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Louisville: 2025 Boca Raton Bowl Champions

BOCA RATON, FL — A zany, pun-filled bowl game was the comedic relief that Louisville football needed after an inconsistent and, at times, head-scratching 2025 season.

EL PASO, Texas -- — Harrison Bailey threw for three touchdowns and Caullin Lacy scored twice as Louisville hung on to beat Washington in a 35-34 nail-biter in the Sun Bowl on Tuesday.

Lacy caught a 9-yard TD pass from Bailey, the game’s MVP, in the first quarter and rushed for a score on an 8-yard end around in the fourth that gave Louisville a two-score lead that looked secure after three quarters.

But Washington rallied with scores on its final two possessions in the fourth, including a 1-yard fade from Demond Williams Jr. to Giles Jackson with nine seconds remaining.

Instead of kicking the extra point to tie it, the Huskies went for the win on a 2-point conversion try that failed when Williams’ pass was knocked down in the end zone by linebacker Antonio Watts.

“We played to the very end,” said Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm, whose team was without 22 players due to opt-outs and the transfer portal. “It was back and forth. At the end, we made one more play than they did.

“The game itself was a great battle,” Washington coach Jedd Fisch said. “I thought there were so many good things in that game we should all be proud of as a football program.

“This season is one we’ll always remember. We’re proud of our guys. It’s unfortunate the way it went down at the end. But we were going in here for the win. We weren’t going in here for the tie."

Bailey, who had only played in four games this year for the Cardinals and completed just eight passes for 63 yards, got his first start in place of senior standout Tyler Shough, who opted out of the game to prepare for the NFL Draft.

Bailey made the most of it, completing 16 of 25 passes for 164 yards for Louisville (9-4). He threw touchdown passes of 28, 21 and nine yards.

“I’m proud of Harrison,” Brohm said. “He naturally has a lot of confidence, and that’s a great trait for a quarterback. He wanted to play. He believes in himself, and the team rallied around him and played hard for him.”

Bailey said the win is a big boost for the Cardinals.

“It’s huge for our football team,” he said. “It propels us into next season. I’m super proud of the guys, especially the guys on defense coming through at the end.”

Washington was led by Williams Jr., a freshman making only his second start, who accounted for five touchdowns. He was 26 of 32 passing for 374 yards and four TDs to go with one interception. He also rushed 20 times for 48 yards and a score.

His favorite target was Jackson, who set a Sun Bowl record with four receiving touchdowns on 11 catches for 161 yards.

“It’s cool to score, but we still lost,” Jackson said. “(Stats) doesn’t mean anything to me. But it was cool.”

The Cardinals, who never trailed and didn’t commit a turnover, took a 7-0 lead on the game’s second series when Tahveon Nicholson returned an interception 21 yards for a score.

Takeaways

Louisville: The Cardinals were without 22 players, 18 of whom entered the transfer portal along with four opt outs. Starters who went to the portal were defensive lineman Jared Dawson, tight end Jamari Johnson and safety Devin Neal. They joined opt outs Shough, leading receiver Ja’Corey Brooks, defensive end Ashton Gillotte and quarterback Brady Allen. Shough threw for 3,195 yards and 23 TDs this year, while Brooks had 61 catches for 1,013 yards and 9 TDs.

Washington: Unlike Louisville, Washington didn’t have any players opt out of the game. However, the Huskies, who lost 41 letterwinners from last year’s playoff team, only returned two starters this year in coach Fisch’s first season.

Facts & figures

Louisville's punter Carter Schwartz won Special Teams MVP and Jordan Guerad, who had six tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack, was the Most Valuable Lineman.

“We bowed up as a defense,” Guerad said.

Defensively, Washington linebacker Carson Bruener led all defenders with 11 tackles, while Louisville finished with five sacks to Washington’s zero.

Louisville finished the season on a three-game win streak and improved to 2-0 all-time at the Sun Bowl. Washington lost its final two games and is 1-4 at the Sun Bowl. Both teams are even all-time in bowl games — Washington is 21-21-1, Louisville is 13-13-1.

Tuesday’s game was the first-ever meeting between the teams.

Up next

Louisville will open Brohm’s third season on Aug. 30 at home against Eastern Kentucky as the Cardinals aim for a fifth consecutive bowl appearance.

Washington will kick off Fisch’s second season on Aug. 30 at home against Colorado State.

