Louisville 79, Seton Hall 61
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Louisville had been having trouble with its outside shooting recently. You wouldn't have known that from the way the Cardinals shot it from long range against Seton Hall on Saturday, especially in the first half.
After 10 minutes of back-and-forth play, the 10th-ranked Cardinals broke the game open with a 17-2 run, 15 of those points coming on 5-for-5 three-point shooting, en route to a 79-61 victory in the KFC Yum! Center.
The Cardinals trailed, 19-17, before they went on their run.
Luke Hancock started it with a 3-pointer, Peyton Siva followed with another and Hancock hit one more from beyond the arc.
After a Seton Hall basket, Stephan Van Treese made 1-of-2 free throws, followed by a 3-pointer from Russ Smith, two free throws by Smith and a 3-pointer by Kevin Ware.
At that point it was 34-21 and the game was all but over.
Louisville (22-5, 10-4 in the Big East) led, 40-26, at the half, and Seton Hall (13-15, 2-13) got no closer than 12 points in the second half in losing its ninth game in a row.
Gorgui Dieng, Louisville's 6-11 junior center, led the Cardinals with a career-high 23 points. He hit 10-of-11 shots, mostly mid-range jumpers, and also grabbed eight rebounds.
Russ Smith added 19 points, five assists and three steals, and Hancock had 13 points and was 3-of-3 from three-point range.
Seton Hall, which lost to Louisville for the second time this season, was led by Aaron Cosby, a Louisville native, with 17 points. The sophomore guard hit 3-of-5 3-pointers. Eugene Teague added 16 points and Brian Oliver had 12.
Defense was key for the Cardinals, who forced 21 turnovers while committing only nine. They had 12 steals, topped by Ware with four.
NOTES: Seton Hall was without 6-9 sophomore forward Brandon Mobley, who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury last Saturday against Syracuse. Mobley was a starter and was averaging 9.0 points and 5.5 rebounds, fourth and third on the team respectively. He scored a team-high 18 points in a 73-58 loss to Louisville on Jan. 9. Haralds Karlis, a 6-5 sophomore who was averaging 3.2 points and 2.4 rebounds per game replaced Mobley in the starting lineup.
