Cardinals thump Blue Demons
Reserve Preston Knowles scored 19 points to lead No. 5 Louisville to a 99-54 victory over DePaul on Sunday, the Blue Demons' 13th straight loss to match their worst streak ever.
Reginald Delk, making his first career start, had 10 points for the Cardinals (19-5, 10-2 Big East), who had a season-high 18 3-pointers, including five by Knowles. Delk started in place of Terrence Williams, who had been playing with an injured right wrist.
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Williams, Louisville's best all-around player, played 15 minutes had five assists and two rebounds and did not take a shot.
Dar Tucker had 17 points for DePaul (8-18, 0-13), while Mac Koshwal had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Cardinals scored the first 13 points of the game and went on to a 51-21 halftime lead. Louisville largest lead of the game was 99-52 with 38 seconds to play.
Louisville forced the Blue Demons into 16 turnovers and held them to 35 percent shooting from the field. The Cardinals outrebounded DePaul 43-31.
Earl Clark led the Cardinals with 11 rebounds, and was close to a triple-double with 12 points and eight assists.
After their 90-57 loss to Notre Dame on Thursday, the Cardinals had a more businesslike approach from the start of the game, abandoning their usual flying chest bumps during introductions.
The Cardinals got the opening tip, followed by a quick layup by Delk and poured it on from there. Minutes later, Delk hit his first of two 3-pointers to make it 9-0.
In the second half, even with a 30-point lead, Louisville coach Rick Pitino wanted to make sure his team kept its focus.
Tucker, Will Walker and Jeremiah Kelly each hit a 3-pointer during the first few minutes of the second half, prompting a timeout by Pitino with 16:48 to play and the Cardinals up 58-30. The closest DePaul would get in the second half was 27 points on two occasions.