The Louisville Cardinals went into Sundays game against the second rated Syracuse Orangemen with their heads down. When the game was over, there heads were raised with achievement of a much needed upset victory.
Louisville was coming off their worse performance of the season in a embarassing 74-55 loss to St. Johns on Thursday night. So you would figure Louisville would have no chance, think again.
Syracuse was also riding a eleven game winning streak to boot and were playing in fornt of their home crowd in the Carrier Dome. I think the only people who gave the Cardinals a chance were the players and coach Rick Pitino.
Louisville went into the Dome against all odds and pulled off the major upset 66-60 leaving Orangemen fans stunned. The Cardinals were lead by Edgar Sosa who had twelve points and five assists and Samardo Samuels scored all eight of his points down the stretch to seal the victory.
The Cards only shot 42% form the field and a miserable 9-17 from the free throw line. This kind of play on the road against the second-rated team will usually send you back home with a loss. But the Orangeman shot a poultry 41% and was only 5-19 from beyond the arc. The Cardinals escape with the victory, and they will take it any way they can get it.
Louisville needed this victory on their resume’ as they had not had a impressive victory to speak of so far. This will serve as a signature victory in their quest to get invited to the big dance in March. They stand at 16-9 and 7-5 in the Big East right now.
This victory was their fifth in a row over Syracuse. Louisville has their number and they are very thankful for that. While this upset does not guarantee any invitation to the NCAA tournament, it will go along way towards it . Beating the number two team in the nation on the road is something to hang your hat on. Louisville got a much needed win on Sunday.


