Louisville Starts Fast, Emphatically Steamrolls Pitt

PITTSBURGH - The Louisville men's basketball program is starting to trend back in the right direction.

Making the trek up to the Steel City for a matchup against Pitt, the Cardinals set the tone early on and were able to cruise to a relatively easy victory, leaving the Petersen Events Center with a 100-59 blowout win over the Panthers on Saturday night.

No. 20 Louisville (13-5, 3-3 ACC) not only improves to 4-3 in games played away from the KFC Yum! Center, they get back to .500 in ACC play. Heading into the game against Pitt (8-10, 1-4 ACC), the Cardinals had previously dropped four of their last seven and three of their last four after starting the season at 9-1.

The threes came early and often for Louisville, who were a blazing 15-of-29 from deep, and shot 63.2 percent overall. They also assisted on 24 of their 36 made baskets, tying for their most assists of the season.

While the Cardinals' eased up on their defensive efforts towards the tail end, for the most part, it was a much better showing from what we have seen over the last month. They held Pitt to 38.2 percent shooting from the field, 7-of-24 on threes, and out-rebounded the Panthers 35-to-24. Brandon Cummings, who finished with 11 points, was the only Pitt player to break double figures scoring.

Ryan Conwell led the charge for Louisville, scoring a game-high 24 points while dishing out six assists and corralling six rebounds. J'Vonne Hadley added 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds, Adrian Wooley and Sananda Fru both notched 12 points, while Isaac McKneely finished with 11 points.

The emphatic performance came with Louisville missing two keys players. Star point guard Mikel Brown Jr. missed his eighth straight game due to a lower back injury, while reserve forward Khani Rooths missed his second straight due to injury.

After falling behind 14-0 to start their previous game against Virginia, Louisville returned the favor against Pitt. Thanks to three early threes from McKneely and three Panthers turnovers in the first three-plus minutes, the Cardinals took control right out of the gates, scoring the first 13 points of the night.

This opening segment was only the beginning of what wound up being a first half onslaught by Louisville. They shot 18-of-30 from the field in the first half, including a white-hot 11-of-19 on three points tries, and did not miss more than two field goals in a row during this period.

While Pitt did get some momentum before the break and hit six of their final nine attempts of the half, they were still held to 8-of-27 overall prior to halftime. They did not crack double figures scoring until the 5:45 mark, giving Louisville a daunting 53-22 lead once the half ended. It marked their largest road halftime lead since being up 51-18, also at Pitt, on Jan. 24, 2017.

The Panthers' hot start to end the first half carried over into the second half, as they shot it 13-of-28 after halftime. However, the Cardinals didn't their hosts get any closer than 26 points thanks to their own offensive prowess.

Conwell scored eight points in the first 1:45 of the period, sparking an 18-of-27 second half shooting performance that allowed them to cruise to the finish line. Louisville led by as much as 45, hit their scoring average (87.2) at the 5:47 mark, and cracked the 100-point threshold with 43 seconds left.

Next up, Louisville has a few extra days off before returning home to the KFC Yum! Center for a matchup against Virginia Tech. Tip-off against the Hokies is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 24 at 3:30 p.m. EST.