National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Louisville 57, UC Irvine 55
When: 4:10 PM ET, Friday, March 20, 2015
Where: KeyArena, Seattle, Washington
Officials: # Dick Cartmell, # Randy McCall, # Robert Riley
Attendance: 14509

Louisville 57, UC Irvine 55: Quentin Snider scored a career-high 16 points, including both ends of a pressure-packed one-and-one with 8.9 seconds to go to break a 55-55 tie, as the fourth-seeded Cardinals narrowly dodged the upset in the NCAA Tournament's round of 64 in Seattle.

Wayne Blackshear scored a game-high 19 points and added seven rebounds for Louisville (25-8), which will face No. 5 seed Northern Iowa on Sunday for a berth in the Sweet 16. Terry Rozier chipped in 12 points and sealed the victory with a steal at midcourt with two seconds remaining.

Will Davis II scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Mamadou Ndiaye finished with 12 points and Luke Nelson added 10 points and five rebounds for No. 13 seed UC Irvine (21-13). The Anteaters, making their first appearance in the NCAA Tourney in 38 seasons at the Division I level, lost for only the second time in their last 50 games when holding an opponent to 60 points or less.

UC Irvine, which trailed by as many as five points midway through the second half, took a 55-53 lead on Nelson's layup with 59.7 seconds left. After Louisville tied it on a layup by Blackshear, the Anteaters ran the clock down and Nelson missed a long 3-pointer and Snider was fouled during the scramble for the rebound.

Snider sank both free throws to put Louisville ahead 57-55. The Cardinals, who had two fouls to give, used one as UC Irvine crossed midcourt and then Rozier clinched the win by flicking the ball away from guard Alex Young near the UC Irvine bench.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Louisville improved to 30-11 all-time in NCAA opening-round games. ... Cardinals coach Rick Pitino improved to 51-17 all-time in NCAA Tournament action. ... Ndiaye, a 7-foot-6 sophomore, is the tallest player in Division I basketball, and finished with just one block.
Top Game Performances
 
UC Irvine   Louisville
Will Davis II 14 Scoring Wayne Blackshear 19
Alex Young 5 Assists Terry Rozier 5
Will Davis II 9 Rebounds Wayne Blackshear 7
Aaron Wright 2 Free Throws Made Montrezl Harrell 2
Will Davis II 1 Steals Mangok Mathiang 2
Mamadou Ndiaye 1 Blocks Wayne Blackshear 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
UC Irvine 55 46.2 5-14 2-2 10 27 2 5 14
Louisville 57 41.8 5-15 6-6 9 24 2 4 9