The Ville 's 83-68 victory Wednesday night over Team DRC in The Basketball Tournament means so much more than a regional championship.
The group of mostly former Louisville standouts is now three wins from the tournament's $1 million grand prize; and, to reach the Final Four in Philadelphia, it'll have to go through archrival Kentucky's La Familia .
Yes, you read that correctly. At 9 p.m. Monday, U of L and UK will face off inside Freedom Hall for the first time since Jan. 4, 2009, when Edgar Sosa 's dagger from 25 feet with 2.8 seconds on the clock had jaws dropping around the commonwealth.
Speaking with reporters after Wednesday's victory, Russ Smith described TBT as "an amazing, nostalgic roller-coaster ride." An all-star grudge match between the Cardinals and the Wildcats is as good as it gets and needed only an hour to sell more tickets than the largest crowd to this point in the tournament's 11-year history — 7,202 at Wichita State’s Charles Koch Arena last summer.
Buckle up.
"This is for the culture right here," said Chris Jones , who, for the second time in five days, delivered a game-winning basket for The Ville. "This is what they've been waiting on."
Headlined by Eric Bledsoe, Willie Cauley-Stein and the Harrison twins, La Familia in its TBT debut cruised through a regional it hosted at Rupp Arena with a 24-point average margin of victory.
The ex-Cards, on the other hand, have had a bumpier ride — having outlasted a feisty Bellarmine alumni team in Round 1 and stormed back from the brink of elimination against Sideline Cancer in Round 2.
Wednesday night, in front of 4,282 at Freedom Hall, they turned in their smoothest performance thus far, beginning with a 22-2 run between the 2:44 mark of the first quarter and the 4:22 mark of the second to take their largest lead of the game, 31-19.
The hot start carried over. The Ville shot 60% from the field, made as many 3s (12) as it did between its first two games combined and dominated Team DRC in paint scoring, 36-16. It tallied more assists (19) and more points off the bench (30) than it has all tournament.
"The only thing we cared about today was playing together," head coach Reece Gaines said, "with a good heart, a good spirit (and) remembering why we're here."
And yet, his team led by only seven points, 63-56, at the start of the fourth quarter. That was due in large part to former Louisiana Tech guard Amorie Archibald of Team DRC scoring 14 of his game-high 19 during the third stanza; which was the only one to go in the visitors' favor, 26-25.
Behind five points from David Johnson , including a one-handed dunk worthy of a poster, the ex-Cards won the first 5:05 of the fourth quarter, 12-10, and had a 75-66 advantage when the Elam Ending set a target score of 83 at the first dead ball with less than four minutes remaining.
They were lights out from there, closing on an 8-2 run.
Former Eastern Kentucky standout Nick Mayo buried a 3 to get things started. Smith followed with a pair of free throws, then found Jones wide open on the left wing for the walk-off trey.
"For Russ to pass that up," he said, "I had to make it."
Smith and Johnson led The Ville with 15 points apiece. Jones and Montrezl Harrell both added 11. Chinanu Onuaku , who missed Monday's win over Sideline Cancer due to a sprained ankle, pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
Not long after Jones' final shot went through the net, fans broke out in a "Beat UK!" chant.
Peyton Siva needed only one word to describe what Freedom Hall will be like Monday night: crazy.
"The rivalry really got away from the city," Jones said, referring to U of L's 2-8 record in the past 10 meetings. "It isn't as loud and rowdy anymore; so we're trying to bring that back."
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: The Ville vs La Familia showdown set: Louisville TBT team wins regional championship
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