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Despite leading 55-50 with eight minutes to go and holding a lead throughout the majority of the half, the Scarlet Knights could not pull off the upset over the Pittsburgh Panthers and send Athletic Director Robert Mulcahy out on a high note on his last day at the RAC.

The Scarlet Knights lost a close contest at a sold out stadium 78-72 behind an 18-point from Pitt’s Sam Young. For Rutgers, freshman Mike Rosario – who was named Big East Freshman of the Week after his 26-point performance against North Carolina – stayed hot and led all scorers with 22 points. The Knights also got help from sophomore guard Corey Chandler who had 17 points and eight rebounds after struggling mightily in his last few games.

The downfall for Rutgers came in the second half when their shooting percentage dropped from 61.5 percent in the first to just 29 percent. Junior center Hamady N’diaye also played just 24 minutes and had zero points because of severe foul trouble.

I wasn’t there (I’m on vacation) so I won’t act like I was…but here’s some happenings…

Eric Devendorf rejoined the team after missing two games with a University suspension.  He missed not one single beat…maybe one…nah, none.  Devendorf shot 50% from the floor and from deep en route to a 20 point effort.  Eric did not, however, reclaim his starting spot.  That mark once again belonged to Andy Rautins, who for the second game in a row, look exactly like Reggie Miller, Ray Allen, Gerry McNamara, and any other great three point shooter rolled into one.  A game after hitting 29 (all from three and two freebies), Rautins dropped 26 points on 7-10 3-Pt shooting.

Of note – Paul Harris left the game with a finger injury.  Pretty nasty – Mike Waters has the story here.

SU plays USF January 2nd.  I’m out for that – back for the Women’s game on the sixth and the men’s the 7th against DePaul.

University of Louisville head coach Rick Pitino told reporters at his weekly press conference that junior Earl Clark would return to the starting lineup when the Cards take on UNLV tomorrow. Clark was replaced by freshman Jared Swopshire in U of L’s last game against UAB and scored 12 points off the bench.

Pitino said that his decision to sit Earl Clark for the start of the game was one of two reasons. One was that he wanted to get Swopshire some valuable playing time so he could develop into a solid contributor for the Cards when Big East conference play starts. The other reason was that Pitino said that Clark had a bad week of practice last week.

Today at his press conference, Pitino said that Clark had gotten the message and has practiced his way back into the starting lineup.  

Clark is Louisville’s second leading scorer (13.4) and rebounder (8.8) and is projected to be a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

After a strip by Courtney Greene on Wolfpack running back Jamelle Eugene and a recovery by Jason McCourty on the first play from scrimmage, the Scarlet Knights subsequently marched down the field with long catches from Tiquan Underwood and Shamar Graves.

The star of the drive, however, was redshirt freshman holder Rob Cervini who ran the ball six yards for a touchdown on a fake field goal.

Cervini was forced into a starting role as the holder after the injury to long snapper Jeremy Branch forced previous holder Andrew DePaola to move to long snapper. Before holding, Cervini played on the practice squad as both a defensive back and quarterback.

Cervini and the special teams unit was not as successful on the extra point play as NC State got a hand on the kick and it fell short.

Rutgers starting lineup:

Offense

QB: Mike Teel (R-Sr.)*

HB: Kordell Young (R-Soph.)

FB: Jack Corcoran (Jr.)

WR: Tiquan Underwood (Sr.)*

WR: Kenny Britt (Jr.)

TE: Shamar Graves (Jr.)

LT: Anthony Davis (Soph.)

LG: Caleb Ruch (R-Fr.)

C: Ryan Blaszczyk (R-Jr.)

RG: Art Forst (Fr.)

RT: Kevin Haslam (R.-Jr.)

Rutgers junior wide receiver and third team All-American Kenny Britt needs just 79 receiving yards this afternoon to bcome the Big East’s all-time leading receiver in terms of yards. Prior to the game, Britt has 2,924 receiving yards, trailing only Pittsburgh’s Dietrich Jells who had 3,003 from 1991-95.

Defense

LE: George Johnson (Jr.)

