Our #5 ranked Louisville Cardinals came out today and completely dominated the Kangaroos in every facet of the game. They cruised to the victory in front of 20,070 fans 99-47.
The Cards picked up where they left off on Thursday night and completely overwhelmed the Roos from the opening tip. The Cards came into this game out-scoring opponents by 20.4 points per contest, and holding them to only 53.9 ppg. And forcing 21.9 turnovers (+8.9), while out-rebounding the opposition by 8.3 per outing. Today they out-scored the Roos by 52 pts, held them to just 19 pts in the second half, scored 35 pts off of 24 turnovers, and out-rebounded them 47 to 33.
Our Cards are one of the deepest teams in the country, UL has nine players that average at least 15 minutes a game, and seven players that average 5+ points a game. Today the bench scored 49 pts behind solid efforts from Luke Hancock with 15 pts, 6 reb, 5 asst, Montrezl Harrell 14 pts, 7 reb, and Kevin Ware 8 pts, 7 reb, 4 steals.
Just another day at the office, and another All-American performance for Russ Smith. He came into this game averaging 19.0 points per game, along with 25 steals. Today he had a career high 31 points, had 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals. And it was a quiet day from is back-court partner Peyton Siva. Peyton came into this one scoring 11 pts a game, with 45 assists, and 23 steals. Today he had 4 pts, 6 asst, and 1 steal.
After the game Rick Pitino on Russ: “I think he’s one of the best players in the country.”
It was fun watching the Cards flex their muscle today and take care of business the way they should over a team like this. Rick has got these guys buying into this defense early and it will only continue to get better. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the defense clicking this well this early. That extra time allowed by the NCAA this summer looks to be paying off. I’m very confident when I say that with Gorgui back and fully healthy this is the best defensive team in the country.
The Cards will now get a full week off and will have a much tougher battle next Saturday as they will travel to face a familiar foe in Memphis. Really looking forward to that one.
