Louisville, KY (Sports Network) - Russ Smith netted a game-high 18 points on
7-of-14 shooting as No. 2 Louisville thumped Samford, 80-54, on Thursday in
the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament.
Wayne Blackshear scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds, while Chane
Behanan contributed 12 points and game-high 18 rebounds for the Cardinals
(2-0). Gorgui Dieng added 10 points and 13 boards in the victory.
"We played very good defense in the first half. Our pressure was good,"
Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "Then, the second half, we watched the
score and didn't play the type of defense we played, granted we didn't press,
but we didn't play the type of defense we are capable of playing."
Tim Williams scored 15 points to go with six rebounds and Raijon Kelly donated
11 points for the Bulldogs (1-2), who shot just 39.1 percent from the field
and turned the ball over 21 times in defeat.
Louisville completely dominated the opening 20 minutes. racing out to an 11-4
lead over the first five minutes of action.
Everything fell Louisville's way as the Cardinals extended the lead to 24-6
with a 13-2 outburst.
Louisville shot 41.7 percent from the floor in the half while holding Samford
to just four field goals.
The Cardinals also dominated the glass by a 31-12 margin and netted 20 points
off 16 Samford turnovers as the home side led by an outrageous 42-13 margin at
halftime.
Samford picked it up in the second half, shooting 50 percent from the floor
and making 8-of-15 from 3-point range.
The Bulldogs outscored Louisville 41-38 over the second 20 minutes, but the
first-half deficit proved to be too large to overcome as the Cardinals rolled
to an easy victory.
"I am proud of their second half effort, but we must become a tougher team,"
Samford coach Bennie Seltzer said. " I know Louisville was the second ranked
team in the country, but you give up 28 offensive rebounds and it's hard to
win, and hard to beat any team with that effort towards rebounding, so we have
to become a much tougher team."
GAME NOTES:
Thursday marked the first matchup between these two teams ... Louisville had a
huge advantage on the glass, outrebounding Samford, 53-28, which led to 24
second-chance points.
The Sports Network