegiate game. He finishes the second fourth on Louisville’s assists in a single season record list with 198, and ninth on the steals in a single season list with 82.
Terrence Edwards Jr. finished his five-year collegiate career just one shy of 2,000 points, scoring 21 points against the Bluejays.
Reyne Smith played just five minutes after re-aggravating an ankle injury. He finished his one-year career at Louisville with 107 made 3-pointers, second on the all-time made list. He attempted 282 on the year, a new record for any Cardinal.
