Hell in the Hall – Louisville Sports Blog

*****************************************************

And down the stretch they come!

One week, two games–for at least a share of the Big East championship, in what many have called one of the strongest conferences of all-time.

Our fate lies entirely in our own hands.   A win Wednesday at home against Seton Hall and on the road Saturday against WVU and we’ve clinched a share of the title.  And…if UConn loses to Pitt earlier that day,  then we stand alone at the top.

Nothing is given, of course.  But…it seems like a long, long time since the Notre Dame nightmare only  two weeks ago.  Thank god…

********************************************************

***********************************************************

I could recap the Marquette game in detail, but frankly was not particularly inspired by the play of either team.  Both teams bungled around in the first half:  U of L with 8 TO’s and a big 2 O-bounds, and Marquette with brick-like shooting (on a surprising number of  wide-open shots–credit some of the best ball movement I’ve seen all year by an opponent.)

The Cards had the edge by three at the break.  Then,  just over a minute into the second half, the Andre McGee show started, with Andre first spinning thru the lane for a slick layup in traffic…then feeding Samardo for a gimme…and finally stripping MU’s best player of the ball, and alone on a breakaway, jammed it!      (Pics below by Sam4Gtr…)

*************************************************************

To say this was unexpected by the Hall crowd would be a major understatement:  It roared as he hung on the rim.

A few moments later Earl threw one down too, to end the two-minute, 10-0 Card run.

And just that quickly, the  game was, in effect, over.

Heroes?  The usual suspects.  T Will sprinkled star-dust again, toying with a triple-double–and committing 0 TO’s in the final half after a miserable 3 in the first.

Earl notched his obligatory double-double…but looked shaky with 2 TO’s in both halves, and a goose-egg on three trey attempts.  My, how he loves the 3-ball..

Bad Edgar peeked in unfortunately, stuffing 3 TO’s in only 8 minutes of action–and 0 assists.  (Also, notice who is the only team mate  on the bench not smiling in Andre’s dunk pic at the top of this article…)

And, Preston Knowles, who had sizzled for 75% shooting on both 2′s and 3′s over the last few games, connected on only 1 -5, and had 2 TO’s with o A’s.   He brought his characteristic tough D though, so he didn’t get the splinters riding the pine like So-So-Sosa.

A workman-like effort by the Cards.  It wasn’t their best ball, but they held the best shooting team in the Big East to 34% for the game.  And to the Cards’ credit, they did strongly adjust in the second half for their two glaring  weaknesses of the first half, by grabbing 8 offensive rebounds and turning MU over 7 times to our 5.

One more week.  Two more games.

Bring on Seton Hall!

************************************************************

Here are some great pics taken at the game by Sam4Gtr:

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j27/sam34gtr/bball%20mens%20marq/

Also, just a great story after the game by ESPN’s Pat Forde on T Will and the surging Cardinals.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=3943807&sportCat=ncb

And, as a special treat…one of our Super Fans –   The Boogie Man aka Scott Spicer– busted some nice moves on national TV  (see my interview with Scott in the Card Fan Hall of Fame in the tabs at the top):

*************************************************************