December 6, 2011
Louisville comes from behind to defeat Vanderbilt in Overtime
Injuries afflicted both teams but at the end it was the Cardinals who made the best out of a close game and rallied to overcome Vanderbilt in an epic game.
By Stephen Lars
It’s still very early in the NCAA basketball tournament to actually make some prediction in regards to which teams are looking stronger than other. Sure enough, many have already decided who’s going to make it into the NCAA tournament when the March Madness arrive, but after only 7 games this season, some teams are already shinning and showing their potential. The Louisville Cardinals among them. The No. 6 ranked team in the nation managed to keep on fighting till the end to overcome two important obstacles in the game: a 9-point deficit in the second half and a 5-point losing margin in OT. Still, that wasn’t enough to slow down the Cardinals who managed to overcome a very tight Vanderbilt Commodores defense in the last seconds to pull off the come from behind win and take a 62-60 victory at home.
Truth be said, these guys have grown used to playing under pressure and the system seems to work for them.
It’s really not that big of a change of pace for the Cardinals. Truth be said, these guys have grown used to playing under pressure and the system seems to work for them. Consider for a moment that last year the Cardinals rallied from seven or more points down to a win on nine different games. That’s quite an outstanding record, and yet, most fans would probably prefer things to go a little smoother from the beginning and avoid taking a win under such stressful circumstances.
At the end, when all was said and done, it would be the Cardinals Peyton Siva who would break past the whole Commodores defensive lineup to drive into the perimeter for a score when there was only 1.4 seconds left in overtime to clinch the 62-60 win. Interestingly enough, it was Siva himself who had a chance to finish off the game in the second half. But instead of taking the decisive shot, Siva opted for a side court pass to a freshman who eventually missed the shot. He knew he had to make up for it, and he certainly did. With little over a second to play, Vanderbilt went for a long full court pass to try to save the game, but the ball was deflected by the Cardinals defense and time just simply ran out on Vanderbilt, that has now suffered its third loss of the season.
Vanderbilt was ranked 7th nationally, ahead of the Cardinals, during the preseason, but the squad has been dealing with some injuries on key players that have kept them from playing at their best. And it doesn’t look as if things will much better anytime soon. Vanderbilt is still without Festus Ezeli who’s dealing with a right knee injury and is expected to miss two more weeks. AS if that was not enough, now they have lost Josh Henderson who broke his left foot during the game. Henderson is scheduled to have surgery on Monday to put a screw in his foot. It’s still unofficial but rumor has it that Henderson could miss anywhere in between eight to 12 weeks.
The Louisville Cardinals are not too healthy either. As a matter of fact, they are missing even more players then Vandi. The Cardinals are missing Rakeem Buckles with a right knee injury, Stephan Van Treese with some issues on his left knee, Mike Marra has a very similar injury as Van Treese and to finish it off, Wayne Blackshear has a sprained right shoulder and Elisha Justice has a broken nose. It's a tough game, there's no doub about that.
Stephen Lars is a prominent sports blogger and currently covers the Sports news, previews and handicaps for the BetIAS Sportsbook. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.