LEXINGTON, Kentucky -- Pay attention, No. 1s. This is how it's done. Russ Smith scored 23 points and set a Louisville NCAA tournament record with a career-high eight steals, and Peyton Siva had eight assists as the Cardinals demolished North Carolina A&T 79-48 on Thursday night. Louisville finished with a season-high 20 steals as it forced the Aggies into 27 turnovers.
It was the 11th straight win for the Cardinals (30-5), and only their sixth victory ever at Rupp Arena. Of course, that's because Louisville is usually facing Kentucky here, but the defending national champions are spectators these days after being bounced out of the first round of the NIT this week. Rick Pitino and his Big East champions will play the winner of Colorado State-Missouri on Saturday.
No 16th seed has ever beaten a No. 1 and, unlike that Southern-Gonzaga squeaker that ended shortly before the Aggies and Cardinals tipped off, this one was never even a contest.
Oh, the Cardinals let A&T (20-17) hang around for a few minutes, giving the small handful of Aggies fans enough time to take photos of the scoreboard while the margin was still respectable. (OK, it was 6-4. Considering the Aggies had never even won an NCAA tournament game until Tuesday night, it was as good as a lead.)
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N.C. A&T wins ... whatever the Aggies score is tonight
GREENSBORO, North Carolina -- N.C. A&T’s men’s basketball team gets another moment in the spotlight tonight.
The Aggies took advantage of their first chance with a 73-72 win over Liberty in the opening game of the NCAA tournament Tuesday.
Their reward? A prime-time meeting with the tourney’s top overall seed, No. 1 Louisville.
While coming away with another victory will ask much, simply getting this far is netting the university a healthy consolation prize: national attention.
“This run, two things it will do for our university,” A&T head coach Cy Alexander said Tuesday night. “One, it’s going to be a tremendous boost for our recruiting and two, it’s going to be a tremendous boost as far as overall student applications. ... Hopefully, everybody can benefit from the success that the men’s basketball program is having
Right now, the benefits are difficult to quantify. A&T Athletics Director Earl Hilton isn’t even sure how A&T will benefit financially.
But NBA announcers Marv Albert and Steve Kerr called the Aggies’ game on Tuesday night, Charles Barkley is talking about the team, and A&T’s name has been in front of millions of eyeballs as brackets in office pools across the United States are filled out.
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