Jordan Nwora scored 21 points and Louisville cruised to an 86-41 win over visiting Central Arkansas Wednesday night.
After needing overtime to beat Michigan State and a late run to win at Seton Hall, the Cardinals (6-2) easily cruised to their 34th win in the last 36 home games against nonconference foes and third straight win since single-digit losses to Tennessee and Marquette in Brooklyn.
Reserve V.J. King added 17 as Louisville scored at least 80 points for the sixth time in eight games and led by double-digits for the final 30-plus minutes
Steven Enoch contributed 16 as Louisville shot 51.7 percent. The trio of Nwora, Enoch and King were a combined 22 of 30 from the floor with 20 rebounds.
Central Arkansas (3-5) was blown out for the second time against an ACC opponent as it shot 25 percent nearly three weeks after a 26-point loss at Pittsburgh.
The Bears did not place anyone in double figures as SK Shittu was their leading scorer with eight points. Leading scorer DeAndre Jones was held to two points and Central Arkansas saw its starting lineup combine for 20 points on 8-of-32 shooting.
Louisville shot 53 percent and held the Bears to 23 percent to take a 52-23 halftime lead.
Louisville made eight of its first 13 shots and raced out to a 20-5 lead about seven minutes in. The Bears were within 20-11 on a basket by Khaleem Bennett with 12:07 remaining but Louisville surged ahead with dunks by Dwayne Sutton, King and Enoch.
The three dunks started 18-2 run that pushed the lead to 38-13 with 3:45 left on a basket by King. During the run, Central Arkansas missed 14 straight shots in a span of 8:29 before Thatch Unruh hit a 3-pointer with 3:38 left.
Louisville took its first 30-point lead early in the second half and surpassed its point total from Saturday's win at Seton Hall with 9:40 left on a free throw by
Dwayne Sutton to make it 71-37. The Cardinals took their first 40-point lead at 81-41 on another dunk by King with 3:24 remaining.
--Field Level Media
Central Arkansas | Louisville | |
SK Shittu 8 | Scoring | Jordan Nwora 21 |
Deandre Jones 5 | Assists | Christen Cunningham 5 |
Khaleem Bennett 8 | Rebounds | Steven Enoch 9 |
SK Shittu 2 | Free Throws Made | Jordan Nwora 3 |
Khaleem Bennett 1 | Steals | Khwan Fore 2 |
Khaleem Bennett 1 | Blocks | Jordan Nwora 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Central Arkansas | 41 | 25.0 | 5-24 | 4-7 | 6 | 36 | 1 | 2 | 15 |
Louisville | 86 | 51.7 | 9-28 | 15-22 | 20 | 47 | 2 | 5 | 11 |