No. 10 Louisville 90, Central Florida 65: Russ Smith tallied 24 points, nine assists and four steals as the visiting Cardinals opened the inaugural season of American Athletic Conference play with a lopsided win.
Luke Hancock scored a season-high 16 points off the bench and Montrezl Harrell added 15 points and eight rebounds for Louisville (12-2, 1-0 American). Smith hit six 3-pointers and Hancock added four as the Cardinals went 14-for-27 from beyond the arc.
Isaiah Sykes collected 19 points and nine rebounds to lead Central Florida (8-4, 0-1), which had its five-game winning streak snapped. The Knights, who entered the game averaging 8.6 3-pointers per game and shooting 40.1 percent from long range, were just 3-for-14 from beyond the arc.
Smith hit three straight 3-pointers to open the second half as the Cardinals stretched the lead to 14 and cruised from there. Hancock scored the last eight points of a 13-0 run that pushed it to 62-37 and the Knights didn't get closer than 20 the rest of the way.
Louisville raced out to a 23-4 lead as Central Florida missed 11 of its first 13 shots. The Knights clawed back into it by crashing the offensive boards and used an 13-0 run to pull within five before going into the break down 40-31.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Louisville has won its conference opener in five of the last six seasons and has claimed its first conference road game seven straight years. … Central Florida dropped to 3-26 all-time against ranked teams. … The Cardinals had 28 assists on 34 field goals while the Knights had seven assists on their 21 baskets.
Louisville | Central Florida | |
Russ Smith 24 | Scoring | Isaiah Sykes 19 |
Russ Smith 9 | Assists | Isaiah Sykes 3 |
Montrezl Harrell 8 | Rebounds | Isaiah Sykes 9 |
Wayne Blackshear 2 | Free Throws Made | Calvin Newell 4 |
Russ Smith 4 | Steals | Daiquan Walker 2 |
Stephan Van Treese 4 | Blocks | Staphon Blair 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Louisville | 90 | 54.8 | 14-27 | 8-13 | 28 | 31 | 9 | 12 | 11 |
Central Florida | 65 | 35.0 | 3-14 | 20-27 | 7 | 32 | 2 | 5 | 15 |