National Basketball Association
Louisville 79, Western Kentucky 63
When: 12:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 14, 2013
Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky
Officials:
# Rick Hartzell, # Tom O'Neill, # Zelton Steed
Attendance:
22027
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 4 Louisville 79, Western Kentucky 63: Russ Smith had 14 points and 10 assists as the Cardinals ran away from the visiting Hilltoppers in the second half.
Mangok Mathiang added 13 points and Terry Rozier had a game-high 10 rebounds for Louisville (9-1), which shot 69.2 percent from the floor and had one turnover in the second half. Wayne Blackshear and Tim Henderson each chipped in 12 points and Chane Behanan had 11 points and seven rebounds.
T.J. Price led Western Kentucky (5-4) with 22 points and was the only starter in double digits. Transfer Chris Harrison-Docks had 10 points off the bench in his debut.
Western Kentucky started slow but had a four-point lead after Harrison-Docks' 3-pointer with 8:22 left in the first half and a 28-25 lead on George Fant's fast-break dunk with just over two minutes left. Blackshear hit two 3-pointers in the last two minutes of the first half for a 31-28 lead and Louisville used two big second-half runs to pull away.
Smith had two layups and a 3-pointer as the Cardinals opened the second half on an 14-5 run to open up a 12-point lead. Behanan later had three inside baskets during Louisville's 13-0 run for a 63-44 lead with six minutes left.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Rozier, a freshman, started in place of injured PG Chris Jones (wrist), who will likely miss several games after getting hurt in Thursday's practice. ... Western Kentucky is 6-19 on the road under third-year head coach Ray Harper. ... The Hilltoppers haven't won at Louisville since 2000.
Top Game Performances
| Western Kentucky |
|
Louisville |
|
T.J. Price 22 |
Scoring |
Russ Smith 14 |
|
Payton Hulsey 2 |
Assists |
Russ Smith 10 |
|
Aaron Adeoye 7 |
Rebounds |
Terry Rozier 10 |
|
Aleksejs Rostov 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Mangok Mathiang 3 |
|
N/A |
Steals |
Wayne Blackshear 2 |
|
George Fant 2 |
Blocks |
Wayne Blackshear 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Western Kentucky
|
63 |
36.4 |
7-21 |
14-22 |
10 |
33 |
2 |
0 |
11 |
| Louisville
|
79 |
50.8 |
9-20 |
10-18 |
19 |
38 |
3 |
5 |
7 |