On any given night … it can happen … and it certainly did for Towson State men's basketball on a cold January evening in 1995 when the host Tigers upset Denny Crum's visiting Louisville Cardinals 81-69 in the Towson Center to the delight of 4,281 fans.

The Tiger Throwback series is presented by Hollenshades.

To begin with, the game was a fortuitous event, added to the schedule just two months prior when Crum contacted Tiger head coach Terry Truax to see if Towson State could accommodate his Cardinals who were a contest shy of the number of regular season games allowed at the time.

"Terry knew Coach Crum from the recruiting trails," said Jim Meil, Truax's longtime assistant. "Whenever they would meet they would talk at length. So it wasn't that big of a surprise when he called at that late date to ask if we could fit them in. It was a two for one game. We had to go back to Freedom Hall twice which didn't seem like a bad trade when we considered having Louisville come to Baltimore in the Towson Center."
(Note: Coach Truax passed away February 16, 2015 at the age of 70).

It didn't take the Louisville faithful long to begin to alibi for their Cardinals. The excuses continue. In a November 3, 2019 blog, Nick Coffey listed the Towson State loss among Louisville's five worst ever: "I'm not sure why Denny Crum and the Cardinals played a road game at Towson State in Towson, Maryland in 1995, but it happened and they lost 81-69. This was Denny's youngest team at Louisville up to that point. Ten of Crum's 12 scholarship players were freshmen or sophomores."

Well, nine of Towson State's scholarship players were freshmen or sophomores.

A number of those Cardinals would go on to play in the NBA – center Samaki Walker (Dallas, San Antonio, LA, Miami, Washington, Indiana), guard DeJuan Wheat (Minnesota, Vancouver), forward Eric Johnson (Utah) and guard Alvin Sims (Phoenix). Towson State forwards Ralph Blalock and Ralph Biggs would eventually enjoy lengthy professional careers overseas.

"I think Louisville misjudged our team," Truax understated in his post-game presser. "Had we been 12-4 rather than 7-9 coming into the game, it might have worked in their favor."

The Tigers entered the game in last place in the Big South Conference standings. Later they would be eliminated in the opening round of the Big South tournament by eventual champion Charleston Southern, 85-55, ending a 12-15 campaign. Two-time national champion Louisville gathered itself and despite a ho-hum 7-5 league record, rallied to win the Metro Conference Tournament to claim the NCAA automatic bid. They bowed to Memphis State in the opening round to close out 1994-95 at 19-14.

Early on it appeared the forecasted big mismatch was unfolding as the Cardinals assumed a 27-16 lead. But with nothing to lose and everything to gain, the Tigers settled down and climbed back into it, catching Louisville at 29-29 on a 13-2 run before trailing the Cardinals 36-33 at the break.

There were a couple things about Towson State that Louisville either wasn't aware of or chose to ignore, i.e. the Tigers' team speed and its free throw shooting (Towson entered the game fifth in the nation at the charity stripe). Both weighed heavily in the final 20 minutes.

The second half belonged to the smaller and quicker Tigers who got hot from both the field (60 percent from the floor) and the foul line (19-22), and forced numerous Louisville turnovers, 20 for the game. The spark came from the bench in the form of sophomore guard DeRon Robinson who pumped in a career high 20 points, lending great support to Blalock, the Tigers' leading scorer on the season and in the contest (26 points). Blalock scored the Tigers' first eight points of the game.

Robinson, playing the game of his life, put the Tigers on top for good when he converted a one-and-one for a 60-59 lead with seven minutes left. He then hit five of six shots in the stretch run to help the Tigers to a 72-64 margin with 1:36 left. The Cardinals would manage just one more bucket the rest of the way while the Tigers enjoyed their time at the free throw line.

Guard Quintin Moody and center Jason Crump from Cheshire, England each added nine points for the Tigers. Biggs closed with eight points. Walker showed the way for Louisville with 18 points followed by Wheat with 16.

"If you aren't ready to play, you aren't going to play well," Crum said in a Baltimore Sun game story written by Gary Lambrecht, a Towson State graduate. "Towson State played well, played smart. They took care of the ball, shot well, controlled the tempo and played good defense. They beat us every way you can."

Said Truax: "This is particularly special for two reasons. One, it was at the Towson Center. Two, to get a name coach like Denny Crum makes it better, although I'm not looking forward to going to Freedom Hall."

Truax was right. The Cardinals got revenge with subsequent home victories of 96-72 and 106-73.

The victory was satisfying and continues to rank as one of the biggest ever at home for the Tigers. One might argue, however, that Truax's East Coast Conference Tournament wins in the Towson Center over Lehigh in 1990 and Rider in 1991 to send the Tigers to their only NCAA post-season appearances were of equal if not greater stature.

During his head coaching career with the Tigers Truax's teams came up with a number of signature victories including the stunning upset of host St. John's 66-65 in the 1993 Pre-Season NIT followed by an escape from Dayton Arena with a 72-70 win over the Flyers two weeks later, and an 81-78 walkoff victory over West Virginia on Blalock's buzzer beater played at Shepherd College, spoiling Gale Catlett's 1994 homecoming.