Elijah Hughes scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half as host Syracuse cruised to a 69-49 victory over 18th-ranked Louisville on Wednesday in an Atlantic Coast Conference clash.
Oshae Brissett had 16 points, and Buddy Boeheim highlighted his 14-point performance with four 3-pointers for the Orange (18-8, 9-4 ACC). Tyus Battle added 11 points to reach double figures for the 22nd time in 26 games.
Syracuse's aggressive 2-3 defensive zone played a significant role in the Cardinals committing 13 turnovers.
Jordan Nwora scored 11 points on just 3-of-13 shooting for Louisville (18-9, 9-5). The Cardinals shot 25.9 percent from the floor (14-for-54) and 21.4 percent from 3-point range (6-for-28) en route to their third loss in four games.
Brissett enjoyed a fast start following a dismal performance in his previous outing, as he shot 1-for-9 from the field and finished with two points in a 73-58 setback at North Carolina State on Feb. 13. The sophomore forward made 2 of 4 attempts from 3-point range against the Cardinals and remained aggressive in the paint, with two of his eight rebounds coming on the offensive end.
Louisville trimmed a 35-23 halftime deficit to eight points before Brissett stopped the run by draining a floater in the lane to make it 37-27 with 17:28 to play. Battle followed by turning a steal into any easy layup, and Hughes later drilled a pair of 3-pointers to give the Orange a 47-28 edge with nearly eight minutes expired in the second half.
The Cardinals again attempted to chip away, but Boeheim hit a pair of 3-pointers and Hughes capped the surge with another basket from long range to push Syracuse's advantage to 56-38 with 7:30 remaining.
Earlier, Boeheim found his range with a 3-pointer and a jumper on consecutive possessions before Hughes also connected from beyond the arc as the Orange's lead ballooned to 24-12 with 5:52 left in the first half. Syracuse began exploiting the interior with Brissett making back-to-back layups before Battle's running jumper in the lane pushed the advantage to 30-15 three minutes later.
--Field Level Media
Louisville | Syracuse | |
Jordan Nwora 11 | Scoring | Elijah Hughes 18 |
Christen Cunningham 3 | Assists | Tyus Battle 7 |
Dwayne Sutton 8 | Rebounds | Marek Dolezaj 9 |
Christen Cunningham 4 | Free Throws Made | Elijah Hughes 6 |
Christen Cunningham 2 | Steals | Elijah Hughes 2 |
Steven Enoch 1 | Blocks | Elijah Hughes 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Louisville | 49 | 25.9 | 6-28 | 15-18 | 9 | 32 | 2 | 7 | 13 |
Syracuse | 69 | 38.6 | 11-30 | 14-16 | 12 | 35 | 5 | 5 | 12 |