by David Cassilo / @dcassilo
A bizarre finish, a questionable post-game tweet and a major injury were all just part of the story in Sunday’s 62-59 overtime victory for Louisville over Pittsburgh.
We’ll start at the end, where Louisville seemingly had the game wrapped up after a Kyle Kuric fast break dunk with 0.5 seconds remaining put the Cardinals up by five. But, thinking the game was over, a male cheerleader ran onto the floor, grabbed the ball and threw it in the air. This resulted in a technical foul, and Ashton Gibbs calmly hit two free throws to close the gap to three. A subsequent desperation half court heave fell short, Louisville survived the game and the cheerleader survived what would have been an irate arena.
After the game, Gibbs still did not have too much respect for Louisville, saying in a since deleted tweet: “No way we shouldve lost to them bums smh.”
Gibbs later followed that tweet by saying:
“I apologize if my tweet offended any players, coaches, friends, or family members of the Louisville basketball program. I consider myself a competitior and we were outplayed tonight in a heated battle between two top Big East teams. I wish them the best on the rest of their season and we look forward to redeeming ourselves next game. Let’s Go Pitt.”
While the win for Louisville was crucial in terms of securing a double-bye for the Big East tournament, it did not come without consequence. The Cardinals lost sophomore forward Rakeem Buckles for the season with a torn ACL. Buckles was averaging 6.8 ppg and 6.1 rpg in just over 18 minutes of action a night.
