Tonight was just one of those nights where everything seemed to be going the Cardinals way. They put their foot on the gas from the very beginning of this one and never let up beating Houston 91-52. Very impressive all around team effort from the whole team great passing, good shot selection, and solid rebounding. The Cards will now hit the road again for a few weeks. The game at UCONN on Saturday the guys of ESPN College GameDay will be in the house.

Coach Pitino said after the game “Really good night for us. Our enthusiasm was off the charts.” With enthusiasm usually comes great confidence and tonight that confidence translated into some very good shooting. The guys scorched the nets in the first half shooting 70% from the field and 73% from the three point line. Those percentages did go down in the second half but the Cards still ended the game with a solid 52% from the field and 54% from the three.
Usually when there is good ball movement it translates to more high percentage and easy baskets. You won’t see many nights were a team shares the ball like Louisville did tonight. Coach Pitino said of this effort “We had 23 assists on 34 buckets which is outstanding.”
The defensive effort was much Breyer tonight as well and the Cards got 9 steals, and forced 16 turnovers. They would score 21 points off of those turnovers. And they actually out rebounded the Cougars 41 to 37. Something that hasn’t happened much this season.

As I mentioned above tonight was a true team effort and 9 guys played 15 minutes or more. 10 guys made it into the scoring column. Leading the way for the Cards was Wayne Blackshear with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assist, Russ with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assist, Luke with 10 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assist. Terry Rozier continues to really impress me with his solid play and tonight he had a solid stat line 9 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assist and 1 turnover in 26 minutes. You really can’t play much better than that. I love this kids moxie!

I have been quick to jump on Wayne Blackshear in these post game entries, and I would be remiss if I didn’t say how impressed I was with his effort and performance tonight. Coach Pitino said after the game “He was very aggressive tonight. Very proud and happy for him.” I think we are all happy for him and I hope that he continues in an upward swing. Luke said about Wayne’s performance after the game “Wayne had a big game because he stayed aggressive. Also coming off the bench helped him stay out of foul trouble.” Really think it helps him coming off the bench. He seems to be the kind of player that does better with less pressure to perform. Regardless, if we get this Wayne for the rest of the year Dallas is still a real possibility.

This one was really fun to watch. And yes maybe it was fools gold to a certain extent but the opponent had nothing to with how the Cards hustled, focused and executed tonight. It was a great performance. We’ll find out a lot about this team Saturday. UCONN got a big road win against #17 Memphis tonight and its College Gameday. That place will be rocking.

Coach Pitino after the win tonight:

Luke after the win tonight:

Terry Rozier after the win tonight:

Wayne after his big career night: