Noah Waterman saves Louisville from embarrassment vs. EKU

by:Jack Pilgrim•about 23 hours

Dec 28, 2024; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Eastern Kentucky Colonels guard George Kimble III (left) dribbles the ball against Louisville Cardinals guard Chucky Hepburn (middle) during the second half at KFC Yum! Center. Louisville won 78-76. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

Eastern Kentucky was on the cusp of its first win over Louisville since December 4, 1963 — a 61-year drought, seconds away from being snapped. The Colonels had the ball with the clock winding down, up 76-75 down to the 12-second mark. Score and you’re going to overtime, at minimum. Hit a three and it’s over. Instead, EKU missed a jumper to give the ball back to the Cardinals with just eight seconds to go.

The final stretch could’ve gone a number of ways. Reyne Smith caught it at mid-court and drove from the left side, getting away with a potential offensive foul on the push-off toward the baseline. Kicking it out to Noah Waterman, who may have been out of bounds approximately seven times on the catch and drive, the former BYU standout finished through contact for the lay-in with 1.2 seconds to go.

Crowd goes wild for the Cards, who entered the matchup as a 21.5-point favorite with KenPom giving the home team a 94 percent chance to win and a projected score of 86-69.

NOAH WATERMAN WINS IT 👀@LouisvilleMBB SURVIVES 😅 pic.twitter.com/43uHEEjQDq
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) December 28, 2024

The crazy part? Louisville led 42-27 in the first half and appeared to be on the brink of running away with it — probably should have. Cutting it to nine at the break, the Colonels then took control in the second half before taking their first lead with 14:29 to go. UofL retaking the lead and pushing it to eight with 6:40 left, EKU jumped back ahead with 2:20 remaining leading to the late-game chaos.

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The Colonels shot 44.8 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from three compared to 37.5 percent overall and 30.6 percent from deep for the Cardinals. The difference? Seven free throw attempts for EKU compared to 24 for UofL with a plus-13 difference on makes at the line.

Louisville moves to 8-5 on the year as Eastern Kentucky drops to 6-7 — keeping the Cards alive entering conference play, but not by much.

And it took a Mark Pope product to get them over the finish line.