College basketball

Defense, fast start insufficient

By STEVE BITTENBENDER
Published February 13, 2005

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Coming off one of its worst performances of the season, South Florida gave No. 9 Louisville all it could handle Saturday, but it wasn't enough.

On a day when the host paid tribute to its past players and its 1980 NCAA Tournament champion squad, neither team played like a winner. But the Cardinals pulled out a 65-57 victory before 19,829 at Freedom Hall.

Despite holding the Cardinals, Conference USA's best shooting team, to 20-for-54 (37 percent), South Florida could not overcome its miscues. Too many turnovers in the first half coupled with too many fouls in the second led to the Bulls' second straight league loss.

Terrence Leather led USF (10-12, 3-8) with 18 points. Marlyn Bryant added 16 and Brian Swift 10. Louisville (21-4, 9-2) had four players in double figures, led by Ellis Myles' 15.

The Bulls, who had just 12 first-half points in their 55-47 loss to Saint Louis on Wednesday, built a 14-4 lead, making six of their first nine shots. Leather was the catalyst, scoring eight during the run.

Francisco Garcia, Taquan Dean and Larry O'Bannon, Louisville's top three scorers, failed to score in the first 10 minutes. O'Bannon missed an uncontested two-handed dunk and Dean banged a short jumper off the bottom of the backboard during the dry spell.

Then Louisville's defense triggered a 14-2 run, forcing six turnovers in a five-minute span. USF missed nine of its last 13 shots and had 13 first-half turnovers, 10 in the first 12 minutes.

"We missed on so many golden opportunities in the first half," USF coach Robert McCullum said. "You can't not take advantage of those opportunities when they present themselves."

The Cards, 9-for-27 in the first 20 minutes, took their first lead at 18-16 on an O'Bannon layup with 8:09 left. Garcia's free throw with 16.3 seconds left gave Louisville a 27-24 halftime lead, its largest in the first half.

After pulling within one on their first possession of the second half, the Bulls were called for seven fouls in the first 3:03. The Cards hit 20 of 26 free throws, 12 of 15 in the second half.

The fouls were the big difference, McCullum said, adding he thought the start of the second half "was officiated differently."

"They were in the bonus before the first media timeout," he said. "That put us on our heels for a little bit."

Garcia was slowed by a a deep thigh bruise early. But he scored seven of his 12 points in a 1:11 span in the second half as Louisville increased its 34-30 advantage at 14:17 to 41-32 with 13:06 left.

From that point, the Bulls never drew closer than five points.

"We didn't run our offense very well, but when we did at the end of the game, we got open shots with player movement and ball movement," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "South Florida played terrific defense all night long."

The Cardinals were averaging more than 85 points, fifth in the nation, but has failed to reach 70 in consecutive games for the first time this season.

[Last modified February 13, 2005, 01:08:17]