ORLANDO, Fla.— It was nothing new. Luke Hancock was invisible.
Louisville’s season — and title hopes — was slipping away, and the 2013 Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament had been relegated to the role of bystander.
After scoring eight points in the first half of Thursday’s second round game against 13th-seeded Manhattan, Hancock had been held scoreless for the first 18 minutes of the second half.
With two minutes left in a tied game, Hancock appeared out of nowhere, turning the game by turning a steal into two free throws. Thirty two seconds later, Hancock hit a 3-pointer. Fifty-four seconds after that, Hancock hit another, giving the No. 4 Cardinals a six-point lead with 27 seconds left and sending them to the third round against No. 5 Saint Louis on Saturday afternoon at the Amway Center.
Once more, he was nothing to notice until he forcefully ripped the focus of the game away, ripping out his opponent’s heart. For him, when the situation changes, nothing changes.
“I think that’s what happens,” Hancock said. “I just try to play the same. You just play your game. You don’t force anything. You don’t want to get sped up.”
Hancock, 24, always has come out of nowhere, quietly blending in with surrounding players, a solid but unspectacular shooter, neither overly athletic or tremendously powerful.
He was an overlooked kid at Hidden Valley High School in Roanoke, Virginia, who couldn’t earn a single scholarship offer. He was a prep school player, who then had two decent seasons at George Mason. He was a transfer, who left for Louisville when coach Jim Larranaga left George Mason for Miami, with Hancock joining new Cardinals assistant Kevin Keatts, who coached him at Hargrave Academy.
He came to Louisville to win championships. It’s what he expected, but it hasn’t made the journey any less special.
“It’s been a crazy ride, but I’ve been very blessed since I got here to be a part of two Final Fours, a National Championship, three conference titles,” Hancock said. “It’s been awesome.”
After scoring a team-high 18 points for the Patriots in a NCAA Tournament win over Villanova in 2011, Hancock’s first season at Louisville started slow following offseason shoulder surgery. Entering last year’s NCAA Tournament, Hancock was averaging just eight points per game.
Then, he entered Louisville lore, scoring 13 points in the final 12 minutes of a Final Four comeback against Wichita State, following it with an all-time performance in the championship game against Michigan, when he scored 14 straight points to cut a 12-point deficit to one by halftime, finishing 5-of-5 on 3-pointers for 22 points and becoming the first reserve to be named MOP.
“The confidence I have in him to shoot those big shots, that shows just how great of a player he is,” senior Russ Smith said. “Luke has enough confidence to shoot those, so you have to respect a guy like that. And he’s going to make it. I’m just happy to play with someone like that.”
The Cardinals and Billikens are scheduled to tip-off at 2:45 p.m. If Hancock is late, he still probably will show up just in time.