Louisville rolls to 7-1 with win over UMKC
Louisville made quick work of dispatching visiting UMKC, rolling to a 23-point first half lead en route to an easy win Wednesday night in the KFC Yum! Center.
Louisville pushed ahead early, scoring 13 of the first 16 points to build a 10 point lead before the first six minutes had passed. UMKC briefly cut the lead under double digits at 13-5, but Louisville scored eight of the next 10 points to lead 21-7 by the 12:15 mark.
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The Cardinals notched their first 20-point lead at 36-15 with just under seven minutes left in the half. Louisville used 13 different players in the first half as they continued to lead comfortably.
Up 43-27 at halftime despite shooting just 38 percent, Louisville was led by Luke Hancock's 10 points and six points a piece from Chane Behanan and Montrezl Harrell.
After going scoreless in the first half for the second straight game, Russ Smith scored four of Louisville's first seven points. Smith picked up his career-high 10th assist with more than nine minutes left in the game.
The Cardinals continued to lead by double-digits throughout the second half, leading 60-40 at the 13 minute mark. UofL led 73-47 with just over nine minutes left, and had its first 30 point lead at 79-49 with 6:10 left.
The lead hovered between 20 and 31 points the rest of the game as Louisville rolled to an easy win. Harrell led all scorers with 14 points. Behanan had 11 points and 11 rebounds, his first double-double of the season.
After the game, Louisville coach Rick Pitino said Behanan was the only standout performer in the game.
"He's playing good basketball right now," Pitino said. "He's never had a problem on the court. It's off the court.... It's the summer for him. If we could just skip those months, it'd be good for him."
Behanan played just 19 minutes. He also had a pair of steals and a block.
Chris Jones, Smith and Hancock each finished with 10 points. Smith finished with a career-high 11 assists. He had three steals and six rebounds in 23 minutes.