David Booth was on fire as he led the Blue Demons to an upset win over #4 Louisville at the Rosemont Horizon, January 1990. National television with Al McGuire and Joel Meyers. Another fun memory from DePaul's past. Uploaded from an old VHS tape.
UPI story below:
DePaul 66, Louisville 62
By ROBERT J. MURPHY UPI Sports Writer
Jan. 27, 1990
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- DePaul pulled off the upset it needed to stay in line for an NCAA Tournament bid in March.
DePaul knocked off No. 4 Louisville 66-62 Saturday to raise its record to 11-9. Because the Blue Demons are an independent, they must rely on a good record and victories over highly-rated teams to make the postseason.
David Booth sparked DePaul by scoring a career-high 37 points, including 23 in the second half and three key free throws in the final 20 seconds. He also sparkled defensively, coming up with seven rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.
'I felt I had to play hard today,' said Booth, who hit 15 of 23 shots from the field. 'Nobody knows what kind of day they're going to have coming in, but if you work hard things will work out.
'It means a lot because we want to go to the (NCAA) tournament at the end of the year, and I think we had to beat a big team to go the tournament.'
Louisville, 14-3, had its five-game winning streak snapped. The Cardinals were led by Everick Sullivan's 13 points, while Felton Spencer had 12 and LaBradford Smith finished with 11.
A noticeably perturbed Louisville Coach Denny Crum said he had lost his team's attention recently, and added the upset may be was what the Cardinals needed.
'Hopefully our players learn something from this experience,' Crum said. 'Coach (John) Wooden told me one time you only learn through adversity. We've not had too many adverse times this year, so it's been hard for me to get across to them the things that I think are important in terms of winning because they've been winning without doing them.
'It's a hard lesson to learn. I hope now maybe I'll have their attention a little bit better and maybe they'll listen to me and start doing some of the little things it takes to win,' he said. 'If we do, then this loss will be very good for us.'
The score was 30-30 at the intermission, and neither team pulled ahead by more than four points in the second half. Smith put Louisville ahead 62-61 after hitting one of two free throws with 1:19 remaining, but Stephen Howard followed with a pair for DePaul with 39 seconds left to put the Blue Demons back in front 63-62.
Booth blocked Jerome Harmon's jumper at the other end and was fouled on the ensuing scramble. He hit one of two free throws with 20 seconds remaining to make the score 64-62.
Louisville, after a time-out, tried to lob the ball inside but turned it over.
'We had an option, and we even drew it on the board,' Crum said. 'But doing something in the huddle on the board doesn't mean they're going to get it done, and that's the point I was making. We did not execute. We have an option for that play, and he (7-foot center Spencer) was wide open. All we had to do was throw it to him.'
Booth was fouled with four seconds left and nailed a pair of free throws to ensure the win, easily DePaul's most important this season. The Blue Demons' previous best effort was a near upset of No. 2 Georgetown Jan. 13.
'Obviously, it's a great feeling emotionally,' DePaul Coach Joey Meyer said. 'We put a lot of work into this game. This team has had its ups and downs, and we had a great opportunity against Georgetown. So it's great to know that all our work paid off. We talked before that you only get so many chances. This was another big chance.'
DePaul jumped to a 12-7 lead, Booth scoring six of those, before the Cardinals put together six straight for their first advantage of the game. The Blue Demons, however, responded with an 8-0 run of their own, Booth capping it with a dunk for a 20-13 lead with 8:46 to play in the half.
Louisville, held to 13 fewer field-goal attempts than DePaul in the first half and 22 for the game, scratched its way back by hitting 9 of 13 free throws in the final 8 1-2 minutes of the half. DePaul did not shoot a free throw in the first 23 minutes of the game.
Howard hit a jumper and Booth a jump hook in the lane to start the second half, putting DePaul ahead 34-30. Keith Williams answered with a three-point play for the Cardinals, and Tony Kimbro's three-point play with 11:39 left gave Louisville its biggest lead of the game at 46-42.
But Booth scored his team's next 7 points, and the game remained close the rest of the way.