No. 6 Louisville 69, Illinois State 66: Peyton Siva drilled the go-ahead 3-pointer with just over four minutes to play and added a pair of free throws in the waning moments as the host Cardinals used a second-half surge to rally past the upset-minded Redbirds.
Russ Smith had a team-high 24 points and Chane Behanan scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half for sixth-ranked Louisville (6-1), which struggled in its second straight game without Gorgui Dieng. The center is expected to miss four to six weeks with a broken left wrist.
Redbirds guard Tyler Brown followed up his career-high 36-point effort versus Northwestern last weekend with a game-high 25 on Saturday.
Jackie Carmichael exploited the weakened interior of the Cardinals by scoring 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting for Illinois State (5-2), which was bidding to knock off a Top-5 team for the first time since upsetting No. 4 Indiana State in 1978.
Siva (20 points) gave Louisville a 63-61 lead after draining a 3-pointer with 4:19 remaining. His layup extended the cushion to four and his pair of free throws proved just enough as Brown couldn't connect on a game-tying 3-point attempts.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Carmichael scored seven quick points as the Redbirds jumped out to a 14-2 advantage. ... Illinois State, which went just 2-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half, made 12 of 13 shots from inside the arc as it built a 33-25 lead at intermission. ... The teams had met only once before with Louisville claiming a 117-107 victory on March 4, 1974.
Illinois St. | Louisville | |
Tyler Brown 25 | Scoring | Russ Smith 24 |
Johnny Hill 6 | Assists | Luke Hancock 4 |
Jackie Carmichael 9 | Rebounds | Chane Behanan 9 |
Tyler Brown 6 | Free Throws Made | Russ Smith 11 |
Nick Zeisloft 3 | Steals | Russ Smith 3 |
Jon Ekey 1 | Blocks | Stephan Van Treese 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Illinois St. | 66 | 52.1 | 5-19 | 11-14 | 13 | 29 | 1 | 5 | 22 |
Louisville | 69 | 45.5 | 5-21 | 14-25 | 13 | 31 | 3 | 10 | 15 |