Louisville: 2022 Fenway Bowl Champions

BOSTON, Mass. – The University of Louisville football team will hold on to the Keg of Nails after a 24-7 victory against long-time rivals, Cincinnati in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl. The Cardinals finish the 2022 season 8-5 overall.

The Cardinals extend their win streak to three in the Keg of Nails rivalry, which was most recently played in 2013 before Louisville joined the ACC.

Jawhar Jordan was named the Fenway Bowl Offensive MVP and Monty Montgomery was named the Defensive MVP.

The defense had another stellar performance, with Monty Montgomery and Yasir Abdullah leading the team in tackles and sacks. Montgomery recorded eight total tackles and one sack and Abdullah recorded 1.5 tackles for loss, moving up to second on Louisville's career list for tackles for loss (43 total). Yaya Diaby had a team-high 2.5 tackles for loss.

The Cards ended with seven sacks, bringing their season total to 50 sacks. This matches the school record for sacks in a single season, set by the 2000 Louisville team.

With his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season, Jawhar Jordan scored the first points of the game with a 49-yard rushing touchdown late in the first quarter.

Jordan recorded his second rushing touchdown before the half with a 41-yard run that put the Cardinals up by 14 points. He is the fourth Louisville player to have multiple rushing touchdowns in a bowl game.

Maurice Turner added a career-high 160 rushing yards for the Cardinals, marking the first time that two players have rushed for at least 100 yards in a Louisville bowl game and the second time this season. Turner is the eighth Louisville true freshman to rush for 100 yards in a game.

Brock Domann started at quarterback for the Cardinals, throwing for 92 yards and one touchdown on 10-of-18 passing. Domann moves to 3-1 as a starter for the Cardinals this year.

James Turner was a perfect 3-for-3 on points after touchdown and connected on a 48-yard field goal, the longest in Louisville bowl history. His field goal marked the 20th made this year and the second most in a season at Louisville.

Interim Head Coach Deion Branch Said:

"The game didn't start the way that we anticipated. Offensively, we had some struggles early on. The defense held us in, doing the normal deal that they've been doing all season. The bright spot we did have in first half was the rushing yards and we controlled the line of scrimmage. I think that was the most important part about the game. I mentioned to the guys that this game will be won or lost on the frontline, the offensive and defensive line. And that's exactly what happened. Second half we came out and it wasn't the second half I thought we would play. There were only three points scored but we didn't allow anything on their behalf. I take that with a grain of salt. But, overall great performance by our team. Great job establishing the line of scrimmage in the run game. We didn't throw the ball as well as I thought we could of, being that there was a lot of man coverage. Overall, I thought it was a decent game plan and Coach (Josh) Stepp and the offensive staff did a great job the entire week game planning. And clearly we know what Coach (Mark) Ivey and the defensive staff has done all season. Pretty much what it has been all year and I think these guys are looking forward to next season."

How It Happened:

First Quarter

00:21 – UL | On the first play following a Louisville fumble recovery, Jawhar Jordan rumbled 49 yards untouched for the opening score of the game.

Second Quarter

10:58 – UC | Evan Prater found Wyatt Fischer for a 20-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7-7. Cincinnati's drive went nine plays and 73 yards in 4:23.

05:52 – UL | Brock Domann hit a wide open Marshon Ford from eight yards out to put the Cards back in front. Louisville marched 66 yards in 10 plays and took 4:55 off the clock.

00:42 – UL | Jawhar Jordan got free again down the right sideline, this time for a 41-yard touchdown to extend the lead to two scores just before halftime. The touchdown finished off a 7-play, 74-yard drive.

Third Quarter

03:49 – UL | James Turner drilled a 48-yard field to stretch the lead out to 24-7 late in the third quarter. The field goal finished off a 14-play drive that ran 6:21 off the clock.

Louisville: 2019 Music City Bowl Champions

Louisville finished off a remarkable 2019 season on Monday night in the Music City Bowl with a 38-28 win over Mississippi State at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, and the youngsters were the stars of the show.

Sophomore quarterback Micale Cunningham threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 81 yards on 16 carries and the Cardinals racked up a whopping 511 total yards to finish off an 8-5 season in Scott Satterfield's first year at the helm. Freshman running back Javian Hawkins was the workhorse for the Cardinals, rushing for 105 yards and one touchdown on 23 carries. Sophomore Chatarius Atwell provided balance through the air with nine receptions for 147 yards.

