Midway through the first half, Louisville led Rutgers by a score of 20-3. Turns out they wouldn't need to score much more.
The visiting Cardinals held Rutgers to its lowest point total in nearly four years and picked up their 10th Big East win of the season with a 55-37 decision at the RAC Tuesday night.
Preston Knowles led all scorers with 14 points. He also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and had five steals.
Rutgers, which shot a hair under 30% for the game, turned the ball over on each of their first three possessions and missed 18 of their first 26 shots. The Scarlet Knights finished the evening with 18 turnovers.
The win moved Louisville into a third-place tie with Georgetown in the Big East standings for the time being, but the Cardinals are still just a game and-a-half ahead of the three 8-6 teams which occupy spots 8-10.
Every game's big, which is why no one can be overly negative about what happened in Piscataway on Tuesday,
If you win a Big East game on the road, regardless of how it happened, you clap, you feel grateful, and you move on.
BOX SCORE:
| Louisville Cardinals | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Terrence Jennings, F | 26 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Rakeem Buckles, F | 24 | 2-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Preston Knowles, G | 32 | 4-13 | 4-9 | 2-2 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 14 |
| Kyle Kuric, G | 34 | 4-10 | 3-7 | 0-0 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Peyton Siva, G | 32 | 1-5 | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Chris Smith, G | 23 | 1-5 | 1-3 | 4-6 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Mike Marra, G | 13 | 3-6 | 3-6 | 0-2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| Tim Henderson, G | 1 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Elisha Justice, G | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gorgui Dieng, C | 14 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |
| 18-51 | 11-29 | 8-13 | 8 | 34 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 55 | ||
| 35.3% | 37.9% | 61.5% | ||||||||||
| Rutgers Scarlet Knights | ||||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Jonathan Mitchell, F | 28 | 2-8 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| Gilvydas Biruta, F | 22 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 6-6 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| Mike Coburn, G | 32 | 1-5 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| James Beatty, G | 28 | 2-7 | 2-7 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Dane Miller, G-F | 24 | 1-6 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Charlie Rigoglioso, G | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robert Lumpkins, F | 11 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike Kuhn, G | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Austin Johnson, F-C | 11 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Austin Carroll, G | 18 | 1-3 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Frank Mitchell, F | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Poole, G-F | 23 | 1-6 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |
| 13-44 | 2-14 | 9-14 | 6 | 30 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 18 | 14 | 37 | ||
| 29.5% | 14.3% | 64.3% | ||||||||||
Technicals: None
Officials: Jeff Anderson, Roger Ayers, Joe Lindsay
Attendance: 5,633