The Louisville Cardinals have been one of the most successful NCAA basketball teams in recent years, but it has been a week to forget for Rick Pitino's squad.
Louisville lost for the second straight time on Tuesday night, falling 73-64 to Villanova on the road at the Wells Fargo Center. The upset was one of the biggest wins for the school in recent history after missing the NCAA tournament last season.
As the clock stretched down to zero, the Villanova fans and students rushed the court to celebrate, something the team hasn't been able to do over the past couple years. According to the Associated Press, the win came exactly eight years after another huge win for head coach Jay Wright, when unranked Villanova beat No. 2 Kansas at the Wells Fargo Center in 2005.
"Great win for us," Wright said.
Guard Achraf Yacoubou only scored one basket in the game, but he made it count, as he hit a 3-pointer with 3:57 left to break the tie with the Cardinals. The bucket helped the Wildcats put the lead out of reach for Louisville, who lost for the second game in a row after falling to Syracuse 70-68 on Saturday.
Villanova improved to 12-7 on the season and reached 3-3 in the Big East. The Wildcats were up by 10 at one point in the first half, but had to rally from behind late in the game to earn the victory. The Cardinals had an 11-game winning streak prior to the loss to Syracuse and now must prepare for a tough matchup on the road against Georgetown.
"We know how good they are," Wright said of Louisville. "We still think that team can win a national championship."
Ryan Arcidiacono led the way for Villanova with 15 points, while JayVaughn Pinkston and Mouphtaou Yarou each added 11.
"I just felt we broke through tonight," Arcidiacono said. "We just kept grinding, kept grinding."
The Wildcats are hoping to continue their strong play this season as they try to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011. Last year the team started 5-0, but struggled greatly while losing 19 of the next 27, finishing with a 5-13 record in the Big East Conference. The team won over Rutgers in the first round of the Big East Tournament, before losing to South Florida in the second round.
Following the loss, the Wildcats were not invited to the NIT Tournament and missed out on an NCAA tournament bid. Wright led the team to seven straight 20-plus win season before last year, including a 30-8 season in 2008 when the team made it to the NCAA Sweet 16. In 2009 the team made it to the Final Four, but has since struggled.
"This one was tough for us, because we really needed this win, we needed to get our confidence level back up," Blackshear said. "Now we have to go back, and try to pull together as a team."
The Cardinals struggled in the middle against Villanova, although the team got a double-double of 15 points and 13 assists from star Peyton Siva. Wayne Blackshear added 18 points, but the Cardinals looked nothing like the No. 1-ranked team they were earlier in the year, shooting only 50 percent from the free throw line and 40 percent overall from the field.
"We did a lot of things wrong tonight, and they did a lot of things right," Cardinals coach Rick Pitino said. "It was really a simple answer as to why we lost. Our free throws were a turnover. Our foul shooting was despicable. Very simple tonight."
Louisville at one point missed five straight free throws, which allowed the Wildcats to stick around. With the game tied at 53-all, Yacoubou got his chance to be a hero and hit a baseline 3 in front of Villanova's bench. On the following possession, James Bell followed with another 3-pointer for a six-point lead and the upset win only 2:50 away.
"This place is magical," Wright said.
The crowd at the arena was smaller than usual, but the Wildcats fed off the energy from those in attendance. Early in the game the Wildcats had a 10-point lead, but let it get away when Louisville went on a 12-0 run. With over eight minutes left in the game the Cardinals had a 52-46 lead, but went cold down the stretch, scoring just 12 points the rest of the way.
Chane Behanan had a rough game for the Cardinals, going only 3-for-8 while missing five shots in a row at one point. He helped tie the score at 53-all, but struggled from the line just like his team did.
"It just wasn't going in; I don't know why," said Behanan, who played only five minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. "... I mean, I blew the game for us."
Louisville started off the season hot, wining five straight games and looking like the best in the country, but they lost to Duke on Nov. 24, dropping them down in the rankings. The Cardinals played much better over the next month, winning 11 straight games against tough opponents like Connecticut and Memphis, but has now fallen twice in a row.
Pitino's job is not on the line yet, but if he struggles more during the rest of the season, that question may come up again. Apart from Georgetown, the Cardinals still have tough matchups against Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.