The Louisville defense -- which entered the game next-to-last in the ACC in rushing defense -- held the stout Bulldogs rushing attack to just 145 yards after star Kylin Hill was knocked out of the game with an injury.

It was the culmination of a remarkable turnaround for Satterfield, who took over a broken program following a 2-10 season under former coach Bobby Petrino. In one short season, Louisville transformed itself from the punchline of a very bad ACC joke into a program that looks more like the one that was a threat to Clemson and Florida State in the ACC Atlantic when Petrino had things cooking with quarterback Lamar Jackson.

The college football world is begging another team in the ACC to become a threat to knock Clemson off of its pedestal. Why not Louisville? The Cardinals are the second team in conference history to go from 0-8 in conference play to 5-3, and Satterfield just orchestrated the biggest turnaround in Power Five football in 2019. The school has made a major investment in the football program since joining the ACC earlier this decade, is in a fertile recruiting ground and has momentum on its side.

Is Louisville the next Clemson? No. It's way too soon for that. But in the crowded mess that is the ACC, it has the best chance to become the primary threat in 2020 and beyond.

Louisville Cardinals: 2015 Music City Bowl Champions

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Louisville football came here to Nissan Stadium, three hours or so from home, and put in a solid performance to finish the 2015 season, running past Texas A&M 27-21 in the Music City Bowl on Wednesday night.

The win pushes Louisville (8-5) into a critical offseason in which a young team hopes to start the process of growing into a potential ACC title contender in the coming seasons. The Cards will spend the next few weeks waiting on the decisions of four key juniors who are trying to figure out if they want to return to school for one more season or make an NFL roster.

In the meantime, U of L has its third bowl win in four seasons, a budding star in freshman quarterback Lamar Jackson and a young core of talent around him.

Offensive player of the game: It has to be Jackson, who set a freshman record for total offense in a single game (453 yards) and broke the school's career rushing record for quarterbacks in the process. The speedy, shifty signal caller did a little bit of everything in Louisville's win, carving his way into the end zone in the first quarter with a 6-yard run, then busting through Texas A&M's defense 10 minutes later for a 61-yard touchdown sprint. The first quarter hadn't even ended when Jackson ran past the 100-yard mark. He finished with 226 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

The biggest knock on Jackson is that he is not a polished passer. That is still the case, and U of L's offensive coaches will spend a lot of the offseason working with him on his pocket presence, deep balls and throwing touch, but he was sharp throwing the ball on Wednesday. His numbers aren't eye-popping - 12 of 26 for 227 yards and two touchdowns - but he was effective enough to keep Texas A&M's defense at bay while also limiting turnovers and throwing the ball away when he was in trouble. It was an important step into the offseason for Jackson.

Defensive player of the game: Call it a tie between DeVonte Fields and Josh Harvey-Clemons, who both had major impacts on the game. Fields had his best game of the season, sacking Texas A&M quarterback Jake Hubenak three times. He tormented Texas A&M left tackle Avery Gennesy, who at one point in the first half picked up back-to-back false starts.

Harvey-Clemons, a much-maligned figure on U of L's defense in the second half of the season, came up big, too. The hulking safety had a free shot at Hubenak on a safety blitz in the third quarter and slapped the ball out of the quarterback's hands for a strip-sack, a fumble that James Hearns recovered. Later in the same quarter, he snatched a key interception that led to Louisville's fourth touchdown of the game and gave the Cards a two-score lead.

Where the game turned: Harvey-Clemons, after checking back on Hubenak mid-play, adjusted himself to make a leaping, fingertips interception at the Louisville 27-yard line. It came at a time when Louisville was clinging to a six-point lead and needed some momentum, and the Georgia transfer provided it. U of L went 73 yards in seven plays after the pick, capping the drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Keith Towbridge, who was wide open in the end zone.

Key stats: This one comes with the obvious caveat that Texas A&M's two primary quarterbacks transferred, which left Hubenak, the third-stringer, at the helm. That said, A&M (8-5) came into the game with an impressive 43.2 percent conversion rate on third downs, but the Aggies struggled on Wednesday, hitting on just 6-of-18 tries.

What went right: The pass rush was really effective for Louisville, especially early on. DeVonte Fields was disruptive as ever, and Sheldon Rankins and James Hearns had solid games, too, until Hearns's late-game hands-to-the-face penalty that kept alive Texas A&M's last-gasp drive. Beyond that, the offensive line did a solid job for Jackson, who did a lot of work with his own legs, but he did have running lanes and space to operate.

