BOZICH | Louisville (finally) solves Bellarmine in tights' game, 73-68 | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — You don’t have to tell Kenny Payne what the strength of the University of Louisville basketball team is. He’s talked about it most of November.

It isn't the compression tights that freshman point guard Ty-Laur Johnson wears under his uniform shorts -- no matter what kind of bizarre stuff you heard about Johnson and the tights after Louisville defeated Bellarmine, 73-68, Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center.

The Cardinals strength is driving the basketball. Getting to the free throw line. Attacking the rim. Shooting free throws like they're out in the driveway.

The Cards began the game ranked first in the nation in percentage of points scored at the foul line. They averaged more than 30 free throw attempts per game.

Then they came out against the Knights pretending they were Steph Curry.

Doing what Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport certainly wanted the Cardinals to do.

Launch 3-point jump shots.

"We just accepted the jump shot," Payne said. "I'm always saying we've got to attack the rim more."

And it went the way you expected it to go. A Louisville team averaging 30 free throw attempts shot none in the first half.

The Knights committed only 3 fouls, all in the final 1:24 of the half.

There was no reason to foul the Cardinals. They took 15 of their 29 shots from distance. They made 4. They trailed 27-22 to a Bellarmine team that was without its best shooter, guard Ben Johnson, who missed the game a hip injury, as well as another starter.

Davenport could not have scripted it better. Pass. Dribble. Pass. Settle.

"Control the ball," he said. "Not get beat to the outside."

Louisville had 20 minutes to correct it. And to avoid a stinging second consecutive loss to Bellarmine.

And to save their season from tumbling into another public relations pothole.

Louisville remembered who they are — a team that has to attack the basket, not a team taking more than half of its shots from the three-point line.

And Ty-Laur Johnson remembered (or was reminded) that good teammates play through groin injuries without their favorite compression tights.

Mission accomplished. Finally. Barely. It was tight(s) until the final seconds.

"A year ago it was hard for us," Payne said. "You can see that we're a better team ... I can't listen to the critics or the supporters. I've just got to get the guys better."

The Cards took the lead at 36-35, stretched it to a dozen, let it slip back to two and got it to the finish line.

They improved to 4-3. By the time the Cards won their fourth game last season, they had lost 23. That was last Feb. 18. They finished with those four victories.

The Cards (mostly) stopped settling for threes and started attacking the basket. They got to the line. They got in the bonus. They got in the double bonus. They shot 22 free throws and made 16 in the final 20 minutes.

They took the lead about five minutes into the second half by making six of seven field goal attempts. Only one was a three-pointer, by Skyy Clark. Then it was layup, layup, 12-footer, layup.

In the first half Louisville took 15 threes. In the second half, only nine.

In the first half, Louisville drew three fouls. In the second half, the Cards drew 18.

In the first half, Louisville scored 8 points in the paint. In the second half, the Cards scored 20.

"(Assistant coach Danny) Manning told us that stat at halftime, how many threes we took," Clark said. "We know we're a driving team ... we just needed to get back to what we do."

Clark had another terrific game, leading Louisville with 21 points. Tre White had 14 points. Mike James scored 10.

And Johnson?

He had 8 points and 5 assists. All in the second half. All without a pair of tights that he felt comfortable wearing.

"As you can see, Ty-Laur is a very vital part of this team," Clark said.

Payne said the reason Johnson played only 2 minutes and 35 seconds in first half was .... well, I'll let him say it.

"We didn't have the tights that he wanted so he didn't know if he wanted to play," Payne said.

Pardon me?

"Oh, yeah," Payne said. "You heard it ... we didn't have the tights that he wanted, that we've never had for him and he decided (he) didn't feel that he could go. That's what young people do."

Fortunately, for Payne, for the Louisville players and for Johnson, that's not what Johnson did In the second half, when he labored through nearly 16 minutes of game action.

"In the second half he accepted the fact that we didn't have the tights that we've never had for him and he played and played well," Payne said.

With encouragement from his teammates?

"We had to tell him that he's a really big piece on this team and we need him," Clark said. "It showed in the second half."

Louisville moves into conference play on Sunday. The Cards will play Virginia Tech in Blacksburg at 4 p.m.

The Hokies are 5-3, after suffering a 74-57 loss at Auburn Wednesday. They have nice wins over Iowa State and Boise State. But they lost to Florida Atlantic, 84-50, last Sunday.