Louisville storms back to top Miami, 71-66

Welcome back, Q.

Louisville trailed by seven points at halftime and by as many as 14 in the first half, but stormed back to score a 71-66 win over visiting Miami Saturday afternoon.

Quentin Snider returned to the court for the first time in nearly a month, and hit some of the game’s biggest shots down the stretch, including a deep three-pointer in the game’s final minutes to turn a two-point advantage into five. Snider finished the afternoon with 13 points and four assists.

The Cardinals were once again led in scoring by Donovan Mitchell and Deng Adel, who turned in 18 points apiece.

Rapid fire thoughts:

—Quentin’s performance was a bit uneven today, especially on the defensive end, which is understandable given the amount of time he was away. He didn’t lose his clutch gene, though, and that’s the most important takeaway from the win.

—Five weeks ago it looked like the team was prepared to roll with the frontcourt of Anas and Ray, today it looks like it’s going to be the exact opposite. Mangok and Jaylen were both terrific, while their frontcourt counterparts combined for no points and four turnovers.

—The Deng Adel transition from awkward liability on offense to pure scorer is happening, and it’s beautiful.

—It appeared as though Louisville was attempting to utilize some new defensive sets at the beginning of the game, which would explain why they played the worst 12 minutes of defense they have all season. When it was clear that Miami was at the top of their offensive game, Pitino did the right thing, scrapped the new stuff, and went for the W.

—Speaking of Pitino, this happened:

Best Rick moment of the year.

—I love the Miami length of the court in-bounds pass. It’s like the basketball intentional walk.

—One down, 15 to go for Mission 16 Straight.