What went wrong: The game got off to a rather surprising start, with senior linebacker James Burgess, one of the key cogs in Louisville's defense, getting ejected from the game after a targeting penalty on the first play. It was a disappointing end to what has been a very productive career for Burgess. Later in the first quarter, one of Louisville's top pass rushers, Trevon Young, was taken to the hospital with a hip injury after he was carted off the field. Those two incidents, and the brief back injury for cornerback Shaq Wiggins, put a damper on Louisville's otherwise impressive first quarter.

Louisville: 2013-14 American Men's Basketball Champions

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Rick Pitino switched from coach to lobbyist the moment his Louisville Cardinals won their third straight conference tournament title.

Of course, Pitino thinks the defending national champs deserve a No. 1 seed, even if he knows they likely won't get one.

Montrezl Harrell had 22 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, and fifth-ranked Louisville beat No. 21 Connecticut 71-61 Saturday for the inaugural American Athletic Conference title in the Cardinals' lone season in the league.

Pitino said he's extremely biased.

"But I'm very impressed with our guys," Pitino said. "What they've done to win a regular season, conference tournament the way we have done it, in the fashion we have done it fits the eye test. I can't talk about the strength of the league. If you want to blame anybody, blame football. Don't blame us."

The Cardinals (29-5) clinched their 40th NCAA tournament berth in style with their 19th overall tournament title. They took the last two in the Big East and added the American to go with their share of the regular-season title with Cincinnati. They will play next season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

"To win a regular-season championship and a tournament championship back-to-back is not easy. You have to have special players, and these two epitomize exactly that," Pitino said, praising Russ Smith and Harrell.

Smith, named the tournament's most outstanding player, scored 19 points. He also had five steals to move into a tie for Louisville's career record with 254. Chris Jones added 11 points.

Smith said he thought a year ago that he had done almost everything a college athlete can, but he wanted to enjoy being a senior on campus and work on his game. Now he has another title to enjoy.

"I have a lot of fun being at Louisville," Smith said.

UConn (26-8) came in looking for an eighth tournament title to go with seven from the Big East. It was barred from postseason play a year ago, but is a virtual lock to return to the NCAA tournament this year.

The Huskies left Memphis with a third loss this season to Louisville -- all by double digits.

"Louisville's playing great basketball," UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. "They won the championship last year, they went to the Final Four the year before. They got pretty much their whole team back, an experienced bunch, they play hard and well coached. But this tournament is wide open. It's a one-game elimination. Somebody can get hot, and hopefully that team will be us."

Ollie also looked ahead to a conference that will be losing Louisville and Rutgers and adding teams like Tulsa. He said UConn plans to continue being at the top of the American.

"This conference is going to be great," Ollie said.

DeAndre Daniels led the Huskies with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Conference player of the year Shabazz Napier had 16 points on 4-of-12 shooting, and Amida Brimah finished with 14.

UConn outscored Louisville 32-28 in the paint, but the Cardinals turned the Huskies' 13 turnovers into 13 points. Louisville also outrebounded the Huskies 38-33 and enjoyed a 14-6 advantage on second-chance points.

Louisville routed UConn 81-48 a week ago on the Cardinals' home court. But the Huskies were a confident bunch heading into the final, coming off victories over No. 19 Memphis in the quarterfinals and No. 13 Cincinnati in the semis.

The Cardinals grabbed an early lead and controlled the action for much of the game. Harrell scored 10 points in the first half and was a blur at times, blocking Brimah twice on one possession. He also swooped in for a dunk off a Smith assist that looked more like a layup that just missed the basket short.

UConn stayed within six of the Cardinals down the stretch, but Louisville finished the half on a 10-2 run that included 3s by Terry Rozier and Luke Hancock. Smith also had a steal and a pass ahead to Rozier for a fast-break layup that gave the Cardinals their biggest lead yet at 37-23 going into the break.

"We just didn't find our rhythm," Napier said. "They did play good defense. Once we got into the middle, guys had open shots, and we just couldn't knock them down."

The Huskies tried to take advantage of Louisville's shooting woes to open the second half.

The Cardinals missed their first five shots, but Harrell had big three-point play for a 45-28 lead. Louisville went up by as much as 20 a couple times, the last at 52-32.

