Noah Waterman’s layup with 1.2 seconds left helped Louisville avoid a disastrous loss to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum Center.

Trailing in the final moments, U of L forced Colonels star Devontae Blanton into a missed throw. Reyne Smith then started on the left side of the pitch where he almost lost the ball before hitting Waterman who also almost lost the ball. After getting back to his feet, Waterman drove to the rim and scored a contested basket that gave the Cardinals a 1-point lead.

A steal and a free throw from Terrence Edwards would ultimately decide the score.

The sequence at the end of the game allowed the Cardinals to avoid a crippling defeat as they held a 21.5 point lead to win. Instead, they will start the new year with a record of 8-5 and only losses against quality opponents.

Still, the fact that Louisville couldn’t knock off an EKU team that nearly knocked off the Cardinals for the first time since 1963 was more than a little concerning.

After knocking down nine three-point shots in the first half, U of L managed just two shots from deep in the second frame. The most important of these came from Smith, whose three-pointer gave the Cards a 75-73 lead with just under two minutes to play. EKU’s George Kimble, who finished the game with 24 points, promptly responded with a three-pointer, setting up the game’s frantic final moments.

I don’t know if it was the holidays or what, but the energy was down, the defense was downright bad, and the head-shaking, unforced turnovers were back.

We’re very fortunate that it wasn’t a Quad 4 loss that would have completely ruined our resume right before we headed into the heart of conference play.

The most important two-week stretch of the season — one that includes games against North Carolina, Virginia, Pitt and Clemson — is now upon us. Handle it well, and we can dream March Madness dreams as we move deeper into January and February. Do the way we handled it today and the season shifts into “keep fighting, see how many wins we can get, and maybe we can go on a crazy run in Charlotte” mode.