Kansas City
Louisville
No. 7 Louisville Too Much For ?Roos in Richardson?s Return, 90-62
12/4/2013 9:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
(Louisville, Ky.) – The No. 7 Louisville Cardinals took advantage of the Kansas City 'Roos on the glass Wednesday night, leading the entire way and taking a 90-62 win in the first game for head coach Kareem Richardson back at his former school.
“The guys played with tremendous effort tonight, and I was proud of them for that,” Richardson said. “To be honest, we were really able to contain their first shot on defense, but gave up too many offensive rebounds and second chance points... They are the defending champs for a reason and they have a chance to make a run again.”
The Cardinals (7-1) jumped on some of the Kansas City (1-6) nerves in the opening minutes, taking a 21-7 lead by the 12:17 media. The 'Roos got down by as many as 23 at the 4:34 mark, on a put back by UL's Montrezl Harrell, but Kansas City settled down a bit from there, and closed the period on a 9-2 run to make it 43-27 at the half.
The 'Roos actually shot a better percentage from the field than the Cardinals (45.8 to 38.5 percent), but a 15-2 advantage in second-chance points was the difference thanks to 12 offensive boards. Nelson Kirksey led the 'Roos with eight points at the half, while Luke Hancock paced Louisville with 10.
The second stanza saw the Cardinals quickly push their lead back to 20, but UMKC kept it in that range until the 11 minute mark when UL made another push to get it up to 25 points. The biggest lead of the night was 31 with 5:25 to play. It was much improved from a year ago, when the Cardinals came away with a 99-47 victory.
The 'Roos were out-scored by only 12 in the second half, but the glass was again dominated by the Cardinals. In the end it was a 49-29 edge on the glass, and a 22-2 edge in second-chance points. The UL press also forced 20 UMKC turnovers that turned into 29 points.
Louisville was led by five players in double figures, including 14 from Harrell and a double-double of 11 and 11 from Chane Behanan.
The 'Roos were paced in scoring by Martez Harrison and Kirksey with 14 points each. Kirksey also pulled down seven boards, while the 'Roos got nine rebounds from Trinity Hall. Kansas City shot 46 percent from the floor, while holding Louisville to 42.9 percent.
Kansas City returns home on Saturday for a contest with Youngstown State at Swinney Recreation Center. Tipoff is scheduled for noon.
