INDIANAPOLIS — Rick Pitino has a moniker for Russ Smith.
A Poor Man’s Allen Iverson.
Iverson was one of the NBA’s most spectacular scorers, a blazingly fast guard who led the 76ers to the NBA Finals. Smith is Pitino’s shooting guard at Louisville, and Pitino believes he shares Iverson’s ability to create late in the shot clock.
“And that’s what Russ does,” Pitino said. “We were short of gas [last night] without Russ Smith. We couldn’t win.”
Smith, the Archbishop Molloy alum, was spectacular in the top-seeded Cardinals’ 77-69 victory over 12th seed Oregon in the Midwest Region semifinal. He poured in a game-high 31 points — more than doubling any other player’s output — and delivered a slew of big plays down the stretch.
Louisville will face Duke tomorrow for a trip to the Final Four in Atlanta.
Smith’s NCAA Tournament has been dizzying, his scoring both abundant and efficient. He’s averaging 27 points through three games – and he has improved from 23 points to 27 points to 31 points — while shooting 55.3 percent from the field. He was 9 for 16 last night.
“You just laugh about that,” teammate Kevin Ware said of Smith’s tournament outburst. “Honestly, I feel like Russ is one of the best players in the country.”
Pitino unquestionably agrees, declaring Smith should have been “a runaway Player of the Year.” Smith didn’t exactly help his teammates off the court this week, though — the junior is suffering from a bad cold and has gotten a number of the Cardinals sick. Ware, Peyton Siva, Wayne Blackshear, Chane Behanan and Montrezl Harrell are among the afflicted.
Smith’s scoring isn’t necessarily contagious, but his cold is.
“Russ has been coughing on everybody,” Siva said. “He got everybody sick.”
“I’m terribly sick,” Smith said. “I just kept coughing.”
Louisville did not dazzle last night, and while it has now won 13 straight games by an average margin of 17 points and still ranks as the tournament’s team to beat, Pitino said the Cards “didn’t have it” last night. Siva played just 19 minutes because of foul trouble, shot 1-for-5 and scored four points. Louisville forced only 12 turnovers, and while the Cardinals never trailed and were never truly threatened, they also couldn’t completely put the Ducks away.
“Unfortunately, Russ has infected our entire team with a ridiculous cold, and all our guys are really sick. And it took a lot out of us because Oregon’s so good,” Pitino said. “We just had to get our guys through it, and hopefully we’ll get better.”
Louisville did get a huge contribution from Ware, who delivered 11 points off the bench and helped pick up Siva’s slack.
“His lift was just big,” Smith said, “and for Peyton to go out and Kevin Ware to step up like that, that just goes to show you how deep we are.”
Pitino may have compared Smith to Iverson, but the guard also has similarities to former UConn star Kemba Walker. In 2011, Walker — like Smith, a 6-foot-1 guard from New York — averaged 23.5 points in the Huskies’ NCAA Tournament run to the championship.
After the game, a golf cart waited to take Louisville to the press conference. Pitino told Smith, “Russ, you sit there,” meaning the cart’s front seat. It might have been because Smith’s sick. But if the Cardinals are headed to the Final Four, Smith will be the one to take them there.
