Cam Evans couldn't stop smiling.

The lifelong Louisville men's basketball fan stood at the top of Section 112 on Tuesday night watching former Cardinals such as Chane Behanan, Kyle Kuric, Luke Hancock, Peyton Siva and Russ Smith get shots up inside Freedom Hall again. After more than 13 years, Evans said it felt good to be back on hallowed ground as the storied arena played host to The Basketball Tournament, a 64-team competition with a $1 million grand prize.

"With the (KFC) Yum! Center, it's just a totally new, different vibe — different generation," said Evans, a 41-year-old West Louisville native who sported a massive U of L chain to Tuesday's game. "It still has that Cardinal tradition, but not (as) much as Freedom Hall; because this is where it started."

The trip down memory lane lives to see another day — and a new tradition may have been born in the process. Making its TBT debut in front of the fourth-largest crowd in tournament history (5,463), The Ville dispatched a group of former Auburn players called War Ready, 91-67, to reach Thursday’s Round of 32.

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Freedom Hall was a fever dream.

With 20 minutes until tipoff, multiple lines of fans stretched at least 50 deep waiting to get in the door. On one end of the court, Kenny Payne chatted up Jeff Brohm, who wasn't going to let an appearance at ACC football media day on Tuesday afternoon in Charlotte, N.C., stop him from missing out on the fun. At the other end, Montrezl Harrell took up real estate in the War Ready players' heads every chance he could; and the members of the 2023-24 Louisville men's team went ballistic with each highlight-reel play. Those 21 and older could even sip a cocktail called "The Russdiculous," made with bourbon from Smith's private-label line.

The lid blew off the building when Siva got out in transition late in the first quarter and threw a no-look pass to Eastern Kentucky graduate Nick Mayo for a one-handed dunk. Madness ensued in the third quarter when Mayo posterized Auburn grad Malik Dunbar. And when Smith buried a 3 to get The Ville to its target score set by the Elam Ending after the clock was shut off late in the fourth quarter, one would have thought the Cardinals were the last team standing in March Madness.

"That’s what Louisville basketball is about," said Siva, who finished with five points on 1-for-4 shooting, seven assists, a rebound and a steal in 21 minutes. "That’s what this city is about. You saw the energy; you saw how it pushed us to get to that extra gear."

To say the experience was cathartic would be a vast understatement for a fanbase just months removed from a 4-28 season — the worst in modern program history. Siva said he hopes the current players take what they soaked in and chase that feeling when Year 2 of the Payne era tips off this fall.

"I tell them all the time, 'That’s what you guys can be playing in front of.' I mean, they came out and supported us, and, like I said, we’ve been 10 years removed," Siva said. "The fans are still hungry for basketball; they’re hungry to watch good basketball — just go out there and compete, leave it all out on the court, that’s all they ask from you."

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Looming large was also Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum, who died in May at age 86. Both Evans and Jim Taylor, a 56-year-old Louisville native, said Crum and Freedom Hall are inseparable after he sowed the seeds for the program's national prominence on the arena's sidelines with a rolled-up program in hand.

“He’s still breathing in these walls," Taylor said.

Smith, who led all scorers with 21 points, later invoked Crum as a rallying cry to get an even bigger crowd to show up to The Ville's next game against the sixth-seeded Jackson TN Underdawgs, which tips off at 8 p.m. Thursday (ESPN+), saying, "We gotta do it for him."

The infectious atmosphere also left him wanting more.

"I’m pretty disappointed in all the rest of our fans who didn’t show up," he added. "We’re supposed to be the No. 1 crowd, and we have all these amazing fans and supporters. I want all these guys to come out next game and really pack it out."

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: The Basketball Tournament 2023: Louisville fans return to Freedom Hall