‘We knew it was going to be a dogfight.’ How Louisville held on to beat UK.
One might expect news conferences after a tight rivalry game to be jab-fests.
But not on Sunday at the KFC Yum Center after fifth-ranked Louisville dropped Kentucky 80-75 behind 32 points from star Asia Durr.
It was a lovefest. Cardinals Coach Jeff Walz complimented UK seniors Taylor Murray and Maci Morris for sticking things out when things were sliding a few years ago.
Walz, who coached Cats guard Rhyne Howard to a gold medal in Team USA basketball this summer, said the player who had an 25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists is one of the best young talents in the country.
“She’s a big-time player,” Walz said. “I’d put her up there for a candidate for freshman of the year nationally. … She’s a complete player who’s only going to get better.”
It wasn’t just Walz. Kentucky’s Matthew Mitchell was hearts and flowers, too, despite the loss.
“They played so hard throughout the game and you have to give them credit,” he said of Louisville, which used a powerful third quarter to go up 18 points. “They had a great game plan and executed it well. … They’re a great team.”
Neither coach was too unhappy with the early-season measuring stick. Sure, Mitchell wishes his team had been able to play as well in the fourth quarter — when it cut the once 18-point deficit to four twice in the final 30 seconds — the entire game.
“We gave ourselves every chance to win there in the fourth quarter,” Mitchell said. “We were aggressive. We were physical going to the rim and we just made a lot of plays. You can’t doubt our team’s effort and desire to win.”
Louisville, which has won 10 in a row to start the season and three in a row in the rivalry, showed some equal desire.
The stars for each team were quick to show themselves, with Durr scoring the Cardinals’ first seven points and 15 of their first 22, mostly on pull-up jumpers. Howard had 12 points in the first 15 minutes of play for Kentucky.
Louisville looked ready to pull away midway through the first half, using a 10-3 run to grab a 26-19 lead.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” said Durr, who was one shy of matching her season high for points. “We played great as a team, but we just beat a very great team.”
Kentucky (9-1) slowly chipped away at that lead a few times, but the Cardinals were able to keep it at seven, 36-29, at the break.
Durr went to the bench with one minute to go before halftime to a loud round of applause after scoring 19 of the Cardinals’ 36 first-half points.
“She came out like a ball of fire,” Mitchell said.
At the half, Howard paced the Cats with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists, but she also had four of UK’s seven turnovers in the first half.
Out of the half, Louisville started scoring at will on straight drives to the basket. The UK pressure that had forced so many turnovers this season and led to so many easy baskets for the Cats didn’t produce on Sunday and Louisville made them pay in transition baskets.
“We actually play a little better in chaos,” Walz said. “Teams that like to press and trap, it kind of plays into how we like to play because at times, I don’t know what we’re going to do. So if I don’t, there’s no way the opponent does.”
The Cardinals turned the ball over just seven times, with most of those coming in the final quarter.
Louisville grabbed its largest lead of the game, 59-41, on a Jazmine Jones alley-oop layup, but she was called for a taunting technical foul and then UK made five straight shots to keep it close.
Murray was the Cats’ catalyst with nine of her 18 points coming in the fourth quarter. Morris added 11 points in the loss.
Jones was one of five Louisville players in double figures with 12 points. Bionca Dunham added 11 points and seven boards and Dana Evans pitched in 10 points.
“All of our momentum was kind of shot,” Walz said after the technical with 2:40 to go. “We tried to get some things going back again. I thought we had some good looks, we just didn’t finish. And we didn’t make some free throws.”
In the fourth quarter as Kentucky stormed back, Louisville made just five of 12 from the line.
“I don’t know what was up with the free-throw line today,” said Sam Fuehring, who had 12 points and seven rebounds for Louisville. “It was just everybody missing their first shot. And I feel like because you saw teammates miss their first shot, it was so much pressure for us to make it. … It was just mental with us.”
Next games
Middle Tennessee at Kentucky, 1 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network Plus)
Northern Kentucky at Louisville, 11:30 a.m. Saturday
This story was originally published December 9, 2018 at 5:51 PM.