Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991 TAG: 9103080045
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Cardinals came to the Roanoke Civic Center shockingly seeded last in the 1991 conference tournament. They still have never failed to reach the semifinals.
For the first time in 16 years of tournament history, last beat first Memphis State eliminates Tulane. B2. Tournament notes. B2 when Louisville upset regular-season champion Southern Mississippi 83-76 in Thursday's first-round opener.
The Cardinals' advancement into tonight's semifinal opener against Memphis State wasn't as shocking as the seedings say. Louisville (13-15) has won four straight. The 22nd-ranked Golden Eagles (21-7) will head into the NCAA Tournament with four losses in their past five games.
If a Metro with Louisville last seems upside down, consider that in eight of the past 12 games of the league regular season, the team with the worse Metro record won.
The reason Southern Miss was the first top seed to lose its first Metro tournament game was right under the basket, 240 pounds of sinew and frustration.
Louisville wouldn't let burly Clarence Weatherspoon, the league's two-time player of the year, get the ball. There were other times when the Golden Eagles just didn't look for a guy who is as hard to find as Charles Barkley.
Weatherspoon managed only nine shots, five of those on offensive-rebound tries. In Southern Miss' two regular-season victories over the Cardinals, Weatherspoon was 19-of-26.
"What we were trying to do was front him and keep him from getting the ball in his hands," Louisville coach Denny Crum said of Weatherspoon. "We did a pretty darn good job, but trying to front him and keep him off the boards is almost impossible. I thought we did a good job on lobs to him, too."
It's tough to say how the subject of Louisville's defensive attention felt about not being 'Spoon-fed. Eagles coach M.K. Turk gave all but two of his senior players the choice of hanging around after the loss or bolting the joint. They left.
It didn't help Southern Miss that 6-foot-11 center Daron Jenkins didn't give Weatherspoon any help inside. Jenkins ripped Louisville in the two earlier meetings, too. This time, Jenkins got only three shots and committed five turnovers.
"It's no secret that Daron's not playing real well right now," Turk said.
The Golden Eagles shot 49 percent, but committed 24 turnovers, which Louisville converted into 29 points. Everick Sullivan provided for Louisville what Southern Miss could have used - perimeter-shooting success. Sullivan, a junior averaging 14.9 points, finished with a game-high 28 points.
"This was a tough loss, make no mistake about it," Turk said.
Louisville took control with a 16-2 run that pushed the Cardinals' lead to 57-40 with 11:46 left. Sullivan and guards LaBradford Smith and James Brewer shredded the Golden Eagles' passive defense.
Turk's team tried to come back on three-pointers - by now Weatherspoon had been sagged into oblivion - and trimmed the Louisville lead to 68-62 with 4:18 left. Then Sullivan stopped the Eagles with back-to-back 3-pointers from the left wing.
"I'm playing better team ball now than I was playing," Sullivan said. "The last four or five games, my shooting was off."
Starting with a Feb. 13 loss at Virginia Tech, Sullivan was 20-of-63 in the last seven games of the regular season.
"Some games he's off and some days he's on," Southern Miss guard Darrin Chancellor said of Sullivan. "Every time he plays us, he's on just like today."
Louisville has handled its season of going from Metro big dog to underdog well. The Cardinals have continued to play hard, and now they have extended what Turk called a two-week stretch "that's been the most difficult stretch I've had in coaching."
Southern Miss was the first top-seeded team to lose its Metro tournament opener since fourth-place Virginia Tech, making its conference debut, upset 1979 regular-season champion Louisville in the semifinals.
"It's not easy to talk about [where the Cardinals have been this season]," Crum said. "We haven't been in that position before."
They have been, however, where they are today, in the Metro semifinals, 15 previous times.
see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB