The Ville head coach Reece Gaines had a smile on his face when he walked into Freedom Hall on Saturday morning for the first round of The Basketball Tournament.

If you had asked the former Louisville star how he was really feeling, though, he would have told you, "I'm nervous."

His team of mostly ex-Cardinals drew UKnighted, a team representing crosstown foe Bellarmine; and Gaines, who got his start in the coaching ranks with the Knights as an assistant on Scott Davenport's staff, knew what that meant.

Nothing was going to come easy.

"We were playing against Bellarmine culture," Gaines said. "That's what I was worried about."

U of L's culture prevailed in a 79-70 comeback victory.

"We wore them down," Gaines said. "We outhustled them; we outworked them."

Playing in front of the fourth-largest crowd in TBT history (5,987), The Ville opened the game on a 9-0 run but fell behind by as many as 12 with 1:34 remaining in the first half and trailed at the intermission, 44-38.

UKnighted moved the ball with surgical precision — a calling card of Davenport's teams — and made eight 3s before halftime.

"Y'all were scared in here; weren't y'all?" said Braydon Hobbs, a New Albany, Indiana, native who played for Bellarmine from 2008-12, when he walked into the postgame news conference. "(I) bet TBT was, too."

Added UKnighted head coach George Suggs, "I think I saw Reece's knee shaking at one point."

Gaines, however, dialed up a zone defense that stymied UKnighted; which went 4 for 16 from beyond the arc when play resumed.

"It threw us out of our rhythm, and we never quite found that good flow offensively," said Jeremy Kendle, a Jeffersonville, Indiana, native who played at Bellarmine from 2009-12. "(It) allowed the crowd to really get into it."

The Louisville fans in attendance fed off the energy and emotion of Montrezl Harrell, who in his TBT debut led The Ville with 20 points and nine rebounds in 33 minutes. The former NBA Sixth Man of the Year said he was fighting back tears when he was introduced as a member of the starting lineup after spending the past year rehabbing a severe right knee injury that sidelined him for the 2023-24 season.

"They know I leave it all in between those lines every time I step out on the floor," Harrell said. "It was amazing; I couldn't have asked for a better homecoming."

Harrell was one of three new members of The Ville who did most of the heavy lifting Saturday afternoon.

Louisville native David Johnson scored 17 points, powered by a team-high five 3s, and grabbed eight rebounds in 35 minutes. The Trinity High School grad, who played for the Memphis Grizzlies' G League team last season, reveled in running the court with guys he watched bring a national championship to his hometown as a sixth grader and said Harrell set the tone for his performance.

"It's contagious," Johnson said.

Chris Jones, meanwhile, rounded out The Ville's double-digit scorers with 14 points in 23 minutes and knocked down the game-winner, a contested baseline jumper falling away from the rim. It was a much better feeling, he said, than playing the villain and losing to the ex-Cards as a member of the Jackson TN Underdawgs last summer.

"They tired me out last year," Jones said. "Last year, we were just thrown in the fire; we were just hooping. This year, there's more structure and more talented guys around."

With the win, The Ville moved five wins from TBT's $1 million grand prize. It returns to Freedom Hall for a second-round game tipping off at 7 p.m. Monday against No. 3 Sideline Cancer.

Although Saturday's result was a bit too close for comfort — Gaines let go a deep sigh of relief when he sat down for the postgame news conference — the coach and his players believe it'll serve them well on their quest for a championship.

"The little adversity we had," he said, "made us come together a little closer."

If The Ville can win its regional, it earned the right to host a quarterfinal thanks to the fans' strong turnout.

Wichita State’s Charles Koch Arena holds TBT's attendance record (7,202) and spots Nos. 2 and 3. That could change, however, if The Ville and a team representing archrival Kentucky, La Familia, meet at Freedom Hall.

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

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: The Ville TBT score: Team advances in The Basketball Tournament 2024