NO. 1 SEED LOUISVILLE ADVANCES IN NCAA TOURNAMENT

March 21, 2009


Another 16-seed looked poised to make live difficult for a one-seed as Morehead State went into halftime trailing Louisville by just two points, 35-33.

These two teams met back in November in the season opener for Louisville. After a sluggish first half, the Cards dominated, winning 79-41, the script on Friday looked mighty similar.

A 10-0 run in the first 3:18 of the second half with three Morehead State turnovers put the Cards on their way to a 74-54 opening round win.

“It all started from Andre [McGee on] defense, said Samardo Samuels. “As Coach said, his defense and everybody just followed behind him.”

Louisville forced Morehead State into 12 second-half turnovers and 20 in the game. Andre McGee set the pace with being credited with 5 steals.

“Andre McGee is the key times 10 to our basketball team,” said Louisville head coach Rick Pitino. “He gets everybody pressing, everybody playing defense, and he just does it for one reason. He's not trying to impress anybody. He just does it because he has a deep passion to win. I'm real proud of him, because what he does is tough to do.”

Samardo Samuels led UL with 15 points and Terrence Williams added 13 points and 9 rebounds while Earl Clark added 12 points and 5 assists.

Louisville will take on Siena, who knocked off Ohio State in double overtime, on Sunday right back in Dayton again.