The Louisville Cardinals saw their road to repeat as national champions take a small hit when they lost to Connecticut. The Huskies might have the recent success over the Cardinals, but it is Louisville that owns the serious and look to do the same again. Just one week ago, Louisville blew out Connecticut and are poised to do the same in the AAC championship game.
Louisville is playing their best basketball of the season right now as they make their way into the NCAA tournament. The team has a history of coming on strong in the final weeks of the season. In 2012, they won the title after winning four straight. In 2013 they put together 16-game win streak to win the title. Now, they are fresh off a crushing win over Rutgers and Houston to reach the finals of the fleeting AAC conference.
The Huskies are hoping to bounce back against Louisville after losing 81-48 last week on the road. It was the team's eighth straight regular-season loss to the Cardinals. Russ Smith continues to lead Louisville against the Huskies. He put up a carer-high 13 assists in the two team's last meeting. Prior to that, he had 23 points in the January win, the only player to reach double digit points in that game. He followed that up by putting up 42 points on Friday.
In their blowout loss, Connecticut show a season-low 13.6 percent from beyond the arc, but improved that by making 10 of 20 long range shots against Memphis and then connected on 7 of 13 against Cincinnati. They will rely heavily on conference player of the year Shabazz Napier who is putting up solid numbers in the tournament, but has struggled against the Cardinals in his college history.
