National Basketball Association
Louisville 78, Jacksonville St. 63
When: 2:45 PM ET, Friday, March 17, 2017
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Officials:
# Tony Henderson, # Robert Riley, # Mike Roberts
Attendance:
18255
By The Sports Xchange
INDIANAPOLIS -- When Louisville is doing Louisville things -- rebounding, forcing turnovers, scoring second-chance points and getting balanced scoring -- No. 2 seed in the Midwest Regional is very difficult to beat.
Such was the case Friday when the Cardinals rolled to a 78-63 victory over No. 15 seed Jacksonville State in the opening round. Louisville (25-8) outrebounded the Gamecocks 36-23, enjoyed a 44-14 points in the paint advantage, forced 14 turnovers and won the second-chance points battle 24-3.
The Cardinals got 18 points from Mangok Mathiang and steadily pulled away from Jacksonville State (20-15).
The victory sets up a rematch of the 2013 NCAA championship game against Michigan on Sunday. The No. 7 seed Wolverines advanced earlier Friday with a 92-91 victory against Oklahoma State.
Louisville got 16 points each from Deng Adel and Quentin Snider. Jacksonville State got 30 from Norbertas Giga, who made 11 of 13 field-goal attempts, including 5 of 5 from 3-point range.
"I thought the shot selection was good in the first half because our first four paint touches were point-blank range at the rim with Jaylen Johnson and Mangok," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "I mean, Mangok has come a long, long way. About a month and a half ago, he started being the old Mangok where he drop-steps both shoulders, goes up and under and does a lot of really good things,"
The Cardinals got a three-point play from Donovan Mitchell with 5:30 remaining to extend their lead to 68-52.
Louisville used an 18-3 advantage in second-chance points and an 18-10 edge in points in the paint to build a 38-31 halftime lead.
"Coach has made a big point of crashing the glass offensively all of the time," Mathiang said. "It worked out a lot for us today. I was tipping some missed shots, and that gave us some second-chance points."
Deng had 10 first-half points for the Cardinals, Snider had nine and Mathiang added seven. Louisville shot only 36.1 percent (13 of 36) but enjoyed a 21-13 advantage on the glass and forced nine opening-half turnovers.
"This game was determined by our inability to rebound the ball," Jacksonville State coach Ray Harper said. "Their length and their athleticism caused us some problems. But I think Giga showed today that he has a lot of ability. This game is about getting better, and that is what we did today as a team."
Giga led Jacksonville State with 13 first-half points, and Tucker added eight. The Gamecocks shot 59.1 percent in the first half (13 of 22).
"My teammates kept finding me," Giga said. "And I kept shooting. The ball kept going in. Although I think we did a good job in the first half, we gave them too many rebounds. Louisville is a really good team."
NOTES: This was the second meeting ever between Louisville and Jacksonville State with the Cardinals also winning 88-39 on Nov. 17, 2014 in Louisville's KFC Yum! Center ... Jacksonville State was making its first NCAA tournament appearance following its first Division I conference championship ... The Gamecocks defeated the Ohio Valley Conference's top two teams -- Belmont and Tennessee-Martin -- to win the conference tourney ... This is the second time Jacksonville State has won as many as 20 games in a season ... The Gamecocks won the 1985 Division II championship, defeating South Dakota State, 74-73 ... Louisville is one of nine ACC teams competing in the tournament ... The Cardinals are 31-10 in their 41 most recent games played in March ... Cardinals coach Rick Pitino is 54-18 in NCAA tournament games, which includes two NCAA championships and seven Final Fours.
Top Game Performances
| Jacksonville St. |
|
Louisville |
|
Norbertas Giga 30 |
Scoring |
Mangok Mathiang 18 |
|
Malcolm Drumwright 6 |
Assists |
Donovan Mitchell 5 |
|
Norbertas Giga 9 |
Rebounds |
Donovan Mitchell 10 |
|
Norbertas Giga 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Donovan Mitchell 3 |
|
Malcolm Drumwright 1 |
Steals |
Donovan Mitchell 3 |
|
Christian Cunningham 5 |
Blocks |
Anas Mahmoud 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Jacksonville St.
|
63 |
50.0 |
10-19 |
7-8 |
14 |
19 |
8 |
1 |
14 |
| Louisville
|
78 |
48.4 |
5-15 |
11-14 |
14 |
33 |
5 |
7 |
6 |
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