DREXEL DEALS CARDS FIRST LOSS OF 2010-2011

The unbeaten start to the 2010-2011 season for Rick Pitino and Louisville came to a screeching halt last night as the Drexel Dragons came into the KFC Yum! Center and dealt the Cards a 52-46 defeat.

"You have to come in and feel like you can win those games," Drexel coach 'Bruiser' Flint said following the game. "We're not going to come in and lay down against them."

Lay down they did not. Drexel dominated the pace of the game and dominated the glass with a 46-26 edge in rebounding.

"We got outrebounded 46-26 and that pretty much tells us why we lost," said Pitino.

Drexel led 25-23 at the half, but the Cards ripped off a 10-1 run to start the second half and led by seven points with just under 17 minutes left in the game when Preston Knowles connected on a three-pointer to give the Cards a 33-26 advantage. However, Louisville could not maintain their offense and Drexel chipped away and Sammie Givens put the Dragons back ahead at 43-42 with 8:09 left and UL would not have the lead again.

Louisville simply couldn't make shots as the Cards missed 11 of its last 12 attempts from the field and were only 12 of 25 from the foul line for the game.

"You don't rebound, you don't get out on the break and you don't do the little things that help you score," siad Pitino.

Drexel was not much better offensively, also shooting just 12 of 25 from the foul line and nearly negating their edge on the boards by committing 22 turnovers, leading to 17 UL points. However, their 11-2 advantage in second chance points was the difference in the game.

"We lost the game because we didn't rebound," added Pitino. "It's a very simple stat. We didn't get rebounds out of the three-spot. We didn't get rebounds out of the five-spot."

Knowles and Peyton Siva each scored 13 points in the loss for UL. As a team, the Cards shot just 31.9% from the field and only made four three-pointers in the game (on 16 attempts). The three-point shot has been a big weapon in the UL arsenal this season and was a key in the Drexel gameplan to stop.

"One of the things is keeping them off the 3-point line, and I think we did a good job at that," said Flint. "We wanted to chase them off the 3-point line, make them rush and run guys at them. I thought our guys did a good job at that."

The loss snapped U of L's home winning streak at nine games, dating back to a 70-60 loss to #11 Georgetown on Feb. 23 of last season, and its home non-conference win streak at 12.

Louisville will continue their season openign 10-game homestand on Saturday when they host Gardner-Webb at the Yum! Center. Thirteen of their first fourteen games of the season will be played in the new Yum! Center with the lone exception a December 22nd tilt at Western Kentucky.

-- game story quotes courtesy of www.uoflsports.com

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