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University of Louisville
TULANE
No. 8 Louisville Overwhelms Tulane, 79-58
January 17, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Jan 17, 2004
Box Score?|? Quotes | Coach Pitino Audio
By BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Louisville relied on defense to overcome its worst shooting performance of the season.
Luke Whitehead scored 16 points and Louisville's unrelenting pressure forced 23 turnovers in a 79-58 victory over Tulane on Saturday night.
The eighth-ranked Cardinals (13-1, 4-0 Conference USA) shot a season-low 35.4 percent from the field in their 13th consecutive victory. But they forced Tulane into two key scoring droughts and converted Green Wave turnovers into 22 points.
"Our defense saves us," said forward Larry O'Bannon, who had three of Louisville's 14 steals. "Our defense is the one thing we can always count on."
Whitehead scored five points during a 9-0 run that put Louisville ahead 57-38 with 12:01 left. The Green Wave never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.
Tulane (6-7, 0-3) went scoreless for stretches of four and six minutes and shot just 37 percent.
Taquan Dean scored 15 points for Louisville, and O'Bannon had 13. Otis George added eight points and 12 rebounds.
Francisco Garcia, Louisville's leading scorer at 15.2 points per game, was held to eight points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field. Dean went just 5-of-16, including 3-of-9 from 3-point range.
Garcia fouled out for the second straight game.
"I've just got to keep my hands to myself," Garcia said. "I didn't help the team at all tonight. I wasn't playing smart."
Louisville coach Rick Pitino said his team took good shots against a steady dose of matchup zone by Tulane. But he said his top two scorers were pressing on both ends.
"Francisco and Taquan just have to learn from this," Pitino said. "They tried to do too much. When guys don't play well offensively, they try too hard defensively and start fouling."
The offensive performance left the Cardinals searching for answers heading into their showdown at home Wednesday night against No. 10 Cincinnati.
"We've been struggling with our offense," O'Bannon said. "If I was grading us in this game, I would give us a C. I thought the effort was there, we always play hard, but we didn't play smart."
Quincy Davis led Tulane with 16 points. Marcus Kinzer had 15, and Wayne Tinsley added 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Louisville, coming off a victory at East Carolina on Thursday night, was sluggish early but eventually wore down Tulane.
"We may have been a little fatigued to come back and have only one day to prepare for this game," Whitehead said.
Tulane opened by hitting four of six shots, including 3-pointers by Kinzer and Tinsley, to take a 10-3 lead.
"We came out with great confidence to start out," Tulane coach Shawn Finney said.
The Green Wave cooled off considerably from there, making just five field goals in the last 17 minutes of the half. Tulane committed 12 turnovers during that span.
The Cardinals shot just 8-of-28 on 3-pointers. But they hit 25 of 35 free throws, while Tulane was 13-of-24.
Louisville pulled ahead for good at 16-14 on Whitehead's layup off a Tulane turnover, sparking a 10-3 run highlighted by Dean's 3-pointer and layup.
The Cardinals' largest first-half lead came on Dean's 12-footer with 3 seconds left to make it 42-29 at halftime.
