LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville's 54-year run of basketball in Freedom Hall came to an end yesterday afternoon.
And nobody in the record crowd of 20,135 - not the all-time great players, not legendary coach Denny Crum, not current Rick Pitino or his Cardinals players - could have dreamed up a better scenario to say goodbye to the old barn.
Everything came up roses. Louisville smothered Syracuse, the nation's No.1 team, with a dominating second-half run to post a convincing 78-68 win. The Cardinals (20-11, 11-7 Big East) also took themselves firmly off the bubble and solidified an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
And they got one of the most memorable individual Freedom Hall performances in history from little-used sophomore Kyle Kuric.
Kuric, a sophomore averaging 3.5 points and 13.4 minutes a game, played three scoreless minutes in the first half. But he went off in the final 20 minutes, scoring 22 points on a dizzying array of dunks and three-pointers. He hit his first six shots from the floor as Louisville quickly erased a 35-30 halftime deficit and took control of the game.
"He put on a great performance that he'll remember for the rest of his life," Pitino said.
Kuric hit 4 of 6 three-point shots, consistently beat the Orange down the court and threw down four dunks.
His back-to-back threes extended Louisville's lead to 63-54 with 7:46 remaining, and he had three slams in the final four minutes. The first gave the Cardinals their first double-digit lead (71-61), the second made it 75-61, and he added an exclamation-point throw-down with 44 seconds left.
Kuric might not even have been in the game had Louisville not lost starting guard Jerry Smith (thumb injury) and starting forward Reginald Delk (cramps).
"It's the kind of game every kid dreams of," Kuric said. "I got my opportunity and just tried to make the most of it."
Syracuse (28-3, 15-3), which clinched the Big East crown last week, was swept by Louisville in the season series.
"Sometimes in this league it just comes down to matchups," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "Louisville is a zone (defense) team. They practice against it every day, and they're the best team in the league against our zone."
Louisville got open looks in the first half against the Syracuse zone but was just 6 of 24 from three-point territory. The Cardinals finished the game 12 of 40 on threes.
"I told them at halftime to keep shooting," Pitino said.
After shooting 51.4 percent overall in the first half, Syracuse cooled off considerably in the final 20 minutes, hitting on just 12 of 33 (36.4 percent). Andy Rautins, its best perimeter shooter, went just 1 of 8 on threes. And after outrebounding Louisville 22-15 in the first half, Syracuse was beaten 27-14 on the boards in the second.
"That's what we do well: rebound the ball," Boeheim said. "I thought Louisville just went after it harder and did a better job on the boards than we did."
Kuric was mobbed by fans, media and former Cardinals stars after the game. When asked if guys like Darrell Griffith, Rodney McCray and Billy Thompson even knew who he was, Kuric replied, "They do now."