Junior guard Jessie Sapp says he will be ready when the sixth-ranked Hoyas (19-2, 9-1 BE) travel to Freedom Hall in Louisville on Saturday to take on the Cardinals (17-6, 7-3 BE).
“We are focused,” he said after Tuesday’s win over South Florida. “Those guys are good and they have a great coach over there, so we’ve got to be focused.”
Many would argue that the Hoyas have been focused on Louisville for too long, resulting in a flat mid-week performance against the Bulls. But with South Florida behind, all of Coach John Thompson III’s focus and energy is on the team that sits just two spots below the Hoyas in the Big East standings.
“We are going to a very difficult place to play,” Thompson said. “We are going to play against one of the better teams in our league, so I don’t think we are going to need any speeches from Coach Thompson to be ready to play.”
The Cardinals were picked by Big East coaches as conference co-favorites before the season, but the team struggled out of the gate with early injuries to senior forward Juan Palacios (6.5 ppg) and senior center David Padgett (10.3 ppg). But both Padgett and Palacios are back, and the Cardinals, coming off a convincing 71-57 win on the road against 16th-ranked Marquette, have regained their expected form.
Padgett is one of five players—including junior forward Terrence Williams (11.3 ppg), sophomore guard Jerry Smith (11.2 ppg), sophomore guard/forward Earl Clark (10.7 ppg) and sophomore forward Derrick Caracter (10.2 ppg)—averaging double-digit scoring for Coach Rick Pitino’s well-rounded offense. Sophomore guard Edgar Sosa (7.6 ppg), who scored a career-high 18 against Marquette, is a constant threat on the dribble-drive. Padgett is one of the most intelligent and fundamentally sound big men in the league, and at 6’11” he will match up physically against Georgetown senior center Roy Hibbert.
Louisville has done a lot of its damage this season on the defensive end of the court, where Pitino’s high-pressure zone defense and press have given opposing teams headaches. The Cards are second in the conference in scoring defense (60 ppg) and third in field-goal percentage defense (37.5 percent).
The Hoyas will find a hostile environment on Saturday at Freedom Hall, where Louisville is 13-2 this season. The game will feature the second annual “White Out” promotion—Louisville students and fans will dress in all white. Despite the tough venue, the Hoyas can remember the fact that they won the previous meeting in Freedom Hall last season, 73-65.
Tip-off is slated for Saturday at 9:00 p.m.