Louisville: 2013 Russell Athletic Bowl Champions

If the Russell Athletic Bowl proves to be Teddy Bridgewater's final collegiate performance, then he could not have picked a finer way to go out, returning to his home state of Florida and leading the Louisville Cardinals to an easy 36-9 win.

It did not start out as a blowout, though. Indeed, when Bridgewater was tackled in the end zone by Deon Bush for a safety just five minutes into the game, it looked like the Hurricanes were ready to wreck some havoc in their return to bowl season.

Turns out, they only had a light drizzle in store.

Bridgewater shook off that initial gaffe to put up yet another fantastically efficient performance -- the kind that have become so commonplace in his career.

After those first two Miami points, it was all Cardinals the rest of the way. Louisville scored 22 consecutive points to close the half, thanks to three John Wallace field goals from 36, 43 and 42 yards, and then a pair of Bridgewater touchdown passes.

The safety and a Wallace missed extra point proved to be the only Louisville mistakes in the first two quarters, and as fantastic as Bridgewater was in the first half, the Cardinals' defense was just as good. In just 30 minutes of action, they sacked Hurricanes quarterback Stephen Morris three times, pressured him on at least four occasions, forced Miami into an 0-for-7 on third downs, held them to 82 total yards and picked up a Morris fumble for good measure.

Coming out of the half, Bridgewater continued to pound away at the Hurricanes, scoring with a touchdown pass to Senorise Perry and again on a one-yard run on fourth-and-goal. That pushed the lead up to 36-2, and although Miami cut into things a bit on a short touchdown from Gus Edwards, it was merely window dressing.

The Cardinals ended up as Russell Athletic Bowl champions, picking up a 12th win.

Afterward, Bridgewater was asked about his intentions in regards to the NFL draft, and appeared to tip his hand a bit, although he made sure to mention his decision was not final yet.

Box Score Hero: Who else? It had to be Bridgewater, who threw for a career high 447 yards and three touchdowns. He added one more on the ground.

Rankings Ramifications: Louisville may see a slight rankings bump at the end of bowl season, depending on how things shake out with other teams.

But Did They Cover? The Cardinals were anywhere from 5.5- to 6-point favorites at kickoff, up from 3 when the line opened. They covered easily.

Louisville: 2012-13 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Champions

ATLANTA -- Rick Pitino capped the greatest week of his life with the prize he wanted most of all.

Luke Hancock produced another huge game off the bench, scoring 22 points, and Pitino became the first coach to win national titles at two schools when relentless Louisville rallied from another 12-point deficit to beat Michigan 82-76 in the NCAA championship game Monday night.

This title came on the same day Pitino was announced as a member of the latest Hall of Fame class, a couple of days after his horse won a big race on the way to the Kentucky Derby, and a few more days after his son got the head coaching job at Minnesota.

This was the best feeling of all. The Cardinals (35-5) lived up to their billing as the top overall seed in the tournament, though they sure had to work for it.

Louisville trailed Wichita State by a dozen in the second half of the national semifinals, before rallying for a 72-68 victory. This time, they fell behind by 12 in the first half, though a stunning spurt at the end of the period wiped out the entire deficit.

For that, they can thank Hancock, named the most outstanding player. He came off the bench to hit four straight 3-pointers after Michigan got a boost from an even more unlikely player, freshman Spike Albrecht. He, too, made four straight from beyond the arc, blowing by his career high before the break with 17 points. Coming in, Albrecht was averaging 1.8 points a game and had not scored more than seven all season.

While Albrecht didn't do much in the second half, Hancock finished what he started for Louisville. He buried another 3 from the corner with 3:20 remaining to give the Cardinals their biggest lead, 76-66. Michigan wouldn't go away, but Hancock wrapped it up by making two free throws with 29 seconds left.

While Pitino shrugged off any attempt to make this about him, there was no doubt the Cardinals wanted to win a national title for someone else -- injured guard Kevin Ware.

Watching again from his seat at the end of the Louisville bench, his injured right led propped up on a chair, Ware smiled and slapped hands with his teammates as they celebrated in the closing seconds, the victory coming just 30 miles from where he played his high school ball.

Any pain he was feeling from that gruesome injury in the regional final, when he landed awkwardly, snapped his leg and was left writhing on the floor with the bone sticking through the skin, was long gone as he hobbled gingerly onto the court with the aid of crutches, backing in a sea of confetti and streamers.

