#5 Louisville Withstood a Late Run to Beat #14 Ohio State

Louisville's Wayne Blackshear
Battles For a Loose Ball

The fifth ranked Louisville Cardinals knocked off #14 Ohio State 64-55 tonight.

Louisville jumped out to an early lead in the first half and led 35-18 after the first 20 minutes of play. Ohio State had many turnovers which hindered their success on the offensive end towards the beginning of the game.

As the Buckeyes came out after halftime, they had a new buzz.  They outscored Louisville 37-29 in the second half, but yet still fell short at the end of the game.

D'Angelo Russell led the Ohio State comeback and finished with 17 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals.  The amazing thing was he was the only player on Ohio State to record an assist.  On 55 points they only had 7 assists, all by the same player.  The Buckeyes freshman is impressing many and carrying his team through games.

Louisville was led by Wayne Blackshear who scored 22 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.  The senior has been playing well this season and has made a huge improvement since last year.

Montrezl Harrell recorded a double-double for the Cardinals.  He had 13 points and 10 rebounds but also dominated in the paint against defenders.  He is no match for anyone down low and simply muscles his way to the rim to throw down ferocious slam dunks.

Overall Louisville played a good game but fell apart late.  They will definitely need to clean up their game in order to contend with other top teams in the ACC.  But then again, Ohio State did do a great job clawing their way back into the game.

The Big-10/ACC challenge continues tomorrow night when #4 Duke and #2 Wisconsin face off at 9:30 Et. on ESPN.