DT: Pete Tverdov (Sr.)*

DT: Alex Silvestro (Soph.)

RE: Jonathan Freeny (Soph.)

SLB: Kevin Malast (Sr.)*

MLB: Ryan D’Imperio (Jr.)

WLB: Damaso Munoz (Jr.)

CB: Devin McCourty (R-Jr.)

CB: Jason McCourty (Sr.)*

FS: Courtney Greene (Sr.)*

SS: Joe Lefeged (Soph.)

With right end Jamaal Westerman out with a torn bicep muscle, sophomore Jonathan Freeny – a distant cousin of Colts’ Dwight Freeney - will step into a starting role. On the season, Freeny has 17 tackles and a forced fumble.

* denotes team captain

This from Pete Moore in the Syracuse Athletic Communications Office…

“Eric Devendorf has completed the requirements necessary to be readmitted to school set forth by the Syracuse University Appeals Board, according to Coach Jim Boeheim. Devendorf practiced with the team on Friday night.”

I’d expect to see Eric back for the game against Seton Hall 12/30 – the Big East opener.

In a game that was much more competitive than the final score indicates, Louisville was able to wear down the thin UAB lineup and cruise to a comfortable win.

With less than five minutes left in the first half, UAB trailed by just one point 27-26, but the Cards closed the half on 10-2 run that was capped by monstrous jam by senior forward Terrence Williams.

The Cardinals got an outstanding all around performance from Williams in their 20 point win over UAB. Williams led the Cards with 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He also dished out 7 assists and recorded 2 blocks.

Following the loss to Minnesota last week, U of L head coach Rick Pitino said that he would tinker with the lineup and wound up inserting freshman Jared Swopshire in place of standout Earl Clark and sophomore Preston Knowles for Andre McGee. The move looked to be a good one as Swopshire and Knowles combined for 16 points in 37 minutes of play.

Clark came off the bench and scored 12 points to go along with his four rebounds and three assists. McGee added a season high 13 points and knocked down three of his six three point attempts.

Freshman Samardo Samuels got back on track and recorded his second double-double of the season. Samuels finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds with six of them coming on the offensive glass. He also gave out two assists. The Cards dominated the Blazers on the glass to a 40-24 disparity including 14-6 on the offensive end.

The Cards shot for a combined 50% from the field and knocked down 11 of its 27 three point attempts.

Robert Vaden led all scorers with 22 points. After knocking down his first three attempts from behind the three point line, Vaden finished 5-12 from downtown.

Lawrence Kinnards’ 19 points and Paul Delaney IIIs’ 16 along with Vaden gave the Blazers three players that finished the game scoring in double figures, but it wasn’t enough to offset the Cardinals large rebounding disparity and constant preasure they applied to UAB’s thin rotation.

Though the Blazers shot a respectable percentage from the field and from three (45% and 43%), the teams’ fatigue was shown by their woeful shooting percentage from the foul line. UAB hit just 3-11 from the foul stripe.

Terrence Williams has knocked down his first two three point shots to start the second half to give him 16 for the game. With just over 15 minutes left in the half the Cards lead UAB 50-36.

After a very hot start for UAB guard Robert Vaden, who has hit on four of his six three point attempts in the first half, UAB still finds itself trailing by nine. With 4:26 left in the first half, the Cards led UAB by just one point, but pushed the lead to 11 after going on a 10-0 run.

Cardinal freshman Samardo Samuels looks to have gotten back on track in the first half of play. Samuels has scored 10 points so far and has grabbed 7 rebounds. Senior Terrence Williams has also chipped in 10 points as well and recorded 6 rebounds.

Though the UAB Blazers have shot over 62 % from behind the three point line in the first 20 minutes of play, they have been absolutely pounded on the glass. The Cardinals own a 21-12 advantage on the boards.

In the first nine and a half minutes, UAB guard Robert Vaden has already scored a game high 10 points. Vaden has hit all 3 of three point attempts and is 3 of 4 from the field.  But U of L still holds a 20-14 advantage with 11:36 left in the half.