March Madness 2013: Louisville vs. Michigan

ATLANTA -- Russ Smith looked at the scoreboard, then at the clock, then over at the bench.

Louisville needed a run, but he had no idea where it was going to come from. The starters were struggling, the fouls were piling up and the only lift injured Kevin Ware could give the top-seeded Cardinals was an emotional one.

"It was like, 'Man,'" Smith said. "I was actually waiting for our run. And it happened. Luke exploded. That was actually what I was waiting for. Then Chane exploded. Then Peyton made a big layup. Then Tim Henderson. It just kept going and going."

And Louisville rode it all the way to the title game.

Luke Hancock scored 20 points off the bench, Henderson sparked a second-half rally with a pair of monster 3s, and Louisville reminded everyone it can grind it out, too, advancing to the NCAA title game after escaping with a 72-68 victory over Wichita State on Saturday night.

Louisville will play Michigan for the national title Monday night. It will be the Cardinals' first trip to the national championship game since 1986, when they won it all.

The Cardinals (34-5) have had this game in their sights since losing to Kentucky in last year's Final Four, and they got added motivation after Ware's tibia snapped during last weekend's Midwest Regional final, the bone poking through the skin.

Ware was on his feet when the final buzzer sounded, grinning and throwing his arms into the air.

"We've got to bring our best game," Ware said. "It's the last game of the season. If we lose, everything we've worked for just goes down the drain. That's the last thing we want right now."

Especially after such a close call against the ninth-seeded Shockers (30-9), who nearly pulled off their biggest upset of all.

Wichita State had knocked off No. 1 seed Gonzaga and No. 2 Ohio State on its way to its first Final Four since 1965, and the Shockers had a 12-point lead on Louisville with 13:35 to play. It was the largest deficit all tournament for the Cardinals, who seemed lost after the emotional week following Ware's gruesome injury.

But Louisville had come back to win five games after trailing by nine points or more already this year, including rallying from a 16-point deficit in the title game at the Big East tournament. Even coach Rick Pitino's horse, Goldencents, had to rally to win the Santa Anita Derby, and a spot in the Kentucky Derby, on Saturday.

This rally trumped them all.

"We just played super hard," said Smith, who led the Cardinals with 21 points. "Nobody wanted to go home."

Henderson, the walk-on who was forced into increased playing time because of Ware's injury, made those back-to-back 3s to spark a 21-8 run. While Hancock and Behanan were knocking down shots, Smith and Peyton Siva were turning up the heat on the Shockers, forcing them into seven turnovers in the final seven minutes after they'd gone more than 26 minutes without one.

The first came when Siva darted in to strip the ball away from Carl Hall. Siva fed Hancock, who drilled a 3 that gave Louisville a 56-55 lead, its first since the end of the first half.

"Down the stretch, we were just loose with the ball, we just didn't take care of it, pretty much," said Wichita State's Malcolm Armstead, who had just two points on 1-of-10 shooting. "I can't give you an explanation -- it just happened."

Cleanthony Early would give the Shockers one more lead, converting a three-point play. But Siva scored and then Smith stole the ball and took it in for an easy layup that gave Louisville a 60-58 lead with 4:47 left. Louisville fans erupted, and even Ware was on his feet, throwing up his arms and clapping. The Cardinals extended the lead to 65-60 on a tip-in of a Smith miss and another 3 by Hancock.

Wichita State had one last chance, pulling within 68-66 on Early's tip in with 22 seconds left. But the Shockers were forced to foul, and Smith and Hancock made their free throws to seal the victory.

As the final buzzer sounded, Chane Behanan tossed the ball high into the air and Henderson and Hancock did a flying shoulder bump at midcourt.

"It's just a mix of emotions, of feelings. It hurts to have to lose and be the end of the season," said Early, who led the Shockers with 24 points. "But these guys fought to the end, and we had a great season and keep our heads high and know the grind doesn't stop."

The Cardinals were the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament, and they steamrolled their way through their first four games, winning by an average of almost 22 points. They limited opponents to 59 points and 42 percent shooting while harassing them into almost 18 turnovers a game, setting an NCAA tourney record with 20 steals against North Carolina A&T.

The presence of Ware was supposed to provide even more motivation for Louisville. He urged his teammates to "just go win the game" before being wheeled off the court on a stretcher last weekend. Three days later, he joined the Cardinals as they made the trip to the Final Four in Atlanta, Ware's hometown.

