A low scoring first half led to a pretty close come-back by the Bearcats, who fell short of a great comeback to the unranked Louisville Cardinals. The final score was 50-44.
These former Conference USA teams played decent defense, but as for much of the tournament, Louisville was the better one.
“We did a lot of really good things defensively,” Head Coach Pitino said. “We knew it was going to take defense to win this game.” -ESPN.com
Mar 10, 2012; New York, NY, USA; Louisville Cardinals players celebrate with the trophy after winning the championship game against the Cincinnati Bearcats of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Louisville won 50-44. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE
Guard Peyton Siva was the tournament MVP, and he was the key reason Louisville played so well. He averaged around 15 points and 6 assists for the whole tournament. Atruly special week for this kid, and he deserves it.
Here’s the box score from the game.
| Louisville Cardinals | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Kyle Kuric, G-F | 34 | 4-7 | 2-4 | 3-3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| Chane Behanan, F | 26 | 1-7 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Gorgui Dieng, C | 40 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Chris Smith, G | 25 | 6-10 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 15 |
| Peyton Siva, G | 36 | 4-10 | 0-2 | 2-2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Jared Swopshire, F | 13 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Elisha Justice, G | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Russ Smith, G | 18 | 0-7 | 0-1 | 4-4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Wayne Blackshear, G-F | 6 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |
| 17-48 | 5-14 | 11-12 | 6 | 33 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 11 | 50 | ||
| 35.4% | 35.7% | 91.7% | ||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Sean Kilpatrick, G | 33 | 2-9 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Jaquon Parker, G | 32 | 5-9 | 0-1 | 0-4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| Yancy Gates, F | 36 | 4-10 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Dion Dixon, G | 27 | 2-8 | 0-3 | 0-2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Cashmere Wright, G | 30 | 7-12 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 16 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Justin Jackson, F | 28 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Ge’Lawn Guyn, G | 10 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Cheikh Mbodj, C | 4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |
| 20-51 | 3-14 | 1-7 | 6 | 26 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 44 | ||
| 39.2% | 21.4% | 14.3% | ||||||||||
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