LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – With an inspired Pittsburgh team seeking its first ACC victory of the season and leading Louisville by four with 8 minutes to play, all there was for Cardinals coach Chris Mack to do was put his El up.
Junior transfer El Ellis, who has been the third guard recently in behind Jarrod West and Mason Faulkner, rallied Louisville with 14 second-half points and a team-best 18 for the game to lead the Cardinals to an 75-72 victory, giving them their second straight 4-0 start to an ACC season.
Ellis entered the game with 11:32 to play and did not leave. After Pitt took a 61-60 lead with 5:29 to play, Ellis scored 7 straight points to put the Cardinals up four, and they never trailed again.
It was the culmination of an important day for Ellis. Earlier, before the team's morning shootaround, Mack sat down with Ellis for a talk that went nearly an hour. Mack and the junior college transfer from Durham, N.C., talked about what was keeping Ellis out of games, and away from more playing time. Mack explained what Ellis wasn't doing right, but also gave him a clear vision of what he wanted to see.
"He had an energy about him all day," Mack said. "At the shootaround, he was bouncy, had an excitement about him. . . . IÂ just said that, you know, he has to do some things better to earn some some playing time and earn some trust from the coaching staff and told him he could take it one of two ways, but I also told him that our coaching staff and me in particular believe in him a whole lot. And so to never let that fact get lost, because I think sometimes when you don't play, you feel like the coach doesn't appreciate you as a player, doesn't think that you can do it in certain situations. And I said that's not the case."
Pitt was up on Louisville by four with 8 minutes left. The Cardinals were stagnant, John Hugely was establishing himself inside, and the home team needed something good to happen to avoid its worst home loss (by Pomeroy rating) in the KFC Yum! Center era.
That good thing was Ellis, who brought energy and some offensive punch to a team that lacked it for much of the first half, taking a 35-32 lead to the locker room.
"I just told him you just have to make the most of your time," Mack said. "You've got to be way better defensively, and then you got to make really good decisions on the offensive end. We know he's explosive and he can score but he's been errant in some other ways. And he recognized that it was really good to see. I'm happy for him. He really juiced our team in the second half."
Ellis said his chat with Mack was a positive factor.
"He really just said that I've got to come in with the right attitude every day," Ellis said. "I know I've got a lot to learn. This is my first year playing at this level and it's hard....That talk with Coach Mack really helped me a lot."
Ellis didn't have to do it alone offensively.
A 3-pointer by Noah Locke with 47 seconds left was the dagger, putting Louisville up seven.
Locke finished with 13 points. Ellis scored his 18 on 6-of-10 shooting. And Sydney Curry came off the bench and gave Louisville a lift with 8 points and 8 rebounds after Malik Williams got into foul trouble.
"Syd did a terrific job," Mack said. "I told our team in the locker room that maybe more than any guy he has responded exactly how you want as a coach in practice. He's competed really hard. He's tried to learn quicker. He comes in earlier. He's just the guy you root for."
Any aesthetic value this game had was gone after one minute. A double-technical on Louisville's Malik Williams and Pitt's top player, 6-9, 280-pound sophomore John Hughley, sent Hugely to the bench with his second personal (he already had committed a foul). The call brought major heat from Pitt coach Jeff Capel, who then was whistled for a technical, and while Louisville's Noah Locke was shooting the free-throws, the Pitt bench got another technical.
After Williams left the game minutes later with his second foul, the game was left with more whistles than intrigue. But it picked up down the stretch with Pitt threatening to earn its first conference win.Â
Still, there was a bit of unnecessary drama. With the game well in hand, Williams, who had already fouled out, drew a technical foul from the Louisville bench. And with 14.9 seconds left and his team up five and heading to the free-throw line, Mack himself got a technical, and two Pitt free-throws later, it was a one-possession game, with Louisville up 72-69.
After a pair of free-throws by West, the Louisville lead was back to 5, but a Jamarius Burton 3-pointer for Pitt made it a 2-point game with 7.6 seconds left. West made one of two after being fouled, giving Pitt one last chance, but a Burton 3-pointer missed the mark at the buzzer.
"That's my fault at the very end," Mack said. "I need to be way better than that. And I told our team that. (I was) frustrated, but you know, we'll move on and glad it didn't cost my team a win. Would be in a much different place if that would've happened. So you know, there's a lot of things in life you learn from and grow from. Malik should've handled it better. I should have handled it better. Maybe another party could have handled it better."
Louisville will next head to Florida State, looking to win their third straight ACC road game on Saturday at 8:05 p.m.
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