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For the third straight year, the Louisville Cardinals will enter the NCAA Tournament coming off a victory.
Louisville captured its third straight conference tournament championship by defeating Connecticut 71-61 to claim the American Athletic title. The Huskies, who beat U of L in the 2011 Big East championship game, are still the last team to defeat the Cardinals in a league tournament game.
Montrezl Harrell continued his dominance of Connecticut by scoring a game-high 22 points to go with 11 rebounds. Russ Smith, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, added 19. Smith also registered five steals to tie Peyton Siva for the most all-time in U of L history.
U of L's 19th conference tournament title may have been its most dominant. The Cardinals trailed for a grand total of 27 seconds and won their three games by a total of 100 points.
Much more later, but for now, here's your championship box score:
| Connecticut Huskies | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| Niels Giffey, F | 3-7 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | ||
| DeAndre Daniels, F | 7-13 | 1-2 | 2-4 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 17 | ||
| Phillip Nolan, F | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Ryan Boatright, G | 3-10 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||
| Shabazz Napier, G | 4-12 | 2-7 | 6-7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 16 | ||
| BENCH | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| Amida Brimah, C | 7-10 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 14 | ||
| Leon Tolksdorf, F | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Lasan Kromah, G | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Omar Calhoun, G | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| 24-54 | 4-16 | 9-13 | 10 | 25 | 35 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 20 | 61 | |||
| 44.4% | 25.0% | 69.2% | ||||||||||||
| Louisville Cardinals | ||||||||||||||
| STARTERS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| Stephan Van Treese, F | 0-0 | 0-0 | 4-4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| Luke Hancock, F | 1-8 | 1-5 | 1-2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| Montrezl Harrell, F | 9-14 | 0-0 | 4-6 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 22 | ||
| Russ Smith, G | 7-18 | 1-3 | 4-6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 19 | ||
| Chris Jones, G | 4-11 | 1-3 | 2-2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 11 | ||
| BENCH | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| Mangok Mathiang, F | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Terry Rozier, G | 3-7 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| Wayne Blackshear, G | 1-3 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| 25-61 | 5-16 | 16-22 | 16 | 23 | 39 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 15 | 71 | |||
| 41.0% | 31.3% | 72.7% | ||||||||||||
Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: 1 CONNECTICUT ( Napier 1 ), 1 LOUISVILLE ( Jones 1 ) - TEAMS: None