Michigan vs. Louisville, 2013 NCAA basketball championship final score: Cardinals cut down nets, win 82-76

The Louisville Cardinals are your 2013 National Champions, having defeated the Michigan Wolverines, 82-76, to win their first title since 1986, and the second one in Rick Pitino's career.

Michigan dominated the first half of the game, thanks to Spike Albrecht. The freshman guard came off the bench to score 17 points and drain four 3-pointers to give the Wolverines a 12-point lead. The Cardinals came storming back, however, as Luke Hancock caught fire. He knocked down 12 points in just 90 seconds to erase the double-digit deficit at the end of the first half. Michigan went into halftime up 38-37, but Louisville had closed the gap.

Louisville started to take over in the second half. Led by a nine-point surge from Chane Behanan, the Cardinals went on a 12-3 run to take a small lead at the under-12 timeout. At this point, it turned into the Peyton Siva show, as Siva scored six straight points to help Louisville maintain its three-point lead over Michigan, despite the best efforts of Tim Hardaway Jr.

Burke helped Michigan stay competitive, scoring 17 points in the second half, but the Cardinals pulled away late in the game, ripping off an 10-4 run as Mitch McGary sat on the bench with foul trouble. Another Hancock three at the 3:27 mark gave Louisville a 10-point lead and proved to be the dagger.

Hancock led the Cardinals with 22 points and 5 of 5 three pointers. Siva chipped in 18 points and Behanan hauled in 13 rebounds. Louisville shot 45.9 percent from the floor despite a poor game from Russ Smith, who scored nine points and made only 3 of 16 field goal attempts.