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Sophomore guard Jeremiah Rivers

LOUISVILLE – When Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino strode onto the Freedom Hall floor dressed in a flowing white linen suit Saturday night, he moved like a mafia don marching confidently through Little Italy. But in the 20 minutes of basketball that followed, his team looked anything but intimidating, turning the ball over 10 times and falling behind to visiting Georgetown by eight at the half.

At the beginning of the second half, Pitino emerged from the locker room with a new look, having changed threads to the drab black of an undertaker.

His dark suit alerted the basketball world to the coming fate of the sixth-ranked Hoyas: “Est Morte.”

Louisville (18-6, 8-3) played stifling full-court defense over the final frame, holding Georgetown (19-3, 9-2 Big East) to 20 points and buried the Hoyas 59-51 in a shallow grave before the fourth-largest crowd in Louisville basketball history. Georgetown, one of the nation’s top-shooting team, hit only 35 percent of its shots in the second half and scored a season-low 51 points on the night.

“They turned up the heat a little bit,” Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III said after the game. “It was a different game in the second half, they did a better job of executing in the second half and we did an extremely poor job of executing in the second half.”

Senior center David Padgett scored 18 points and won the battle of the big men, vanquishing preseason Big East Player of the Year Roy Hibbert, who managed 14 points and only six in the second half.

“[Padgett] was tough to guard,” Hibbert said. “He moved well and was a big presence on the low post.”

Sophomore guard Jerry Smith was a dead-on 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, sinking daggers into the Hoyas’ hopes nearly every time he touched the ball. Georgetown freshman forward Austin Freeman – who finished the night with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting – was the only other Hoya to tally double figures. But Freeman was even less of a threat down the stretch than Hibbert, scoring only four points after halftime.

“The guys did a terrific job, in the second half especially,” Pitino said.

Neither the unruly white-clad crowd nor the Cardinals’ blistering white-hot press seemed to hassle the Hoyas early, as Georgetown controlled the tempo and led by as many as eight. Sophomore forward DaJuan Summers stroked a three-pointer from the far arc and Hibbert feathered a pair of jumpers over Padgett, but Smith’s two threes and a pair of Georgetown turnovers late in the first half were a sign of things to come.

Pitino’s wardrobe wasn’t the only thing that changed at halftime. The Cardinals opened the second frame with a six-minute hot streak, whittling away at the Georgetown lead. The Cardinals took their first lead on a Smith three-ball at the 14:15 mark, extended it with another long-range shot from Smith, and never relinquished their advantage.

“I told our guys to play it possession by possession and be a great defensive team no matter what happens,” said Pitino, whose team baited the Hoyas into committing eight second-half turnovers and outrebounded their opponent 29-24. “I told them you’ve got to heat them up in the press and you’ve got to pressure them.”

Pitino’s explanation for his clothing eclipse drew laughs at the post-game press conference.

“I hadn’t worn a linen suit since my communion, and I forgot how hot it was in there,” Pitino said. “No one warned me that you can’t wear blue filters – they were coming through the white linen because I was sweating so much and I was about to look ridiculous.”

At the end of this heated conference spat, it was Pitino’s adversary who’d broken a sweat.

“I don’t want negate anything they did, but I think there were some lapses on our part,” Thompson said, eyes downfallen. “They played well and they are a very well-coached team, a team that has many pieces that can hurt you, and they play well together. That showed up in the second half.”

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