Jan. 9, 2006
Final Stats
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In its second game against a nationally-ranked opponent in a little over a month, UC Davis fell to No. 10 Louisville, 81-58, Monday evening at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky. Kyle Brucculeri led the Aggies with 15 points and a career-high eight rebounds. Phil Rasmussen finished with 12 while Jesse Lopez Low posted a career-high 12 points. Brandon Jenkins led all scorers with 31 points for the Cardinals.
UC Davis (4-10) took its only lead in the second minute of the game when Lopez Low made a jumper from the top of the key to make it 2-0. Louisville (13-2) responded with a 9-0 run and led 9-2 at the 16:16 mark. The Aggies held strong, though, with an 8-2 run that was sparked by threes from Lopez Low and Brucculeri. That pulled the Aggies within 14-10 with 14:38 left in the half.
Less than three minutes later, another three from Lopez Low made it 16-13 and the margin remained that way at the 11:00 mark on a Vince Oliver trey pulling UC Davis within 21-18.
That's as close as the Aggies would get as the Cardinals scored 10 straight points at the start of a 16-3 run that made it 37-21 with 5:38 left in the half. Louisville held UC Davis to nine points in the final 11 minutes of the first half and led 43-27 at the break.
In the second half, the Cardinals edged the lead out to 49-29 with 18:35 left in the game and led by as many as 28 down the stretch. The Aggies were outscored 38-31 in the final 20 minutes.
"Sometimes in the eye of the storm, it's hard to see yourself getting better, but we are," said UC Davis head coach Gary Stewart. "We played some pretty good basketball for parts tonight. This is really valuable for us. As we look at the film and grade it out, I think we can make some adjustments and get better from here on out."
Brucculeri made 4-of-7 three-point attempts as the Aggies sank nine treys for the game. Louisville, helped by Jenkins' seven threes, finished with 10 treys. The Aggies were outshot 55 percent to 38 percent while committing 16 turnovers compared to the Cardinals' 13.
"While we're never going to accept losing, we will be able to take positives out of this game," added Stewart.
UC Davis next hosts Cal Poly Jan. 13 at The Pavilion. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the game can be heard on KSAC 1240-AM and www.ucdavisaggies.com.
