Kansas City
Louisville
No. 16 Cardinals Top ?Roos with Defense
12/23/2015 12:20:00 AM | Men's Basketball
(Louisville, Ky.) – The 16th ranked Louisville Cardinals pressured UMKC early and often, and eventually wore the 'Roos down for a 75-47 decision in front of 19,419 on Tuesday night in the Billy Minardi Classic at the KFC Yum! Center.
“Their physicality certainly took over,” UMKC Head Coach Kareem Richardson said. “Their pressure and size wears you down. I thought we defended for about 35 minutes pretty well. We had it within 10 there in the second half, but there was a 4 or 5 minute window where they ballooned the lead out.”
The Cardinals (10-1) jumped out early in the contest, keeping the Roos (7-5) out of rhythm offensively for the first 12 minutes. They built a 28-10 lead, but UMKC got back into it, cutting the margin down to as little as 11 on a pair of Martez Harrison free throws with 3:30 on the clock.
The Cards would end the half on a 5-0 run though, and take a 38-22 lead into the halftime break. UL held the 'Roos to only 33 percent shooting, and forced them into 12 turnovers. Louisville shot 47 percent, and turned it over only four times.
The 'Roos came out strong on defense to start the second half, and scored the first six points to cut the margin down to 10 with 17:45 on the clock, but the Cardinals used a 7-0 spurt to push it back to 45-28 a few minutes later.
UMKC had one more run in it, getting the margin down to 12 with 10:19 to play, and actually outscored the Cardinals by a 17-13 through the first 10 minutes.
The ensuing 9-0 run by UL was the one that put it out of reach though, pushing the margin to 21. The closest the 'Roos would get it down to was 18 after that, and the final margin of 28 was the largest of the contest.
The 'Roos were led by Harrison, who tallied 12 points and picked up five rebounds. LaVell Boyd and Ikem Eriobuna had eight points each, while Darnell Tillman picked up eight rebounds. In the end it was turnovers though, as UMKC made 19 of them, while Louisville's size was too much, scoring 40 points in the paint to only 16 for the 'Roos.
UMKC will not have to wait long to get another chance, as it faces UNC-Wilmington on Wednesday afternoon at 3:15 p.m. CT.
