Louisville 85, Duke 63
Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
Midwest Regional final
The stakes:
A trip to the Final Four to meet Wichita State on Saturday night in Atlanta.
The ramifications:
It's Louisville coach Rick Pitino's seventh date on college basketball's ultimate stage with three different schools. He is one of three coaches (along with Syracuse's Jim Boeheim and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski) ever to reach Final Fours in four different decades. His 1996 Kentucky team won the national title in the last Final Four not held in a football dome (the then-Brendan Byrne Arena in the New Jersey Meadowlands).
Kevin Ware is examined by doctors shortly after his injury.
The narrative:
Inspiration often rises from tragedy in any competitive endeavor, especially an athletic one. Louisville was a better team than Duke anyway. And after watching their teammate Kevin Ware removed on a stretcher after a horrifically graphic compound break of his right tibia late in the first half, the Cardinals gathered themselves and pursued what became a mission in the second half.
What resulted was an unprecedented blowout of the Blue Devils in a regional final. With the Final Four on the line, Mike Krzyzewski's Duke teams had gone 11-1 until yesterday. The only previous loss was a narrow one to Tubby Smith's Kentucky team, eventually the national champs, in 1998.
This was not close. From a 42-42 tie early in the second half, Louisville embarked on a killing 20-4 run ignited by the hellbent drives of guards Peyton Siva and Russ Smith and the pop-out jumpers of big forward Gorgui Dieng. The Cards did the most important damage without the benefit of a single 3-point shot.
When forward Luke Hancock finally hit Louisville's first three with just over 8:00 left, the score was 62-46 and Duke was history.
Duke actually led this game 21-20 with 6:39 to go when Ware leaped to close out on a Duke 3-point shot by Tyler Thornton. Ware descended on the sideline directly in front of his own bench a couple of feet away from the Louisville assistant coaches. He landed awkwardly on his right leg, fell to the floor and cried out in agony. When he lifted his leg, the shin bone or tibia dangled sickeningly with his foot and ankle at the end, clearly broken, with only a layer of skin covering the jagged bone end.
Chase Behanan, wearing Kevin Ware's #5 jersey, and guard Russ Smith (2) hug coach Rick Pitino in celebration of Louisville win over Duke.
The Cardinals' substitutes looked around to their left at moment of Ware's scream and recoiled en masse, clutching and grabbing one another, then covering their faces as if they'd seen a brutal crime scene. Within moments, everyone in the building sat in stunned disbelief while many of the Cardinals burst into tears.
It took 12 minutes for Ware to be treated, lifted onto a stretcher and wheeled off the court. The remainder of the half finally resumed, ending with both teams playing as if in a trance. Louisville managed to take a 1-point lead to the break.
But the second half was a different story. Seemingly empowered and motivated by their mate's tragedy, the Cardinals played with purpose and relentless drive – especially lightning guards Smith and Siva. Duke's slower backcourt simply could not keep up.
While Smith and Siva careened to the rim and took every break opportunity, Dieng hit consecutive jumpers from 17 feet beyond the foul line. Soon it became apparent, the Devils were not only outmanned but in over their heads in the moment. They never made a challenging run.
The stats:
A blur up and down the court, Smith was unguardable, especially in transition. He led everyone with 23 points including 9-of-12 from the foul line. Dieng had a terrific overall game with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Though the Cards did not shoot well from the arc (2-of-13) they more than compensated with 27-of-42 on 2-point shots (.643). In addition, they outhustled the Devils and won the glass battle 35-26.
Mason Plumlee led Duke with 17 points and 12 rebounds. But the other Devils shot a combined 13-of-43 (.302).
The quotes:
“We're all choked up with emotion for him. We'll get him back to normal; we have great doctors, great trainers. But we wanted to get him back to Atlanta. We talked about it at every timeout – bring Kevin home.” – Rick Pitino on his team's inspiration to win the game for Ware.
“Basically, the bone popped out of the skin. It broke in two spots. It'll take a year for him to come back. But he'll come back better than ever. It's the same injury that [former Louisville running back] Michael Bush had in football. Look at the way he's come back [with the NFL's Raiders and Bears].” – Pitino on Ware's immediate prognosis.
DAVID JONES: djones@pennlive.com.