The Cardinals have modified their warm-up T-shirts in Ware's honor -- they now read "Ri5e to the Occasion," with Ware's No. 5 on the back. He had a seat at the end of the bench, his right leg propped up on towels, and every one of the starters went to shake his hand after being introduced.

But whether it was the roller-coaster of the last week, the expectations or just Wichita State, the Cardinals seemed out of sorts much of the night. Wayne Blackshear and Gorgui Dieng went scoreless, and Siva was just 1-of-9.

"There's a reason our starters played poorly, because Wichita State is that good," Pitino said

Wichita State may not have the names or pedigree of a Louisville, Syracuse or Michigan. But what the Shockers lacked in star power they more than made up for in hustle and heart. This, after all, was a team with one player (Carl Hall) who salvaged his career after working in a light bulb factory and two more (Armstead and Ron Baker) who paid their own ways in their first years.

The Shockers barely seemed to notice that vaunted Louisville press until the final minutes of the game. They didn't rush shots, working it around until they got a look they liked -- Louisville was called for more than one foul late in the shot clock, including one on Smith with only a second left -- and they were relentless on the backboards.

And that "play angry" defense? Now the Cardinals have an idea of how their opponents have felt. Wichita State bottled Louisville up inside, never letting Gorgui Dieng be a factor, and the Cardinals were continually forced to put up awkward and bad shots from outside.

"We were kind of waiting to make our run," Hancock said. "Obviously you're a little concerned when you're down by 12 in the second half. We just had to turn up our intensity, maybe gamble a little more."

Louisville was struggling so badly that Ware actually got out of his seat at one point, hobbling over to the Louisville huddle.

"He just wanted to tell us that we needed to pick it up," Siva said. "We know how much it would mean for him to be out there. He just tried to give us whatever we needed, the extra motivation, the extra boost to get over the hump. That's what he did."

The Shockers have had trouble hanging onto leads, and this game was no different. After Henderson's 3s, the Cardinals were off and running, all the way to the last game of the season.

"Coach Pitino kept telling us to go out there and have fun and keep playing and we were going to win. Stop hanging our heads," Siva said.

"That's what we did."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

ATLANTA -- Michigan is more than just five fabulous players.

No, this is quite a team -- all the way down the roster.

Fearlessly attacking Syracuse's suffocating zone in the first half, getting big contributions off the bench, and hanging on for dear life at the end, the Wolverines advanced to the national championship game with a 61-56 victory over the Orange in the Final Four on Saturday night.

So put away those comparisons to the Fab Five.

This group of young stars is determined to leave its own legacy.

"We've been a team all year," said coach John Beilein, whose Wolverines were playing in the Final Four for the first time since 1993, when the Fab Five lost for the second straight time in the national title game. "It was great."

Michigan (31-7) will be going for its first national title since 1989 when it faces Louisville on Monday at the Georgia Dome. Syracuse (30-10) failed to complete an all-Big East final in the fabled league's last season before a major overhaul.

Louisville was established as a 4 1/2-point title game favorite.

Don't expect that to bother the brash young Wolverines a bit. They showed they could win even when their best weapon, Associated Press player of the year Trey Burke, was having a really ugly night.

He scored just seven points on 1-of-8 shooting.

"We know Trey is our leader, and sometimes he's not going to have a game like he's had all season," said Tim Hardaway Jr., who led Michigan with 13 points. "That's when our team stepped up."

Trailing 58-56, the Orange had a chance to force overtime. But Brandon Triche was called for a foul when Jordan Morgan stepped in to take the charge with 19.2 seconds left.

"Jordan is our best charge-taker," Beilein said. "He stood in there and took a good one."

After Jon Horford made only one of two free throws, Syracuse called timeout and set up a play. Curiously, the Orange didn't attempt a tying 3-pointer. Instead, Trevor Cooney drove the lane looking to put up an easier shot. But the ball was swatted away, Michigan saved it from going out of bounds and Morgan wound up taking a long pass the other way.

He threw down a thunderous slam with just over a second remaining to cap the triumph.

Triche blamed himself for driving the ball recklessly into the lane when Syracuse had a chance to tie it.

"I was just trying to make a play for the team," he said. "I probably should have made a better decision, probably should have pulled up for the jump shot. ... I did see him, but I figured, I was already in the air jumping."

