Dec 7, 2001
Box Score
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-Louisville landed six players in double figures and turned an early deficit into a 12-point halftime edge en route to a 90-75 win over UWM Friday night in the first round of the Jim Thorpe Association Classic in front of 18,947 at Freedom Hall.
Ronnie Jones scored a career-high 22 points for UWM (3-4), which will play in the consolation game of the tournament Saturday at 4:30 p.m. CST. Clay Tucker added 13 points and six rebounds for the Panthers.
UWM will face Virginia Tech, which lost 66-63 to Murray State in the second semifinal Friday night. Louisville (3-1) advances to the championship game, where it will play the Racers at 7 p.m. CST Saturday.
"We had played better before tonight, but Louisville had a lot to do with that," UWM head coach Bruce Pearl said.
The Panthers started strong, building a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes and holding a 13-8 edge five minutes into the game. But the Cardinals responded with a 17-0 run over the next seven minutes and the Panthers were able to get the lead under double figures just once the rest of the way.
"We got off to a nice start, but they got loose for a few threes," Pearl said. "We were in a triangle-and-two, and they never should have gotten open."
Carlos Hurt hit a pair of threes during the run and wound up as one of the six Cards in double figures. Luke Whitehead and Larry O'Bannon had 15 points apiece for Louisville while Ellis Myles collected 13 points and 15 rebounds.
UWM trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half before trimming the lead to 12 at the break. Louisville led by as many as 21 points in the second half, but UWM again trimmed the lead to 11 on one occasion and 10 on another.
The smaller Panthers held even with the Cardinals on the boards, with each team gathering 40 rebounds. But UWM had just two steals and forced only 11 Cardinal turnovers while the Cardinals had 11 steals.
"By far it was our smartest game of the year," Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said. "They have been turning everybody over and we played smart against their pressure. We took high percentage shots in the first half. They (Milwaukee) are a very gutty team."
"I was pleased we hung in there on the boards," Pearl said. "We had given up 28 offensive rebounds in a game earlier this year (against Iowa State) and we did a good job in not giving them that many offensive rebounds."
Friday's crowd is the largest UWM has ever played in front of at home or on the road.
