This past Saturday afternoon the Louisville Cardinals polished off the Syracuse Orange with an unimaginable dunk from Donovan Mitchell. Many of you didn’t see it because you were on your way to your car but that’s a story for another time. Anyway, after Mitchell threw down that dunk, I couldn’t help but think that Syracuse has been on the wrong end of many great sports memories for the fans of Louisville athletics. Let’s reminisce over those good times.
In basketball, Louisville owns a 18-8 all time record versus Syracuse. In the Rick Pitino era Louisville is 11-5. In football, Louisville is 9-6 all time and 9-3 since 2002. It’s not just the outcome that makes for the great memories but the magnitude of the moments and the super star highlights.
March 6th, 2010, was the last game Louisville would play in Freedom Hall. The opponent was the #1 ranked Syracuse Orange. The crowd arrived early and the atmosphere was electric for senior night. Pitino wore a red suit coat because it was red out. Louisville trailed by 8 points in the first half and during the second half, Jerry Smith injured a finger on his shooting hand and Reggie Delk had to exit the game due to cramps. Enter one Kyle Kuric. Kuric scored 22 points, hitting 9 of 11 shots including 4 three’s and 2 very memorable dunks in just 13 minutes. King Kyle was born, Louisville puts itself into the NCAA tournament and closes out Freedom Hall in style, all at the expense of #1 Syracuse.
March 16th, 2013, was the Big East tournament championship at Madison Square Garden where Louisville faced Syracuse. Louisville trailed the Orange 45-29 with 15:50 to play. It seemed Syracuse would win the last ever Big East tournament and put an end to the Cards 10 game winning streak.Then something happened. Louisville’s full court press went into high gear and their defense stymied the Syracuse offense. In 7 minutes Louisville went on a 27-3 run to lead by 8 with just under 9 minutes to play. Louisville went from 16 points down in the second half to winning by 17 points, 78-61, claiming their second straight Big East Championship. Again at the expense of Syracuse.
February 2016, Donovan Mitchell has his first (of many to come) thunderous highlight dunk. Louisville wins again.
February 13,2017 & February 26, 2017, Mitchell has highlight dunks at the expense of Syracuse and Louisville wins both games.
September 9 2016, Louisville played football at the Carrier Dome versus Syracuse. Lamar Jackson was coming off his national offensive player of the week award for his performance in the season opener. Lamar didn’t slow down in his second game where he thrashed the Orange with 610 total yards and 5 touchdowns. More importantly, Louisville won and Lamar had his Heisman moment when he hurdled a Syracuse defender on his way to the end Zone.
Here’s to making many more memories. Thanks Syracuse!
As Always, GO CARDS!
