Luke Hancock’s beard became a symbol of great superstition during the Cards 16 game winning streak and Championship season a year ago. Other players and fans including myself decided to grow out our beards in solidarity with Luke because we started to believe in the power of that magical facial hair.
Coach Pitino Talks about the team growing beards at the 2:41 mark of this video:
Last Friday Coach Pitino and his staff decided to throw caution to the wind and just maybe reclaim some of the mojo that the magical facial hair provided last year. The Coaching staff and the players agreed before Friday nights game against Rutgers that they would not shave again until they lost a game. Call it superstition or just call it a coincidence, but the Cardinals have played the two best and most complete games of the season since deciding not to shave.
Last night Coach Pitino talked about the no shave pledge and throwed out a challenge to the media in attendance during his post game press conference “We are going to have fun, we dont know how long it will last, if you were worth any grain of salt, you would join in.”
I’m in and yes I do believe that things like this can be great motivation especially during the grind of a long season. And I challenge all of CardNation to join in and let’s grow our beards out until we cut down those nets again in Dallas. I think this team has another magical run left in them and I can put up with some itchy facial hair to prove it. Let’s go Cardinal fans are you in? #NoShaveTillDallas
Tonight marked the end of the Louisville and Rutgers series and the Cardinals sent them out in style by handing them a 48 point loss 102-54. The Cardinals finish this series with a 13-1 advantage. Louisville improves to 21-4, 10-2 in the AAC and have now won 32 straight over unranked teams.
Coach Pitino said after the game “We’ve kept our focus and we’re getting better as a basketball team. I like what I see.” And this game had just about everything you’d want out of a great performance and this team has now put together two great back to back victories. And some may argue that the competition level wasn’t that high, but Temple just beat #23 SMU today on the very same floor they got manhandled by Louisville on Friday night. And this Rutgers team isn’t that great but a 48 point conference win is impressive no matter who you play. Coach Pitino on the teams win “Our guys just nailed their focus…they just focus in on winning the game.” I tweeted out tonight that the mojo right now with this group of guys is really good. Coach Pitino won over this team on that nine day off stretch and he has them playing inspired basketball at the perfect time. Coach Pitino: “In the dog days of February we have to make sure we have fun, it’s a tough month.”
Just how great was this night from a statistical standpoint? The Cardinals shot 56.7% from the field, 53.3% from the three point line, and hit 16 three point shots. 12 guys got their names in the scoring column tonight and were led by Luke Hancock who had a career high 25 points. Pitino said about Luke after the game “Luke is a big catalyst for us like Francisco was for us years ago.” Also with a big night was Terry Rozier who had 16 points and was 4-7 from three. Stephan and Mango have stepped up recently and tonight they combined for 16 points with 9 rebounds from that 5 spot. Pitino said after the game “We’re getting better.” Says he puts Louisville in mix of top-tier teams and credits improvement of Mangok and Stephan. And the guy we are now calling the “Baby faced assassin” David Levtich stole the end of the show with a three point shot and a great assist. The Cards are now 13-0 when he plays. Coach Pitino after the game on Levitch “Eventually he’ll be very good. His offensive skill set really is tremendous.”
The Cards had 23 assist tonight on 34 made baskets, out rebounded them 39-24, had 5 blocked shots and 11 steals. Louisville came into this game generating an average of 21.9 points per game off turnovers. Tonight they had 23 points off turnovers. You can tell a lot about the culture of a basketball program by watching the players on the bench. Great teams have energetic reserves. Tonight the Cards bench had 49 points.
This was a fun one to watch and it really is great when you see a team start to come together. The Cards win and continue to get hairier No Shave Till Texas. Go Cards!
Rick Pitino news conference after 102-54 win over Rutgers:
