2nd Semi-Final - 1982 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball

1982 NCAA Semi-Final Men's Basketball

New Orleans, LA

March 27, 1982

Georgetown Hoyas vs. Louisville Cardinals

The Georgetown Hoyas came in to the tournament ranked 6th in the nation and with a record of 29-6. The Hoyas, unlike the Cardinals, won their conference tournament. This was the Hoyas second trip to the Final Four. The first was in 1942 when they lost in the final to Wyoming. The Louisville Cardinals came into this game with a record of 23-9. Louisville had played in the Final Four three times prior to 1982, with the most recent coming in 1980 when the Cardinals won the tournament.

The first half opened with both teams struggling to find their footing offensively. A couple minutes passed before the first basket was scored. The score was just 6-4 in Georgetown's favor at the first television time out, 5 minutes into the game.

The pace of scoring didn't pick up at all and the game was tied 10-10 with just under 10 minutes to go in the first half. Georgetown took the lead but Louisville came back and with 5 minutes to go the Hoyas were ahead by just 2 points, 20-18. Both teams were shooting less than 35% from the field and turning the ball over frequently. There were a number of traveling calls. The score at halftime was 24-22 with Georgetown leading at halftime.

Georgetown scored first in the second half to extend their lead. Louisville came back to take the lead. The two teams went back and forth taking 1 point leads for a few possessions. The Hoyas ran the lead up to 5 points. The Cardinals cut it to 1 point. The Hoyas did it again and the Cardinals came back once again. All this within the first 10 minutes of the second half.

The next 5 minutes belonged to Georgetown. The Hoyas stretched the lead up to 7 points, and then 9 points. The Hoyas did what they could to slow the game down at that point. The Cardinals didn't allow the Hoyas to stretch out the lead any more than that but it wasn't until the game was almost over that the Cardinals pulled to within 3 points of Georgetown. The Hoyas continued to hit most of their free throws as the game wound down. The game ended with the score 50-46.

This was an exciting but occasionally frustrating game to watch. The frustrating part was the low score. Both teams were very strong defensively. The lack of a shot clock meant that teams could take their time setting up a shot or just moving the ball around. On the whole I felt that it was totally worth my time.