Quote:Victory over Louisville Cougars' first against ranked team since '96
By MICHAEL MURPHY
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Karen Warren/Chronicle
UH's Rodney Hannah beats Louisville's Juan Palacious to a rebound during the second half.
Back-to-back losses to Washington and Texas A&M showed how far the Houston Cougars still had to go in their quest to return to college basketball's elite. But on Wednesday night against No. 17 Louisville, the Cougars showed everyone just how far they have come.

With the Conference USA opener — and perhaps their credibility as a league contender — on the line, the Cougars made every big play down the stretch and upset the Cardinals 70-67 at Hofheinz Pavilion.

For the Cougars, it was their first victory against a ranked team since 1996, when they beat No. 21 Tulsa, and the first time they had beaten Louisville since 1993.

Have Houston fans been waiting for something like this?

Indeed, several of the 4,328 in attendance were in tears as the final seconds slipped off the clock. When the final buzzer sounded, Houston players and coaches rushed the court in a wild, spontaneous release of emotion.

"It was great," Houston coach Tom Penders said of the celebration. "We've talked about that — winning brings fans. I think we made a major step in that direction. There may be a couple of teams that might be more exciting to watch, but nobody plays harder than we do."

Penders wasn't saying that a couple of days ago. After getting drilled at Washington (by a school-record 47 points) and Texas A&M (13 points) in their previous two games, Penders closed practices to the media and put his players through a series of brutal workouts that sometimes ran until 2 a.m.

The Cougars ran the steps at Hofheinz, wrestled one another for loose balls and endured charge-taking routines that bordered on suicidal.

"Man, it's been tough," said Andre Owens, whose season-high 27 points included a pair of late 3-pointers that saved the Cougars. "I haven't worked that hard since I've been in college basketball, but we needed it."

For the Cougars (9-5, 1-0), the game came down to the final seconds. The Cardinals (11-3, 0-1) trailed much of the game but rallied behind Juan Palacios (20 points) and Francisco Garcia, who got the last of his 13 points on a drive to put Louisville up 67-65 with 40.5 seconds left.

But Owens, who moments earlier buried a game-tying 3-pointer, sank another trey that put the Cougars up 68-67 with 21.5 seconds left.

"I always go for the win," Owens said. "I figured they (the Cardinals) were looking for us to go for two (points) and the tie, so I wasn't going to go for that. I wanted to go for the win."

Louisville's last hopes evaporated when Garcia was called for charging with 13 seconds left, which not only gave the Cougars the ball but also took the junior swingman out of the game with his fifth foul.

Forced to foul, the Cardinals sent Lanny Smith to the line. But Smith hit two free throws with 10.7 seconds left to put UH up by three points.

"I had struggled all game, so I knew I had to do something," said Smith, who had 12 points and four assists, but had seven turnovers and missed nine of his 12 shots. "Those last two free throws, with the pressure on, I wasn't shaken at all."

When Louisville's Lorenzo Wade missed a desperation 3-pointer, it touched off the party for Houston fans. Appropriately, that final miss landed in the hands of Houston's Rodney Hannah, who stepped up with a career-high 16 rebounds.

With Sergio de Randamie (ankle) and Darius Brannon (back) sidelined, it couldn't have come at a better time.

"I felt it was on me to be physical," said Hannah, who had a total of only 11 rebounds in the first 13 games. "A lot of people thought they were more physical and tougher than we were, but I came in with the mentality that we weren't going to be out-toughed."