With Burke struggling to get open looks and misfiring even when he did, Michigan got an unexpected contribution off the bench from freshmen Caris LeVert and Spike Albrecht.

LeVert scored eight points and Albrecht chipped in with six -- all of them crucial after the Wolverines went cold in the second half and struggled to put away the Orange.

"We had a lot of guys in there," Beilein said. "You never know who the outlier is, you never know who's going to come in and get that done."

Of course, there's nothing unusual about Michigan getting big performances from first-year players. This team starts three freshmen -- Glenn Robinson III, Mitch McGary and Nik Stauskas -- which, of course, rekindles memories of the great Fab Five teams.

These kids want nothing to do with the comparisons, saying they haven't done nearly enough to be mentioned in the same breath with a team that changed the face of college basketball.

Well, if the Wolverines can win their next game, they'll accomplish something that eluded the Fab Five: a national title.

Syracuse was looking to give 68-year-old Jim Boeheim another title, a decade after the Orange won it all in their last trip to the Final Four. Boeheim has no plans to retire, but his quest for a championship is on hold for another year.

"I told you I'm not going to answer that question unless you ask that of every coach," Boeheim snapped at a reporter when asked about his future. "I never indicated at any time that I'm not coming back."

Michigan won this game in the opening 20 minutes, doing exactly what it needed to do against Syracuse's suffocating 2/3 zone: knock down open 3s, crash the boards, and work the ball inside and out with crisp, rapid-fire passes.

"I thought we got off to a really bad start defensively in the first half," Boeheim said. "We just didn't have the movement that we've had, and Michigan took advantage of it. Our offense was not good in the first half or the second half. Second half, we got our defense going a lot better, and got back in the game in spite of our offense."

When Syracuse started extending its perimeter defense, looking to cut off the long-range shots, Michigan created an open look late in the half with a nifty bit of ball movement. Robinson -- like Hardaway, the son of a former NBA star -- took a pass, whipped it ball to LeVert, who dribbled a couple of times and fed the ball back to Robinson for an open 15-footer.

Nothing but net.

The Wolverines began to pull away from Syracuse even without much of a contribution from Burke. He finally scored his first points with just under a minute remaining in the first half, swishing a 3 from nearly the same spot on the court where he made the long shot that stunned top-seeded Kansas.

It would be Burke's only basket of the night.

"At the end of the day, it wasn't offense," he said. "A lot of us didn't have good shooting nights, but it was defense that allowed us to advance."

Burke came up huge in the South Regional, leading Michigan back from 14 points down with less than 7 minutes remaining against Kansas. He forced overtime with a long 3-pointer at the end of regulation, and Wolverines finished off the 87-85 upset in overtime.

Syracuse, meanwhile, had taken its trademark defense to new levels of stinginess in the NCAA tournament.

The Orange arrived in Atlanta having surrendered a paltry 45.75 points over four games, holding Montana (34), top-seeded Indiana (50) and Marquette (39) to their lowest scoring totals of the season. Overall, Syracuse's tournament opponents had combined to shoot just 28.9 percent from field (61 of 211) and 15.4 percent from 3-point range (14 of 91).

Syracuse was brimming with confidence heading into the Final Four, believing its zone could shut down the Wolverines and its more experienced lineup would take advantage of Michigan's youth.

But the Wolverines had more points by halftime than Montana, and nearly as many as Marquette managed in the regional final. Even though Hardaway missed a trey just before the buzzer sounded, Michigan sprinted off the court with a commanding 36-25 lead.

Syracuse didn't have enough offensive firepower to come all the way back, shooting just 42 percent (23 of 55).

C.J. Fair scored 22 points, doing his best to rally the Orange all by himself. But Triche, with 11 points, was the only other Syracuse player in double figures.

With Michigan's starters also struggling, the guys off the bench picked up the slack.

LeVert, who seemed headed for a redshirt early in the season and was known more for defense than offense, made a couple of 3-pointers in the opening half. He had connected just 11 times from that range coming into the Final Four.

Albrecht was another surprise. He, too, buried a couple of shots beyond the arc -- one of them going through from the corner while he was sliding on his backside toward the Syracuse bench. Coming into Atlanta, he had made only a dozen 3-pointers the entire season.

There's still another game to go.

"It's going to be a great matchup," said McGary, one of those Michigan freshmen. "They're a team like Syracuse that also plays in Big East and they remind me of VCU the way they trap and can turn over the ball, so it should be a great matchup."