UNI’s Historic Basketball Season Ends In Seattle

Rick Pitino's teams have been known for their solid defense his entire career. The Louisville coach's harassing 2-3 zone made life rough on UNI Sunday night (March 22, 2015).

The fourth-seeded Cardinals (26-8) are headed to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA men's basketball tournament for a program record fourth-straight year following a 66-53 victory over the fifth-seeded Panthers at Key Arena in Seattle, Wash.

Louisville limited senior Seth Tuttle, UNI's scoring leader, to just seven shots. He led the Panthers (31-4) with a hard-fought 14 points in his final collegiate game, making four field goals while going 6-for-6 at the free throw line.

Tuttle was one of three UNI players to score in double figures. Nate Buss added 11 points and Paul Jesperson chipped in 10, both off the bench.

This was the grinding affair pretty much everyone expected between two teams ranked in the nation's top 20 in defense.

With the exception of two ties, UNI led the game for the opening 6 minutes, 10 seconds. But, Montrezl Harrell's dunk with 11:40 remaining in the first half gave Louisville its first lead at 14-13, an advantage the Cardinals never gave up.

The Cardinals have struggled offensively all season. Sunday night, though, they settled into a scoring rhythem. Louisville shot an above average 45.8 percent from the floor.

Terry Rozier did the most damage for the Cardinals. The sophomore guard tallied a game-high 25 points and had seven assists. He was one of four starters who scored in double-figures for Louisville.

The Panthers were a popular pick by many to repeat the run they made to Sweet 16 in 2010, but Louisville forced 10 turnovers and held UNI's efficient offense to 39 percent shooting. Pitino's decision to start 6-foot-10 center Mangok Mathiang set the tone against Tuttle, who found little room in the post.

The Panthers last, best run started when Buss made back-to-back shots to trim a 10-point deficit to six with 4:26 left. UNI got the ball on a breakaway and looked to have an easy bucket when Jeremy Morgan dropped a pass to Wes Washpun, who went unhindered to the basket. But Wayne Blackshear came from nowhere to disrupt the shot, then Louisville went down and Rozier threw a lob to Harrell (14 points) for his first alley-oop.

About a minute later, they connected again for a jam and three-point play that ended UNI's record-breaking season.