Middle Tennessee’s women rubbed salt in Louisville’s wounds after overcoming an 18-point deficit in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for a come-from-behind victory.
After the 11th-seeded Blue Raiders’ 71-69 victory over the 6th-seeded Cardinals in Albany on Friday, ESPN cameras showed nearly the entire Middle Tennessee team chanting “L’s down” to mock their opponent. I captured him gesturing.
Savannah Wheeler and Jalin Gregory both threw “L downs” at midcourt.
And at the team huddle after the game, Courtney Whitson was seen doing an “L down” with both hands to get her teammates excited, and all of her teammates responded in kind.
Wheeler, this season’s Conference USA Player of the Year, struggled in the first half, missing his first six shots and was in foul trouble early.
However, she scored 20 of her 22 points in the second half and spoke about her feelings after the game.
“I just kept telling myself to stay aggressive and keep playing within myself, and eventually one of us is going to go down,” Wheeler went 5-of-7 from the field in the second half. He said this after hitting all three point shots. Attempt. “We’re a team that doesn’t give up. We keep playing hard. We keep fighting.”
After the game, Louisville guard Melissa Russell placed the blame for the blown lead on her players and emphasized that she had head coach Jeff Walz’s support.
“As a team and as players, it’s our responsibility,” Russell said. “We know the culture here. We know the standards here, but this is not it. … This is not who we are. We feel like we’ve failed.”
