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Win Not In The Cards

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By BRETT McMURPHY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 24, 2008

Updated: 01/24/2008 12:11 am

TAMPA - Early in the second half of Wednesday night's game against Louisville, University of South Florida men's basketball coach Stan Heath stood and gazed down his bench. He then glanced onto the court. Unfortunately for Heath, there were no answers in either place.

No matter which combination Heath tried, it was to no avail. Louisville was simply bigger, stronger and much better, rolling to an 80-60 victory.

"There's not a lot to say," Heath said. "We got our butts kicked. We were outplayed. I was really disappointed, we looked like a very tentative team in the first half."

Since winning its Big East opener, the Bulls (10-10, 1-6) have lost six consecutive games - all by double digits. Wednesday's loss to Louisville (14-5, 4-2) dropped USF into a tie in the league cellar with Rutgers.

Even in the stands, the Bulls were no match for the Cards. The Louisville contingent among the announced crowd of 4,781 was louder than the home crowd. It sounded like a mini-Freedom Hall, with former UL coach Denny Crum watching from the stands.

The only thing missing during UL's patented "C-A-R-D-S" chant was the UL fan that does a handstand on an aisle railing in the upper level.

"It was a good bounce-back game for us," said Louisville coach Rick Pitino, whose club was coming off a 92-82 loss at Seton Hall.

The Cards took out their frustrations on the Bulls, jumping to a double-digit lead after nine minutes. At halftime, UL's lead grew to 45-26.

On the night, USF had a few bright spots - a sweet pass from Chris Howard to Kentrell Gransberry for a layup was one - but not nearly enough.

Midway through the second half, USF used a 12-2 run to close within 63-49, but Louisville responded with 10 consecutive points.

"They did whatever they wanted to do," Heath said. "Shoot shots, drive the ball against our defense, rebound whenever they wanted it. It just wasn't what we were looking for in the first 20 minutes.

"We were a lot better in the second half, but they're kind of picking and choosing their spots. So it's hard to tell. They have so much depth, they come at you in waves."

Gransberry led the Bulls with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Dominique Jones added 15 points - all in the second half. Once again, Gransberry, Jones, Howard and Jesus Verdejo got the majority of minutes as Heath continues to search for help.

"We rely on four guys heavily - heavily, heavily, heavily," Heath said. "It's almost unfair to put those guys in that spot to carry the load like that."

By comparison, Louisville's leading scorer, Earl Clark, came off the bench. He finished with 18 points, including a first-half run of 10 consecutive. Utilizing its full-court pressure, Louisville had nine Cards play at least 10 minutes.

"We thought they could play with us five versus five, so we tried to play 10 versus five," Pitino said. "That's where we felt we had an advantage, because our depth is much better."

After the game, Heath glanced at the official box score that incorrectly showed USF with only 58 points and asked: "Didn't we have 60?"

When he was shown a corrected box score showing USF with 60 points, Heath remarked: "Like it matters."

Heath was right. On this night, it really didn't matter what USF did.

INSIDE THE GAME

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Louisville F Terrence Williams had seven points, nine rebounds and 11 assists.

STAT OF THE GAME: The Bulls' 60 points against Louisville were only five less than the football team scored against the Cardinals in November.

TURNING POINT: When Louisville hired Rick Pitino in 2001. Since then, Pitino is 7-0 against USF, winning by an average margin of 20 points.

UP NEXT: USF visits No. 21 Marquette Tuesday at 8 p.m.

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