Louisville-Wichita State in review

Result: The basket took back the lead from Louisville after the Cardinals had used heavy full-court pressure to go on a 9-0 run after falling behind 8-0 to start the game. Louisville had forced four turnovers by the 13:04 mark, just before Wiggins entered the game. Handling the pressure better from that point forward, the Shockers didn't turn the ball over for the remainder of the half and well into the second.

The Shockers used it a few more times with some success to alleviate pressure. Coach Gregg Marshall called it “a Hal Nunnally special” after the longtime coach at Randolph-Macon College.

Quote: "When you do that, that takes away a guy that could possibly come and help inbound the ball. Against Louisville, they have five defenders guarding four guys, so you'd better be very diligent in getting the ball inbounds. That's the first key." - Marshall

Starting the rally

Situation: Taking a pass from forward Luke Hancock, Louisville walk-on guard Tim Henderson spotted up for a 3-pointer from the right wing with 13:00 remaining to cut Wichita State's lead to 47-38.

Result: The basket by Henderson, who was given extra minutes because of the injury to guard Kevin Ware, started the Cardinals' climb out of their 12-point hole. Henderson followed it with another 3-pointer on the next possession to trim the deficit to six and give the Cardinals a huge momentum boost. To that point, Louisville had made 5 of 19 3-point attempts. Starting with Henderson, the Cardinals made four of their last six.

Quote: "The players said they weren't surprised about making those back-to-back threes. They're being very kind.. I was shocked. Not shocked that he made the, just that he had the gumption to take them, then take it again." - Louisville coach Rick Pitino

Not giving up

Situation: After a turnover by Wichita State guard Fred VanVleet, Shockers forward Carl Hall stole the ball back from Louisville guard Peyton Siva, winning the ball in a scramble on the floor. Forward Cleanthony Early drove to the basket, was fouled and threw in a shot in the lane that went in with 6:06 to play. He made the free throw for a three-point play.

Result: The score gave Wichita State its final lead of the game, at 58-56, and showed the Shockers' continued fight even as the momentum swung toward Louisville.

Quote: "I just saw two defenders and I tried to attack the middle of them, and they reached in and the ref called a foul. I tried to put it up as quick as possible just in case it goes in. It happened to go in." - Early

Clutch held ball

Situation: After Hancock missed the second of two free throws with 8.8 seconds remaining, Wichita State's Ron Baker grabbed the rebound, but Hancock reached in to get a hand on the ball. It brought a held-ball call, with the possession arrow favoring Louisville, allowing the Cardinals to retain possession.

Result: The play by Hancock essentially decided the game. The Shockers were down three and, with Baker's rebound, had the ball with a chance to tie with a 3-pointer. Instead, Louisville got the ball back, Wichita State had to foul Russ Smith, and his one free throw with 4.9 seconds left increased the lead to four points to seal the victory for the Cardinals.

Quote: "I was forced to dribble the ball because I lost my balance. I thought the ball was loose before the whistle was blown. I tapped it to Malcolm (Armstead). (But) they already called jump ball." - Baker

ANALYSIS

Player of the game

Luke Hancock, Louisville. The Cardinals' team captain scored 20 points off the bench on 6-for-9 shooting, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range. He was particularly clutch at game's end, scoring 13 points in the final 11:33. He also made the assist on the first 3-pointer by Henderson that began the Cardinals' rally.

“He didn’t get named team captain for nothing before he even played a game with us,” Silva said. “He showed his leadership out there tonight. He showed his leadership when Kevin got injured. He’s an all-around great player and person. Tonight, he showed the world what he’s capable of doing.”

Coaching decisions

Louisville’s Rick Pitino

Situation: Down 43-32 at the 14:16 mark, Pitino called timeout.

Result: The lead grew to 12 points less than a minute later, the Shockers' largest of the game, but the Cardinals' pressure defense began to take hold shortly thereafter.

Quote: "We just made some adjustments and said, 'We're going to rotate a little bit differently,'" Pitino said. "What happens in the press, if you play an extremely well-coached team, you may have one run per game. If you're going against guys that are freshmen, not great ballhandlers, then you may have three or four runs. But we had an extended run there and they don't turn it over."

Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall

Situation: Point guard Malcolm Armstead commits his fourth foul with 5:22 left in the game. Marshall takes him out of the game.

Result: Rather than risk having him foul out and not be able to finish the game with him. The score was 58-57 in Wichita State's favor at that point. Marshall subbed him in and out shortly after, but the Shockers could have used their point guard in the face of Wichita State's heavy pressure.

Quote: "I don't think there was any debate," Marshall said. "We discussed it. But we have to then try to keep him in as much as we can on offensive possessions. So any time we were subbing offense/defense, but only on dead balls. So when they scored, there were a couple of times when we would have loved to have had him in, but we didn't want him to get his fifth foul with two, three minutes to go."

BY THE NUMBERS

4-5 Louisville's record entering the game when not leading at halftime. The Cardinals were 29-0 with the halftime lead.

6-for-17 Russ Smith's performance from the field. He was 5-for-12 from the free-throw line, finishing with 21 points.

26:21 Elapsed time between Wichita State's fourth and fifth turnovers. The Shockers committed seven in the final 6:43.

Etc.

Smith is an 82.4 percent shooter from the free-throw line, and somehow was 5-for-12 from the line Saturday on top of his 6-for-17 effort from the field. “Obviously, I knew it wasn’t my night,” he said. “But I was just so happy to see everyone else contributing for us to win.” … Quite a day for Pitino – a horse that he has a stake in, Goldencents, won the Santa Anita Derby to earn a spot in the Kentucky Derby. The derby will be held at Chuchill Downs in Louisville May 4. … Cleanthony Early had a monster game for the Shockers. He had a game-high 24 points on 14 shots to go with 10 rebounds, four offensive. He had 15 of his points after halftime, including nine in the final 6:06. It was his fourth double-double of the season and the most he’d scored since bagging 39 against Southern Illinois Jan. 9.