LOUISVILLE - Earlier this week someone asked me, in all seriousness, whether Louisville might fire basketball coach Rick Pitino by midseason.
No.
For Louisville fans a two-game home losing streak to Charlotte and Western Carolina has been confusing, alarming, enough to drop the Cardinals from an Elite Eight team last year to not even receiving any votes in the latest Associated Press top 25 poll.
But it’s not enough to send a coach packing before the season ends.
And now, after two games, the losing streak is over.
Showing a renewed commitment to defense, U of L (6-3) defeated Oral Roberts 94-57 Wednesday at Freedom Hall.
“What I told them was to quit panicking, quit worrying,” Pitino said. “We’ve been going through this for three straight years here. They don’t crown champions until the end of the year.
“I was a little more concerned than I’ve been in the past because as long as you’re playing great defense, the offense will come around.”
But great defense hasn’t been a trademark of this Cardinal team in the early going.
Western Carolina, which beat U of L 91-83 last Saturday, shot 51 percent; Charlotte, which stunned the Cardinals 87-65 on Dec. 5 shot 45.5 percent, including 41.7 percent from the 3-point line.
On Wednesday Oral Roberts (6-6) shot 39 percent. The Golden Eagles are dealing with injuries and used just seven players, but they’ve posted wins against Missouri and Stanford this season.
Pitino used 12 players in the first half, when the Cardinals forced ORU into 15 turnovers. That’s two more than Charlotte committed in its entire game against Louisville, and just five less than Western Carolina coughed up in 40 minutes.
Louisville junior guard Preston Knowles came off the bench and had seven assists and four steals in 13 minutes of action in the first half.
Those were the same totals he had when the game ended.
“We played a great first half,” Pitino said. “The second half was just OK. Our ball movement was great. It wasn’t as good in the second half and neither was our defense, but the first half was very good.”
Oral Roberts, which is coached by Eddie Sutton’s son Scott Sutton, finished the game with 21 turnovers.
“After the Western Carolina game, that Monday we came in with a chip on our shoulders,” Jerry Smith said. “We worked unbelievably hard, and it was the best practice we’ve had this year.”
It’s the kind of effort the Cardinals will need if they want to have any chance of duplicating their success in recent years, which includes Elite Eight appearances the past two seasons.
The Big East has been something of a surprise this season. Thought to be down after being the nation’s top conference last year, the Big East has six teams ranked in the Top 25 with four other teams also receiving votes.
Among the Big East teams U of L will play twice this season are No. 5 Syracause and No. 14 Connecticut.
Louisville has four more home games this month, starting with Western Kentucky on Saturday and ending with its first Big East game of the season Dec. 30 against South Florida.
“The way people are talking we’re not one of the top 64 teams, we won’t make the NCAA tournament,” Louisville’s Edgar Sosa said, “but this isn’t like football, where if you lose two games you can’t get to the national championship or you don’t get to a bowl game.
“We have to be playing well in January and February,” he added, “and we’re not at that time yet.”
But they will be soon.