Louisville Overcomes First Half 12-Point Deficit To Rally & Defeat Michigan For 2013 Men’s Division I Title.
The 75th edition of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship concluded last night with an instant classic game featuring the Louisville Cardinals defeating the Michigan Wolverines 82-76 to win the 2013 title. We’ve never witnessed the amount of stories leading up to a championship in a single game (the injury of Kevin Ware, Rick Pitino’s induction into the Basketball hall of fame and chasing his 2nd championship, whether Trey Burke would live up to superstar standards and Michigan finally winning 20 years later after the “Fab 5”. All of these stories entailed for a Monday night showdown that went down live from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Heading into last night’s game, Michigan was looking to shock the world, led by captain Trey Burke, who had only 7 points in his previous game against Syracuse. He started out the game completely on fire, scoring Michigan’s first 7 points, which included a three-pointer to set the tone for the game. Doing so, he let the Cardinals know he was game-ready, but would quickly pick up two fouls forcing head coach John Beilein to look to the bench and bring in Spike Albrecht.
Spike would be the surprise of the game, scoring all 17 of his points in the first half, going 4-5 from long range —finishing behind Trey Burke, who led the team with 24 points. Not phased by Michigan’s 12-point lead, game MVP Luke Hancock would lead Louisville back to within striking distance knocking down four consecutive 3-pointers before the half’s end to come withing a point.
OS REWIND: Kevin Ware Interview With ESPN
Senior guard, Peyton Siva would lead Louisville back on the court after halftime hitting Wayne Blackshear with an assist for a three, giving them their the first lead of the game. Michigan would hang around, but by the four minute mark, the Cardinals had a double digit lead and the imminent celebration was bound to happen.
Trey Burke scored 17 points in the second half, but bad decision making, coaching and (most of all) horrible officiating, led to Michigan’s demise down the stretch. Spike Albrecht, who was the Spartan’s spark off the bench in the first half, was held to no points in the second half, as Burke had minimal help from Glenn Robinson III and Tim Hardaway Jr., both scoring only 12 points. Russ Smith who had been the Cardinals leading scorer throughout the season went 3-16 shooting, having a horrendous game with only 9 points.
This was definitely one of the best finales we’ve seen for college basketball in quite some time, with the stories surrounding Louisville making it more memorable. Kevin Ware (seen in the main picture above) was hoisted up to cut down the net after the game, erasing the memory of his injury to enjoy the celebrations with his teammates.
The big story of the game was Rick Pitino, becoming the first college coach in NCAAB history to win two national championships with more than one team. We really enjoyed the upsets seen during the madness of March, making for one most memorable tournament’s we’ve ever seen.
See you next year!