Louisville's David Padgett after Cards lose to No. 1 Virginia on last second shot. Scott Utterback/Louisville Courier Journal
A lot can happen in 0.9 seconds of basketball.
For 39 minutes and 59.1 seconds on Thursday night, Louisville played like a team ready to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a marquee victory over No. 1 Virginia. There was fire and urgency in its defense and patience in its offense for long stretches. The Cardinals, at long last, had dropped Virginia to the canvas.
Then, in a dizzying flourish of unthinkable events, Virginia came off the mat and delivered a knockout blow, stunning Louisville, 67-66.
Ken Pomeroy's college basketball analytics site gave Louisville a 99.3-percent probability of winning with 0.9 seconds left. But the Cards were undone by the type of mental mistakes that have cost them so often this season, an apt and crushing illustration of their inconsistent campaign to this point.
"The stars weren't aligned for us tonight," interim coach David Padgett said. He later added, "That's the toughest loss I've ever had."
More on this: Louisville's loss to Virginia borders on the inconceivable
Louisville's players in the locker room resembled those lingering in the KFC Yum Center stands, where dozens of stunned, silent fans stared straight ahead.
Deng Adel's dead-ball travel on an inbounds pass attempt that would've sealed a win was only the penultimate gasp-inducing moment in a sequence of insanity. He could hardly look up at the cameras surrounding him at his locker.
Moments earlier, as a dazed, heartbroken Adel walked off the court with his roommate, senior Anas Mahmoud, he quietly apologized to his friend for his mistake and hung his head. Mahmoud said he tried to console him.
No one could blame them if they were struggling to comprehend what had happened.
After Darius Perry's foul on Virginia's Ty Jerome as he shot a 3-pointer, Jerome made two free throws with 0.9 seconds remaining. But a lane violation as Jerome tried to intentionally miss the third foul shot should have closed the deal.
That's when Adel's misstep opened the door for De'Andre Hunter's banked-in, buzzer-beating 3.
"I kind of saw (Perry) getting open so I just forgot I couldn't move," Adel said. "... I don't know how to put it into words. I feel really bad for (Mahmoud and fellow senior Quentin Snider). It was a dumb decision at the end for me. This one is going to hurt. ...
"I was actually trying to throw it, and then I don't know ... We had a timeout. I don't why I chose the third option. I should've called the timeout or thrown the ball to halfcourt."
Asked what ran through his mind after Hunter's shot went in, Adel said, "I was just heartbroken."
Thursday's meltdown felt like the Clemson and Miami losses on steroids.
At Clemson, Louisville twice had chances to win in the final minute, only to turn the ball over and then force a bad shot. The overtime loss there still bothers the Cards.
At Miami, Louisville needed to throw in the ball and draw an intentional foul to go up by two or three points. Instead, there was a forced jump ball that kept the Hurricanes' hopes alive, and they won in overtime.
And for the third time this season, Louisville unraveled at the most critical moments.
"Coaches always take the blame for the loss," Padgett said. "I should have done a couple things differently there. That's on me. First-time head coach, 30-year head coach: Everybody's going to make mistakes. That's not on the players. It never, ever will be on the players. It's on me as a head coach."
Now Louisville (19-11, 9-8 ACC) faces a mountain of a task: Getting over the devastation in time to prepare for a key road game at NC State to close the regular season.
The Cards expended so much emotion and energy to come that close to beating Virginia. But they need to do it again if they want to enter next week's ACC Tournament feeling better about their chances of making the NCAA Tournament's 68-team field.
The players knew the stakes before Thursday's game, and they were aware of Saturday's stakes, too.
"It's definitely hard," Mahmoud said. "You don't get beaten at the buzzer every day, especially when you think you played well enough to win the game. ... It's basketball, and that's why we love it. Every second matters and every play matters. We're just going to refocus (Friday), come in and be ready to play."
Jeff Greer: 502-582-4044; jgreer@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @JeffGreer_CJ. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jeffg.
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