The pilots flying the University of Louisville basketball team to Atlanta needed help finding a landing spot, pulling some hometown strings with UPS to pull out of a holding pattern over Atlanta International Airport.
Plans to spend a couple of hours at a hotel prior to going to the arena didn’t work out. And when the team finally arrived at McCamish Arena, the shot clock was being replaced on UofL’s basket.
Not the way any coach wants to start the day of a game, especially Rick Pitino with UofL having lost the first two games in the Atlantic Coast Conference play. Time to turn things around or watch them go out of control.
“We had to get a win,” said Pitino after UofL defeated Georgia Tech 65-50. “So many things went wrong today — the plane, the hotel, we couldn’t warm up, the concussion (incurred by Deng Adel). I just told them I wanted to see the best defense of the year.”
Deng Adel suffered a concussion, taking an accidental knee to his head, with five minutes remaining in the first half. He never returned to the court.
No way of knowing whether Pitino got his wish. This one was difficult to watch, almost laughable at times. The Cardinals making only 23 of 60 field goal attempts. Fortunately Georgia Tech was sinking 17 of 50 shots.
UofL, led by Donovan Mitchell with 20 points, would race to a 16-3 lead, but could make only four of their next 21 shots during the half. Georgia Tech, meanwhile, was hitting only three of its first 15 shots.
Almost entertaining, the lack of offense and the absence of shooting. But a win, and a win on the road under some trying circumstances.