The Pleasure of Pressure … That statement can be taken many ways and applied to many areas of life. Saturday night in Lexington’s Rupp Arena as we were pairing down the Field of 64, its application fit most appropriately for the Louisville Cardinals and Marquette Golden Eagles in two separate ways.
Louisville has been on a tear in winning what is now 12 in a row, including another Big East Tournament. In the end, the waves of pressure that coach Rick Pitino’s Cardinals throw at opponents wilt and wither guards to the points where their legs are nothing more than broken rubber bands that are lifeless and go away.
After scoring 34 points off 27 North Carolina A&T turnovers on Thursday night, Colorado State would present Louisville with a much more formidable foe with four excellent ball handlers plus a senior-laden lineup. It mattered little as the Cardinals pressure defense did the same thing, forcing the Rams into 20 miscues, 10 more than their average, and then banking 24 points off those.
“You just can’t prepare for that press,” said Rams coach Larry Eustachy, “We were as prepared as we could be, but you can’t simulate how they are going to come at you and I knew it.”
The Cardinals turned Colorado State over in waves. CSU had a 16-14 lead with about 12 minutes to go in the first half, then the first wave of three in a row hit and in three possessions, the Cardinals converted three scores on the inside, two by Gorgui Dieng and one by Montrezl Harrell and with that, the Cards would never trail again.
“I said tonight that our press couldn’t be what it was the other night with all of those traps,” said Pitino, who continues to be one of the game’s greatest gurus of the articulation of pressure defense, “Our press had to be a fatigue factor, and it had to establish ball containment because of the way they rebound.”
Rams leading scorer Dorian Green was an example of the fatigue factor. He nailed a 3 on Colorado State’s first two possessions and then missed his final 13 shots in playing 37 minutes. CSU came in as the top team in the nation in rebounding, outing the opponent by over 10 per night. Saturday, Louisville had a 29-24 advantage on the boards with 10 offensive, scoring 19 points off those.
“We probably can’t play any better,” said Pitino, “But I thought it was the amount of respect that we had for them. I thought this was a great basketball team. They pass great, they cut great. Obviously, they are the number one rebounding team in the country. They shoot it with great range and Larry is one of the most underrated coaches in our game.”
Meanwhile, pressure for Marquette could be two-fold in their heart-stopping 74-72 dismissal of Butler. The Golden Eagles had just come off a 59-58 win against Davidson in round one, where they made three triples in the last 1:10 and then had to rely on a last-second turnover to set up a game-winning layup with 1.1 seconds by Vander Blue for the win.
The Golden Eagles were the worst 3-point shooting team coming into the NCAA Tournament, but once again managed five just to keep pace with the tough Bulldogs in what was easily the one of the Tournament’s best games so far.
Butler took a commanding 10-point lead late in the first half as Marquette struggled shooting the ball virtually the entire first half. In fact, the Golden Eagles had one field goal in the last 7:57 of the half, but were only down 35-27 at the break.
Pressure now was on them to come out and perform in the last 20 minutes, but it was also on how they would attack. Marquette came at Butler with pressure in waves with an excellent display of in-your-face defense. Coach Buzz Williams changed from man to a 2-3 zone to throw off the Bulldogs pace and by the end of the evening it paid off.
Marquette forced Butler into 15 turnovers and scored 19 points. The key though was that the Golden Eagles converted, scoring 47 points in the second 20 minutes on 16-of-27 shooting.
“I thought the difference in the game was just the level of pressure they put on us in the second half and certainly the made shots,” said Butler coach Brad Stevens.
The biggest key was how it limited hot-shooting Rotnei Clarke, who had 18 points in the first half but only finished with 24 and did not score for the last 15 minutes. That in itself allowed the Golden Eagles to be in position to win the game at the end.
“In the second half, me and Derrick Wilson did a great job of, you know, gearing him (Clarke) down and knowing what to do on the ball screens and contesting his shots and trying to wear him out so he could make the other guys beat us instead of him,” said Marquette defensive ace Junior Cadougan, “We did a great job of wearing him down in the second half.