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Everything seemed wrong. The lack of energy, the bounces, the inability to put the plucky double digit seed away; it all felt like it was trending towards a one and done end to the season.
In the spirit of complete honesty, when UC Irvine took the lead with just under a minute to play, I thought the end was near. The feeling had been lingering all afternoon/evening long, and when clutch time finally arrived, it felt like the end finish we'd all been telling ourselves wasn't going to happen was about to be realized.
Instead, survival. Wayne Blackshear scores, perhaps, the biggest bucket of his Cardinal career (and shot have shot a free-throw afterward), and Quentin Snider calmly strokes a pair of free-throws in a situation where a true freshman is supposed to wilt.
Did it instill hope or promise that a gigantic run over the next two weeks is imminent? It didn't, but two top seeds are being tested all over the place, and Louisville is one of the fortunate ones that has passed. There's still Cardinal basketball to be played, and whenever that's the case, life is pretty good.
Plenty more to discuss, but for now, here's your box score:
| UC Irvine Anteaters | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| Mamadou Ndiaye, C | 6-9 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 12 | ||
| Will Davis II, F | 7-12 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 | ||
| Travis Souza, G | 2-5 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Alex Young, G | 3-8 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Luke Nelson, G | 4-7 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 10 | ||
| BENCH | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| John Ryan, C | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Mike Best, F | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Ioannis Dimakopoulos, F | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jaron Martin, G | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Aaron Wright, G | 1-3 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | ||
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| 24-52 | 5-14 | 2-2 | 9 | 20 | 29 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 55 | |||
| 46.2% | 35.7% | 100.0% | ||||||||||||
| Louisville Cardinals | ||||||||||||||
| STARTERS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| Montrezl Harrell, F | 3-8 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 8 | ||
| Mangok Mathiang, F | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Terry Rozier, G | 5-10 | 1-4 | 1-1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 12 | ||
| Quentin Snider, G | 6-11 | 2-3 | 2-2 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 16 | ||
| Wayne Blackshear, G | 8-20 | 2-8 | 1-1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 19 | ||
| BENCH | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| Chinanu Onuaku, F | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Jaylen Johnson, F | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| Anas Mahmoud, F | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| David Levitch, G | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| 23-55 | 5-15 | 6-6 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 57 | |||
| 41.8% | 33.3% | 100.0% | ||||||||||||
Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: None - TEAMS: None