As the minutes became seconds rounding out Louisville's 93-79 win over Washington, the Huskie bench players gnawed on their shooting shirts and stared blankly at their sneakers.
The chance to prove themselves worthy of the NCAA Tournament's most surprising No. 1 seed had faded.
No. 4 Louisville is moving on to the Elite Eight while Washington is headed back to the Pacific Northwest.
The Huskies just couldn't come up with the stops they needed in a back-and-forth offensive battle. They never got closer than 10 points in the game's final four minutes.
"They went out and did what was needed to win this ballgame," Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar said. "(It was a) very impressive win, I thought, by Louisville."
The Cardinals were led offensively by 6-foot-7-inch Francisco Garcia, who finished the contest with a game-high 23 points. The junior forward began the first half driving from the outside for swooping lay-ups, then contributed nine points in a 19-2 run before halftime that essentially put the game out of Washington's reach.
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Garcia hit three three-pointers in a row over that span.
"I think it went to us all," he said of the run. "I saw a couple of openings the first time, and I didn't shoot the ball, and coach said when I'm open to shoot the ball. I took a couple of easy shots, and I just made them."
Foul trouble also played a role in Washington's loss. Floor general Nate Robinson, who has been the team's leading scorer and a spark plug through the first two rounds of the tournament, picked up two quick fouls and headed to the bench with less than five minutes gone.
He came back later in the half and promptly picked up his third whistle.
"It was weird, actually," Huskie guard Brandon Roy said. "I kind of looked over at coach and thought 'Hey, is Nate not in the game?' They said he had three fouls. I was disappointed. We weren't aware of our fouls tonight."
Robinson was largely ineffective even when he did play. His one field goal was a highlight-reel dunk - as any slam for a 5-foot-9-inch point guard would be- after a Washington steal, but it was his only field goal of the night. He finished 1-for-7 with eight points - six from the free-throw line.
"Nate is obviously an emotional leader," Romar said. "He was ready to play tonight. It just didn't work out when he went down. It coincided with them going on a run as well."
Whether it really mattered could be up for debate. The stocky Robinson wasn't likely to block many three-pointers, and that's where Louisville did the most damage. The team had seven in the first half to build up a lead, and four in the second to hold it.
"They sucked us in," Romar said. "They did a great job of driving us. When it looked like they could shoot lay-ups, they kicked it out for three. And more importantly, they did a good job of making the shots."
Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said open three shooters were exactly what the team was looking to find heading in.
"We wanted to get them forced to help on drives and then get our shooters in the corners," he said. "We worked very hard this week on that, because they help very quick. We wanted to get our shooters into play."
