National Basketball Association
Louisville 90, Central Florida 65
When: 5:00 PM ET, Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Where: CFE Federal Credit Union Arena, Orlando, Florida
Officials:
# Lee Cassell, # Joe DeRosa, # Brent Hampton
Attendance:
7094
By SportsDirect Inc.
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.
Top Game Performances
| 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 Stats Summary
| 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 |
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