Louisville notched its first win in three tries at the Prudential Center since joining the Big East in 2005 with a 60-51 win over Seton Hall Saturday night. The victory was U of L's third straight, and put the Cardinals (17-5, 5-4) above .500 in conference play for the first time this season.
One and-a-half point underdogs? Can't win at Seton Hall?
Gorgui, thoughts?
Gorgui Dieng was the star of stars for the Cardinal on this night, scoring 11 points, grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds and recording five blocks (although I'm pretty sure the official total should have been closer to 20). Russ Smith came off the bench to lead Louisville in scoring with 14 points.
Obviously, we would have liked to have seen the Cards run away with this game after leading by 15 at the break and by double digits for most of the second half, but the fact remains that - according to the computers that, almost across the board, have Seton Hall ranked in the top 20 - this was the most impressive victory of U of L's season.
Again, there are obvious areas where improvement is necessary, but the Cards are back to their winning ways, and if that isn't cause for celebration then I'm not sure what is.
Here's your box score:
| Louisville Cardinals | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Kyle Kuric, G-F | 38 | 2-8 | 1-5 | 2-3 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Chane Behanan, F | 32 | 4-7 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 8 |
| Gorgui Dieng, C | 38 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 5-6 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| Chris Smith, G | 29 | 3-6 | 2-4 | 3-5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| Peyton Siva, G | 32 | 4-7 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 9 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Jared Swopshire, F | 8 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Elisha Justice, G | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Russ Smith, G | 21 | 4-11 | 1-2 | 5-7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |
| 20-44 | 4-12 | 16-24 | 5 | 40 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 23 | 19 | 60 | ||
| 45.5% | 33.3% | 66.7% | ||||||||||
| Seton Hall Pirates | ||||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Herb Pope, F | 35 | 4-13 | 0-1 | 4-8 | 6 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
| Brandon Mobley, F | 28 | 1-6 | 1-3 | 3-4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Jordan Theodore, G | 38 | 6-20 | 0-5 | 6-8 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 18 |
| Fuquan Edwin, G-F | 37 | 3-10 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| Aaron Cosby, G | 19 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 2-4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Patrik Auda, F | 11 | 1-4 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Aaron Geramipoor, F-C | 5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Haralds Karlis, G | 23 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Freddie Wilson, G | 4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | |
| 16-58 | 3-18 | 16-27 | 8 | 29 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 12 | 20 | 51 | ||
| 27.6% | 16.7% | 59.3% | ||||||||||