The dismissal of Chris Jones was never going to be easy for Louisville to deal with on the court. Before being booted from the program Sunday by Rick Pitino, Jones was the third-leading scorer for a Cardinals offense that had struggled throughout the season. Jones was far from a perfect player, but he was a two-way senior guard who carried a heavy load within a thin rotation. His exit seemed to spell a rough spring for the Cardinals.
Terry Rozier bails out Louisville in first game without Chris Jones
The Cardinals needed all 22 points out of their star sophomore guard on Monday.
Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
For the first 39 minutes on Monday, it looked like Louisville’s greatest fears without Jones would be realized. Georgia Tech -- a team with a 3-12 mark in the ACC heading into the night -- took a seven-point lead into halftime and clamped down defensively to coax the Cardinals into another poor shooting night. The Yellow Jackets led nearly all the way through until Terry Rozier decided he wasn’t going to let Louisville lose.
On a night when seemingly everyone around him struggled, Rozier was a one-man offensive wrecking crew to lift Louisville to a 52-51 win. He finished with 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting in the win and hit three of the five three-pointers the Cardinals made on the night.
Louisville took its first lead since early in the first half when Rozier cut through the Georgia Tech defense for a layup with just under a minute remaining. That kick-started a chaotic final minute of action.
When Louisville’s Chinanu Onuaku missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Georgia Tech raced down the court to tie the game on a layup from Marcus Georges-Hunt with 25 seconds left. Rozier hit back, speeding down to the other end in just three seconds to give Louisville a lead they never relinquished.
It looked like Rick Pitino was trying to call timeout, but Rozier took matters into his own hands and Louisville won because of it.
It still wasn’t a particularly pretty effort from Louisville, who only shot 37 percent from the floor. Wayne Blackshear was the only other Cardinals player to score in double-figures on the night, with 10 points. Still, this would have been a terrible loss following the Jones news. Louisville will take the win any way it can get it.
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