Louisville received a career-high 31 points from freshman point guard Edgar Sosa, the fifth most in the school‘s NCAA Tournament history, but it wasn’t enough as No.3 seed Texas A&M was able to sneak out of a U of L fan dominated Rupp Arena with a 72-69 win over the Cardinals.
Texas A&M All-American point guard Acie Law scored 26 points, including 17 in the second half to lead the Aggies to victory.
U of L head coach Rick Pitino was forced to direct the majority of the game with his two big men, David Padgett and Derrick Caracter, in foul trouble. Padgett went scoreless in 17 minutes of play, while Caracter was limited to 8 points in just 7 minutes of game time action.
Despite not having the inside presence that it expected to have, the Cardinals still battled throughout and held a 65-60 lead with 5:19 remaining in the game. Despite not scoring a field goal during the games final 4:25, the Aggies outscored the Cardinals 12-5 down the stretch, with 10 points coming from the free throw line.
Trailing by one with 29 seconds remaining, Sosa drove to the basket and drew a foul on Law. After shooting a perfect 15-of-15 from the line prior to the foul, Sosa came up short on both attempts and a rebound foul by Juan Palacios sealed the Cardinals fate.
Sophomore Terrence Williams was the only other Cardinal in double figures with 17 points.
NOTES:
Facing one of the nation’s top defensive squads, U of L connected on 44.4% of it’s field goal attempts, but was limited to just 5-of-18 from beyond the three-point arc.
51 total fouls were called in the game, 28 on Louisville. A total of 70 free throws were attempted.
U of L lost for just the second time when leading with less than five minutes remaining.
Louisville had just five assists in the game.
The Cardinals dropped to 6-10 on the season when scoring less than 70 points. The team was a perfect 17-0 when reaching the 70 point mark.
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