#1 Kentucky Wildcats vs #4 Louisville in the Final Four in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Superdome:
First Half Score: #1 Kentucky 35 - #4 Louisville 28
All things considered, Rick Pitino should be pleased with his teams first half performance, as the Cardinals trail by just 7 at halftime. Although throughout the first half it felt like Kentucky was controlling the game and had a commanding hold on the lead, Louisville was able to stick around and keep the game tight. The Cardinals have kept themself within striking distance of the Wildcats, which is all they could have hoped for after the first frame.
Louisville is having trouble securing the basketball, as they turned the ball over 9 times in the first half. The Cardinals turned the ball over just 6 times in their entire West Regional Final against Florida. Although the Cardinals need Peyton Siva to get into the paint to get some open looks for his teammates, Siva over penetrated during the first half. He got too deep in the lane and struggled to pass or score over the length of Kentucky's front court. Siva failed to score in the first half, while he turned the ball over 3 times.
Although Kentucky got a solid performance out of Kyle Wiltjer during the first half, as he was able to stretch Louisville's match-up zone with his three point shooting ability, the Wildcats could have really used Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Gilchrist picked up his second foul with 13:47 remaining in the half and wasn't able to be a major factor because of his limited playing time. Gilchrist was scoreless and attempted just one shot during the half.
Finally, Louisville will have to do a much better job of stopping Kentucky's dribble penetration. The Wildcats were 15 of 25 (60%) from the field because must of their field goals were coming on layups after drives to the bucket, especially from Marquis Teague and Doron Lamb. When Louisville was able to keep Kentucky out of the lane, the Wildcats shot just 1 of 5 from behind the arc.
Final Score: #1 Kentucky 69 - #4 Louisville 61
Kentucky showed an incredible amount of resilience and grit in their victory over Louisville. After it appeared that the Wildcats were going to run away with the game as they began the half on a 11-6 run to extend their lead to 12, Louisville came roaring back to tie the game at 49 with a little over 9 minutes to play. Despite the fact that Kentucky's wasn't getting things to go their way including on the glass, which Louisville dominated in the second half, they kept making plays to keep the lead.
Although everybody rants about the outstanding freshmen and sophomores that Kentucky has, their senior Darius Miller proved to be huge in the second half. Miller had 9 points in the second frame and hit a huge three to put the Wildcats up by 7 with just over 5 minutes remaining in the game. Miller's three deflated the Cardinals, who had been fighting the entire half to get back into the game, and put an end to their comeback effort.
The Wildcats were led by their two outstanding All-American freshmen Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist down the stretch. They combined for 17 of Kentucky's final 26 points and Anthony Davis's length and shot blocking ability caused Louisville all sorts of problems when they tried to score in the lane in the final 5 minutes. Davis had 3 blocks to go along with 7 rebounds in the second half, as he did a much better job of keeping Chane Behanan and especially Gorgui Dieng off the offensive glass in the final few minutes of the game. Louisville had just one offensive rebound in the final 6 minutes.
Kentucky can now say that they own the Bluegrass state after knocking off their heated rivals in their first ever Final Four meeting.
Louisville now has a record of 2-7 in the National Semifinals including 0-2 in their two appearances in the Final Four with Rick Pitino.
The Wildcats will be making their 11th appearance in the NCAA championship game and their first since Rick Pitino led them to the National Championship 14 years ago back in 1998. Kentucky's 11 NCAA title game appearances are the second most all-time and are just one behind UCLA's 12 final appearances. Kentucky is now 11-4 in school history in the National Semifinals.
The Wildcats are now just one win away from capturing their 8th NCAA Championship.
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