Louisville forward Montrezl Harrell (24) blocks a shot by Duke forward Mason Plumlee during their Midwest Regional final Sunday in the NCAA college basketball tournament in Indianapolis.INDIANAPOLIS – With tears in their eyes and Kevin Ware in their hearts, there was no way Louisville was losing this game.
Russ Smith scored 23, Gorgui Dieng had 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks, and top-seeded Louisville put aside the shock from Ware’s gruesome leg injury to earn a second straight trip to the Final Four with an 85-63 victory over Duke on Sunday afternoon.
As the final seconds ticked down, Chane Behanan put Ware’s jersey on and stood at the end of the Louisville bench, screaming. Cardinals fans chanted “Kevin Ware! Kevin Ware!”
“We won this for him,” coach Rick Pitino said. “We were all choked up with emotion for him. We’ll get him back to normal. We’ve got great doctors, great trainers.”
Ware played his high-school ball in Georgia and the Final Four is in Atlanta, just adding to the emotion for the victorious Cardinals.