Louisville Cardinals vs Pittsburgh Panthers Match Player Stats On Jan 14, 2020

No. 11 Louisville made seven of 10 free throws in overtime to escape with a 73-68 win over host Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

The Cardinals (14-3, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) won despite trailing for nearly all of regulation and shooting just 38.3 percent from the field while being outrebounded for just the third time this season.

In a game that saw three technical fouls issued, one on Louisville coach Chris Mack, along with the ejection of a Pitt student for vulgar language, the visitors overcame icy shooting starts to both halves to complete a season sweep of the Panthers (11-6, 2-4) after winning 64-46 at home in December.

Louisville held Pitt to only six free throws in that previous meeting compared to 26 on Tuesday.

Louisville trailed 31-28 at halftime and was down the entire second half until freshman guard David Johnson hit 1 of 2 free throws with 49.5 seconds left to tie it at 61. That foul shot capped a 7-0 run after Pitt took a 61-54 lead with 2:37 to go on a banked 3-pointer by sophomore guard Trey McGowens.

McGowens had a shot to win it for the Panthers in regulation, but his 3-point try with six seconds left was off the mark.

In overtime, Johnson's layup with 4:21 left gave the Cardinals the lead for good. Johnson finished with 11 points while junior forward Jordan Nwora had 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting after going scoreless the first 15:40 of the game. Dwyane Sutton added 13 points and nine rebounds for Louisville.

Cold shooting caused Louisville to fall behind early in both halves. The Cardinals started the game 5 of 20 from the field to trail 24-15 before making five of their next eight shots, fueling a 10-0 run to lead 28-26 with 1:46 left in the first half.

A 2-for-9 start from the field to open the second half saw Louisville go down 41-34 with 13:59 to go.

Pitt, which shot 37.5 percent from the floor, got 24 points from McGowens, but that came on 22 shot attempts. Xavier Johnson and Justin Champagnie each scored 11 points for the Panthers, and Champagnie had 11 rebounds.

--Field Level Media