By Russ Brown
Special to NKyTribune
LOUISVILLE — Like the other eight University of Louisville men’s basketball home games this season, this one appeared to be essentially over at halftime, with Western Kentucky trailing 34-16 after enduring a nightmare 20 minutes.
Well, not quite, as it turned out.
Following a first half in which the Hilltoppers couldn’t shoot, rebound or hold onto the basketball, they rallied early in the second period to close to within seven points and put some pressure on their hosts.
Challenges have been non-existent for the No. 19/16 Cards (9-1) in the KFC Yum! Center, but — thanks mostly to Damion Lee and Trey Lewis — they responded well, turned back WKU’s charge, regained control and cruised to their fourth straight win, 78-56.
However, the afternoon wasn’t all good news as reserve forward/center Mangok Mathiang suffered a broken bone in his left foot midway through the second half and will be out from six to eight weeks. Mathiang will undergo surgery, probably Sunday, to insert a screw in his fifth metatarsal.
Mathiang said he felt a pop, knew something was “messed up”, asked Lee to call a timeout and limped off the floor. He returned a few minutes later wearing a boot on his left foot. He left with five rebounds, three points, a block and an assist in 21 minutes.
UofL coach Rick Pitino said it’s a costly loss for his team because the 6-foot-10 redshirt junior is a team captain and a vocal leader. He has played in all 10 games, averaging 18.6 minutes while contributing 7.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 12 blocks, second only on the team to Chinanu Onuaku’s 15.
Louisville was already down two frontcourt players, with 6-7 freshman Deng Adel (sprained knee) and 7-0 Anas Mahmoud (sprained ankle) sidelined, although Pitino is hopeful that both can return for Tuesday’s Billy Minardi Classic nightcap against Missouri Kansas City.
Mathiang’s injury could mean more playing time for 6-10 freshman Ray Spalding, Mahmoud when he gets healthy, 6-9 sophomore Jaylen Johnson and 7-0 freshman Matz Stockman.
“It’s an unfortunate injury,” Pitino said. “Not only is Mango the best physical player defensively and offensively, but he talks the most. We can replace the physical stuff, but it’s the talking we’ll miss. You replace him with a guy like Ray who doesn’t talk, Anas who doesn’t talk, Jaylen who doesn’t talk, Matz who doesn’t talk. That’s the biggest problem we’ll have, the talking and knowing the schemes. One good thing is, though, we’ve got some depth.”
While agreeing with their coach that it’s a significant loss, Lewis and Lee added that they are confident UofL will be able to fill in adequately for Mathiang’s absence.
“Losing Mango is very tough,” Lewis said. “He’s our best leader, he’s always vocal, always the energy guy, positive. He’s still going to be that guy for us on the sideline; he’s gonna be in everybody’s ear. But we’ll miss his presence on the court. Other people have to step up, and we have a locker room filled with people who are ready for moments like this, so we’re gonna be fine. It falls on everybody to pick up the slack.”
Said Lee: “We’ll miss Mango’s leadership — he’s very vocal — and, of course, his experience and knowledge. He knows what we need. He knows the system best. But next man up. The good thing about our team is we have six bigs who are between 6-9 and 7-foot, so the next guy has to come in and do whatever he can to help out the team.”
Lee and Lewis certainly did their share Saturday. When Western sliced UofL’s lead to 42-35 on Aaron Cosby’s two free throws with 14:34 left and had seized the momentum, Lee and Lewis took over.
The two fifth-year transfers combined to score 12 of the Cards’ next 14 points, and the hosts limited the Toppers to one basket over the next six minutes to take a 58-38 lead. Game over.
“That’s just knowing the time and situation,” Lee says. “When the game gets like that and they start making their run, the key is to stay confident and composed and not let anything get you rattled. Being experienced players like we are, we’ve been in those type of situations and we know what our team needs and when they need it. We’re both decent scorers to say the least. We know how to put the ball in the basket from different angles.”
During the surge, Lee scored on a driving layup for a 3-point play, assisted on Spalding’s dunk, hit a 3-pointer and had two free throws. Lewis scored on back-to-back acrobatic layups. Both finished with 15 points.
“It was good for us to learn how to withstand a run,” Pitino said. “Last year at this time we would get it to 10, (the opponent) would get it to two or four and it would be life and death. We did not let that happen because we are pretty good on offense.”
Quentin Snider led UofL with 16 points and four assists, hitting all three of his treys, and Onuaku posted his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
“It was fun,” Lee said. “I feel like it was a game we needed — hard-fought, physical, a tough game. In the second half they were more aggressive and we had to come back. That was huge for us because everything is just going to get tougher and tougher. Conference play isn’t going to be a joke. Every game is going to be a one- or two-possession game, so we have to make sure we can withstand runs, execute and make our own runs when we need to.”
UofL’s switching defenses dominated the first half. The Toppers (6-5) committed 12 turnovers, missed all eight of their 3-point attempts, shot only 33.3 percent (7-21) overall and were outrebounded 21-13. But they got more aggressive in the second half, beat the Cards downcourt for layups three times in a row and got back in the game — briefly.
“The first half was our best defense of the season,” Pitino said. “We held them to very few good looks and without a 3-pointer, which is outstanding.”
WKU, which was shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc, missed its first 13 threes and wound up 2-of-18. Fredrick Edmond led the Toppers with 14 points and eight rebounds, but leading scorer Justin Johnson was held to 10 points, seven below his average, on 3-of-7 shooting.
“We played on our heels the whole first half,” WKU coach Ray Harper said. “We didn’t attack, played east-to-west. Second half we played a little bit more north-to-south. We’re a better shooting team than 2-for-18 from the three and 10-of-20 from the free throw line. If you’re going to win a game against a team like that, you’ve got to shoot the ball better, and you absolutely have to shoot better from the foul line. But I was proud of the way our kids competed in the second half. After we cut it to seven, all of a sudden it went to 13 and we just never recovered.”
Louisville’s seven straight win in the series put the Cards on top 40-39 for the first time since 1932 when they led 4-3. But the future of the rivalry is in doubt, even though Harper says he would like to see it continue.
“I think it’s been a good series,” Harper says. “I think it’s good for both programs. Obviously, you look at how many non-conference games Louisville has to play and I think playing an in-state team like ourselves is good. We appreciate what Louisville has done — they didn’t have to play us the last eight years. We think it’s good for us as a program. Hopefully, it’s been helpful for them. They’ve been to a couple Final Fours, so it definitely hasn’t hurt.”
The contract between the two schools ends this year and Pitino said he isn’t sure if the series will continue, citing UofL’s participation in the Battle 4Atlantis next season and a possible game against Indiana.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I really haven’t thought about it. We have so many options right now. They’re good friends of ours. I would like to continue playing them. If not next year we’ll continue, I hope at least the following year.”