A hot shooter, a big ceremony and past history swirled around Syracuse Saturday afternoon, and the No. 1 Orange lost at Louisville, 78-68, in the regular season finale for both teams.
The perfect storm brewed in Kentucky and swept away the Orange on Saturday afternoon.
Led by a scintillating second-half shooting performance from reserve guard Kyle Kuric, unranked Louisville defeated top-ranked Syracuse for the second time in three weeks. A 78-68 victory in the final game ever at historic Freedom Hall gave the Cardinals (20-11, 11-7 Big East) a No. 6 seed in the upcoming Big East Tournament.
Syracuse (28-3, 15-3) is still locked in as the top seed in the Big East Tournament and assured of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.