Peyton Siva collected 15 points, six steals and four assists as No. 16 Louisville dominated No. 12 Connecticut, 71-58, on Friday.
Gorgui Dieng added 13 points and 12 rebounds while Chris Smith scored 11 points off the bench for the Cardinals (20-7, 9-5 Big East), who moved into a tie for third place in the conference, one-half game ahead of Villanova and St. John’s.
The top four regular-season finishers get a double bye in the Big East Tournament.
Louisville broke out in the first half, dominating on the defensive end by forcing 10 turnovers to take a 31-23 lead into the locker room. Jamal Coombs-McDaniel scored 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first 20 minutes for the Huskies but the rest of the team shot just 3 of 18.
Connecticut scored the first nine points of the second half to take the lead but the Cardinals knocked down three straight 3-pointers to spark a 13-2 run and pull away.
Coombs-McDaniel and Kemba Walker finished with 16 points apiece for the Huskies (20-6, 8-6), who went nearly eight minutes without a field goal in the second half.
Connecticut | Louisville | |
Jamal Coombs-McDaniel 16 | Scoring | Peyton Siva 15 |
Jeremy Lamb 3 | Assists | Preston Knowles 7 |
Alex Oriakhi 8 | Rebounds | Gorgui Dieng 12 |
Kemba Walker 9 | Free Throws Made | Rakeem Buckles 3 |
Shabazz Napier 2 | Steals | Peyton Siva 6 |
Jamal Coombs-McDaniel 2 | Blocks | Rakeem Buckles 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Connecticut | 58 | 37.0 | 5-13 | 19-27 | 8 | 35 | 4 | 5 | |
Louisville | 71 | 41.5 | 5-16 | 12-20 | 16 | 40 | 3 | 12 |