NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Louisville was as good as advertised.
The Cardinals, the second-ranked team in the country in the latest Associated Press college basketball poll, fired on all cylinders and controlled all facets of the game Friday afternoon en route to a 71-54 win over Western Kentucky at Bridgestone Arena.
The Hilltoppers (6-2 overall) shot just 20-of-54 (37 percent) from the field, went just 1-of-17 from 3-point range, committed 11 turnovers and were outrebounded 39-25. WKU trailed 37-23 at halftime and got within nine midway through the second half, but UofL (7-0) soon built a 20-point lead late to pull away and remain unbeaten.
"First off, congratulations to Louisville," WKU coach Rick Stansbury said. "It's very obvious why they'll be the No. 1 team in the country come Monday. They've got multiple weapons and they've got multiple big guys they can throw it to in that paint. There's not a lot of teams that have those kind of things. Having the ability to score from all five positions makes it difficult."
Jordan Nwora scored a game-high 25 points to lead Louisville, while Dwane Sutton finished with 15. Taveion Hollingsworth led WKU with 16 points, Charles Bassey finished with 14 points and nine rebounds and Camron Justice, Jordan Rawls and Josh Anderson each tallied six points.
WKU returns to action Tuesday as it travels to Wright State for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
Louisville controlled the first half.
The Cardinals, who started 4-of-6 shooting, jumped out to a 9-0 lead at the 16:36 mark as WKU was 0-for-6 and had committed a pair of turnovers. The Hilltoppers’ first points came on a Hollingsworth jumper from the left baseline a minute later, but they still struggled to find a rhythm.
UofL built a 21-7 lead at the 12:26 mark and extended it to 28-9 with 8:39 left in the half after a Sutton 3-pointer. Back-to-back baskets from Bassey and Hollingsworth – and a 5:20 scoring drought for the Cardinals – brought WKU to within 35-21, but it still trailed 37-23 at the break.
"I thought the change in the whole game was in that first six or seven minutes," Stansbury said. "I think we missed seven of our first 10 shots - seven layups ... point-blank shots. That dug us a whole. We were playing against a different caliber team. You can't dig yourself a hole to get down 14 points early against Louisville."
Western played a better second half, but Louisville continued to execute.
Bassey scored on three straight possessions early into the second half to cut WKU’s deficit to 41-29 and awaken the Hilltopper crowd, but Louisville answered with a Darius Perry triple to lead 43-29 at the 16:18 mark.
Anderson recovered a Louisville turnover, sprinted down the court and slammed down one of his acrobatic dunks to make it a 10-point contest at 47-37, but the Cardinals hit a pair of free throws on their next trip down to go back up 12 with 13:22 remaining.
A pair of Bassey free throws brought the Toppers within single digits at 51-42 with 9:35 left – just before the Cardinals fired back with a quick 7-0 run to build a 58-42 advantage with just over seven minutes to play.
UofL opened up a 20-point lead of 68-48 with 3:58 to go to seal it.
"I know our team had great respect for Western Kentucky," Louisville coach Chris Mack said. "Very talented team. When Bassey's going, he's hard to stop. He likes to go with that left shoulder, and just because you know what he likes to do doesn't mean you can stop it all the time. I'm very, very happy with the win -- that's not an easy team."
