LOUISVILLE STRUGGLES PAST SJU AT 'GARDEN'

February 9, 2009


St. John's held visiting Louisville to only 19 points in the first half Sunday afternoon, looking to extend the misery the Cards have had in Madison Square Garden since joining the Big East conference. The Redstorm and UL battled back in forth for much of the second half before St. John's Folds Against Louisville (NY Daily News) and losses 60-47.

The game was an ugly affair, with the teams combining to shoot 39-113 (34.5%) from the field, 5-29 (17%) from three-point range and just plain stink up the joint offensively in front of 6,128 fans in the Garden.

Jerry Smith, removed from the starting line-up for the game by head coach Rick Pitino, scored a game-high 21 points, making 11 of 11 free throw attempts, many in the last minutes to ice the game. On the Bench to Start, Smith Rules the Court (Louisville Courier-Journal) thereafter, scoring 19 of those 21 in the second half. The UL bench outscored their SJU counterparts 29-0 with Terrence Jennings and Andre McGee also added four points each in relief of the starters. Earl Clark was the lone other Card in double figures, adding 12 points and 8 rebounds.

St. John's Losses to Louisville at MSG (Newsday), dropping the Redstorm to 3-8 in the Big East and 12-11 overall. Sean Evans had 12 points and 9 rebounds to lead SJU and Justin Burrell and DJ Kennedy each added 10. Paris Horne, who has been scoring well lately, was just 4-15 from the field, finishign with 9 points.

Louisville visits Notre Dame on Thursday while St. John's returns to action on Wednesday when they visit Cincinnati.