Maintaining their poise these Cards in some tough situations and hellish venues. Not about to cave in, give games away. Not in their makeup, mastering Pittsburgh 75-73, first team to beat Pitt twice at home in that arena.
Who to give the game ball? Edgar Sosa, scoring 15 points in the first half, Andre McGee, hitting two free throws to seal the win, or David Padgett, leading all scorers with 21 points? Not that difficult a decision: ball goes to Sosa, playing with confidence, hitting his shots, not taking bad shots, hanging on to the ball, turning in his best game this season.
Nobody plays tougher defense than Jerry Smith, no uncontested breathing, passing or dribbling while he’s around. Making all three of U of L’s steals today, from a team that made only four turnovers the entire game. Two out of two threes on offense helping, too.
Padgett continuing to set the tone for the Cards, despite turning the ball over six times, forcing obscenities from even his most ardent fans at times. Double teamed under the basket, at the top of the circle, making tough shots look almost easy at times, hitting three of four free throw attempts in the final 32 seconds.
Nice to see some different faces officiating the game for a change. Neither Padgett (with three fouls) or Derrick Caracter (with only two!) came close to getting into foul trouble.
Peterson Arena has a strange interior layout, corporate donors occupying one entire side of the lower level, the students consuming all seats on the other. These donors obviously had to dig deep to merit such prominence while mucking up the arena’s site lines in a big way.
U of L has won its last 12 games in February, including seven this month.
Is it okay to breath now? I long for the day when we will win a game for more than 20 points. This Big East competition is incredible.