Russ Smith stars as Louisville Cardinals cruise to a 95-87 victory over Memphis Tigers - NCAA Basketball
College Basketball powerhouses, Louisville Cardinals are having a dream NCAA tournament.
Just hours ago, they collected their tenth consecutive win by subduing Memphis Tigers 95-87 to improve their record to 10-0. On the other hand, Tigers, who have had a mixed tournament so far dropped to 5-4 after this loss and need
to come back strongly in the coming games in order to progress further in the tournament.
The Cardinals were dominant throughout and only trailed twice in the game. However, Tigers were never out of the game and made the Cardinals run for their money. Unfortunately, their players ran out of gas in the last few minutes.
This allowed Cardinals, the space they were searching for. Entering the last ten minutes of the game, they reeled off a 7-2 run and a minute later, initiated an 8 point unanswered burst to rock the Tigers.
Russ Smith was the highlight of the night.
He pounded a career high 24 points including 10 for 12 from the charity stripe and stole the ball an incredible 7 times, which according to him is his great personal achievement so far;
"Seven steals is just a great accomplishment. Anybody can get 24 points, but seven steals is really special." He exclaimed.
Although, Smith was phenomenal but other Cardinals players also played their part to perfection. Gorgui Deng completed a double-double by scoring 14 points and 14 rebounds while Peyton Siva had 13 points and 9 assists. Kyle and
Chris Smith both accumulated 11 each.
Will Barton was the most outstanding player for Tigers and pounded game high 28 points along with 16 rebounds. Joe Jackson was also impressive and drained 22 points on a 8 for 9 from the free throw line.
Russ started the proceedings with a layup on a dish by Siva, who knocked down another two to make it 4-0. After the Tigers failed to score off their ensuing possession, Russ again slipped in a layup to make it 6-0 for the Cardinals.
The Tigers were up to the task though, and immediately answered with a 12-5 run to get a 1 point lead at 12-11. After a two minute lull, the Cardinals bolted off another 12-4 run and extended their lead to 9 points, 31-22. The
Cardinals managed to maintain the lead until the end of the first frame, which ended at 42-32.
The Cardinals carried their momentum into the second half and pushed their lead to 13 points, 47-34, early. However they were in for a surprise as the Tigers roared back with a fierce 24-8 run to open up the game again at 58-55.
There was nothing to differentiate between both the teams in next few minutes as scores were levelled on three instances.
With the scores at 70 all the Cardinals turned the game on its head.
They reeled off a 13-3 run, capped by a Russ three, and the game was for the Cardinals to lose. The Tigers tried hard to comeback and were within five points, 84-89, with 46 seconds to go. However, they made errors under pressure
and afforded one too many free throws to the Cardinals. Siva made four of them in the clutch and Russ then capped the game with two straight charity shots.
Tags: