Louisville 72, Wichita State 68
Why Louisville won: The Cardinals struggled to turn the Shockers over for most of the game and got a combined shooting effort of 7 of 26 from Russ Smith and Peyton Siva but still pulled it out via the clutch shooting of reserves Luke Hancock and walk-on Tim Henderson.
The Turning Point: Louisville went from its zone to a man to man in the second half and it took away the WSU rhythm it had played with vs. the zone — then went back to the zone in time to force a key 24-second violation.
The Star: Hancock (20 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals in 31 minutes).
The X Factor: Chane Behanan finally gave Louisville a post presence (10 points, all in the second half).
It takes the heart of a champion to find a way to win when you are struggling and not playing your best game. Hancock was huge.
The whole game shifted at the 13 minute mark of the second half when Baker of Wich State passed up the open 3 from the top of the key. That decision, not even a statistic, was the symbolic play that took Wich State from trying to win the game to trying to not lose the game. Instead of Baker taking “his shot” he dumped it inside and the big man got fouled, missed the front end of of 1 and 1 and the Shockers mojo was gone.