How it happened: No. 20 Louisville smacks Pittsburgh
Desperate for a win at Pittsburgh, 20th-ranked Louisville played that way in Saturday night’s 100-59 win over the Panthers.
It was a much-needed bounce-back for Pat Kelsey and the Cardinals, who never led in the 79-70 loss to Virginia and had lost three of the last four ACC games. Louisville started exactly how it needed to at Pitt, holding the Panthers scoreless through the game’s first five minutes and dashing out to a 13-0 lead. In that stretch, Louisville had forced three Pitt turnovers off two steals. There was a clear change in effort and attention to detail improvement from Tuesday’s loss to Virginia.
Still shorthanded and down, freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. (back) and 6-foot-10 forward Khani Rooths (illness), the Cards’ bench was able to make up for it, providing 24 points. Aly Khalfia was fantastic, even spending a decent chunk of time on the floor with fellow center Sananda Fru. Khalifa went 3-of-4 from distance for nine points and also added four assists. Backup point guard Kobe Rodgers also had one of his better games of recent memory, scoring seven points in 19 minutes. Greek forward Vangelis Zougris also played an ACC-high 15 minutes and scored eight points while adding five rebounds.
As a team, the Cardinals shot 15-of-29 (51.7 percent) from beyond the arc and 63.2 percent from the field. It’s the first time since 2015 Louisville had shot that percentage against a conference opponent. The 24 assists also matched a season-best.
Isaac McKneely was a part of Louisville’s fast start, scoring 11 first-half points and drilling three 3-pointers. He was coming off a season-best in points against Virginia, and immediately sparked the Cardinals’ offense.
Louisville’s starters were able to rest down the stretch of the second half, but still had to play a hefty amount of minutes due to the injuries, as Ryan Conwell, still recovering from a knee injury that kept him out against Boston College last week, spent 30 minutes on the floor. The senior was fantastic in the second half, putting up 17 of his 24 points after the break. Adrian Wooley (12), J’Vonne Hadley (17), and Fru (12) also piled together solid performances.
Pittsburgh’s Brandin Cummings led the Panthers with 11 points and was the only Pitt player in double-figures.
The Cardinals, now 13-5 overall and 3-3 in ACC play, will get a week off before playing Virginia Tech at the KFC Yum! Center next Saturday.
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