(photo Steve Mitchell USA Today Sports)

In their first true road game of the season the Cardinals took care of business in impressive fashion beating FIU 85-56 down in Miami. With this win our Cards move to 11-1 on the season and have now won six straight. This win also puts Rick Pitino in a tie with legendary coach Denny Crum. Both now have 675 career wins.

The Cardinals put together another complete game in this one with Russ Smith leading the way with 18 points followed by Wayne Blackshear with 13 and Montrezl had 10 points with 5 boards. The Cardinals took care of the ball only turning it over 10 times on the day with just 2 in the second half. The Cardinals also shot the ball very well today from behind the arc. They shot 13-24 54.2% from 3 point range. Russ made 4, Wayne had 3, Rozier had 2. Luke, Tim, Anton, and Chris all had 1 each. Most impressive thing to me today was how this Louisville team moved and shared the basketball. They were making those extra passes and were getting those good looks. The result was a high shot percentage and 19 assist on 26 made baskets.

This FIU team is ranked in the top 25 in the nation in rebounding and today they out rebounded our Cards 39-32. Still a good effort by our guys. Terry Rozier who came into this game with 16 boards in the last two didn’t have one on this day. They did a good job of getting a body on him. Was good to see another freshman Anton Gill log some minutes in this win. He even got up some shots. I do think its possible that he will be a decent guy to bring in off the bench down the road.

Rick Pitino: “I thought our defense was good at the beach. I thought it was bad at the palm trees.”

One of the most interesting things about this game was the ocean themed basketball court that FIU plays on. Today it looked like our Cardinals were on a ocean cruise as they took care of their business and this one was never in any doubt. It really says a lot about this group to go on the road in a hostile environment and pull out a 30 point win. Every game this team takes that next step forward and does one or two things better. Today it was ball movement that then resulted into solid shooting. All eyes now turn to the next one… It’s Louisville vs Kentucky GO CARDS!