THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996 TAG: 9603180145
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MILWAUKEE LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Louisville's Denny Crum has been to the Sweet 16 14 times before.
He just never thought he'd get there with this team.
The Cardinals, who played all season without three of their projected top eight players and lost another one for 13 games, upset third-seeded Villanova Sunday 68-64 at the Midwest Regional. No. 6 Louisville moves on to a regional semifinal Thursday in Minneapolis against Wake Forest.
``They've worked so hard and have learned to do some things I didn't even think they could do,'' Crum said.
The Cardinals (22-11) lost two players for academic reasons and another to a knee injury in the season's second game. Then big man Samaki Walker missed 13 games - 10 while awaiting an NCAA ruling on a university report about his father's purchase of a car, two because of a secondary rules violation and one with an ankle injury.
``It's really a relief,'' said guard DeJuan Wheat, who scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half. ``We went through some trouble early in the season, so to make it to the Sweet 16 just topped it off.''
Villanova (26-7), meanwhile, was toppled from the tournament early for the second consecutive season. The Wildcats lost Sunday in much the same way they bowed out against Old Dominion last year. All-American Kerry Kittles was ordinary in the second half, and long-range bomber Eric Eberz shot mostly blanks (1 of 10 from the field, 0 of 5 from 3-point range).
``The game could go either way,'' said Kittles, who went scoreless for 18 1/2 minutes starting late in the first half. ``We knew they were tough, so I'm not shocked.''
Kittles had 13 points at halftime, but made just 3 of 7 shots in the second half and finished with 20 points. He had trouble getting into an offensive flow against the Cardinals' switching man-to-man defense.
``We put a lot of stock in our switching defense,'' Crum said. ``A guy like Kittles, if you let him get the ball where he wants it, it's really tough to stop him.''
Villanova's 64 points was its third-lowest total of the season and 12 below its average.
``Our defense kept us in the game until we started hitting field goals, and then our defense did a good job on Kittles,'' Crum said.
The Cardinals fell behind early but took control of the game with a 13-4 run at the end of the first half for a 32-28 lead. They began the second half where they left off, outscoring the Wildcats 17-8 the first seven minutes to take a 49-36 lead.
The Wildcats scrapped back, largely behind the play of center Jason Lawson (23 points, 16 in the second half). Lawson's two free throws with 2:34 remaining trimmed Louisville's lead to 61-59.
Tick Rogers - who was primarily responsible for guarding Kittles in the second half - answered a 15-foot turnaround with 2:04 remaining.
``Tick Rogers' turnaround jumper was the shot of the game,'' Villanova coach Steve Lappas said. ``He made a tough shot, and Eric Eberz was all over him.''
Wheat made as big a shot with 26 seconds left, a 15-foot jumper over Kittles as the shot clock wound down. That gave Louisville a 65-60 lead, and the Cardinals made 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch to wrap it up.
``Our intention was to go farther in this tournament,'' Lappas said.
Instead, it's Louisville going farther than it thought possible. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Villanova's Kerry Kittles dejectedly checks out the scoreboard in
the waning seconds of Sunday's 68-64 loss to Louisville .
by CNB