Louisville Pulls Away, Face Questions For Future
LAS VEGAS -- Derrick Caracter converted a breakaway layup with about a minute to go giving the Cardinals a nine-point lead and it was pretty much over from there. Old Dominion didn't score again and Louisville avoided complete disaster to take home a split at the Las Vegas Invitational with a 64-53 win.
Terrance Williams was the spark for the Cardinals, hitting 8-of-11 shots for 20 points while Earl Clark was a beast down low once again, logging 11 points and 15 rebounds.
It's clear the Cardinals have the talent to justify their No. 6 ranking coming into the week. Clark, Williams and Caracter are big-time players. Whether they'll have enough gas to be a contender down the stretch is another question. Coach Rick Pitino doesn't sound confident about the health of injured starters David Padgett and Juan Palacios, a notoriously slow healer.
"I'm a doubting Thomas with both guys," Pitino said of their prospects of playing. "I'm moving on like we're not getting them back."
Initial reports had Palacios returning after a few weeks, but it's been six weeks since he sprained his MCL and Pitino said he's nowhere close to coming back. Padgett may not return at all with a fractured knee cap. If he does return, it won't be until tournament time. Now the Cardinals are faced with running shorthanded for the bulk of the season.
"I just think they're playing too many minutes," Pitino said of his current team. "I can play walk-ons or just let them be tired."
He's got a tough task on his hands.
As for the Monarchs, they come away from Las Vegas with two losses, but two solid performances against very good teams. They gave top-ranked North Carolina all it could handle on offense and stayed with the Cardinals until the waning minutes. In a tournament that had attention focused on Carolina and Louisville, ODU and BYU have proven their own mettle so far.
Now BYU gets another chance as it gets ready to take on the Tar Heels in the championship game scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PST.
