Louisville Decimated by Pitt; Cardinals Set Program Single-Season Loss Record

PITTSBURGH - There's a new benchmark for futility within the Louisville men's basketball program.

Traveling to the Steel City for a rematch with Pitt, the Cardinals' second shot at the Panthers ended much like the first one, getting blown out out to the tune of 91-57 Tuesday at the Petersen Events Center.

The loss moves Louisville to 3-21 overall for the season, which sets the program record for most losses in a single season. The previous record came during the 1997-98 season, when the Cardinals went 12-20 in what was then-head coach Denny Crum's fourth-to-last year at the helm.

Poor defensive rotations from Louisville handed Pitt wide open shots all day long, and the Panthers took advantage of them. Pitt shot 54.9 percent from the field, and were a blazing 17-of-31 on three-point attempts, one made three shy of the school record.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals struggled to hit anything at all. While they were 10-of-27 on threes, they connected on just six two-point field goals, bringing their shooting percentage for the game to only 27.6.

Louisville also lost the rebounding battle at 37-30, and Pitt tallied almost as many blocks (13) as the Cards had made field goals (16).

Mike James and Hercy Miller were the only Cardinals to break double figures, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively. Four Pitt players scored double digits, led by Nike Sibande's 15 points.

The opening segment of the game featured extremely competitive offensive basketball. While Louisville's defense has trouble containing Pitt, their offensive flow looked crisp. Over the first six-and-a-half minutes, there were four ties and five lead changes.

But after the Cardinals tied the game up at 14 a piece, everything went completely downhill, with the Panthers going on a 33-13 run to end the half. Pitt continued to shoot the ball at an extremely high clip, while Louisville all of a sudden couldn't hit even simple layups and jumpers.

After connecting on five of their first 10 field goal attempts, UofL hit just three of their remaining 17 attempts from the field in the first half, including a 7:52 stretch between field goals. Meanwhile, Pitt shot 61.5 percent during this time, including a 9-of-15 mark on threes, to go up 47-27 at halftime.

Pitt didn't exactly take their foot off the gas once the second half started, either. The Panthers hit their first six shots of the period, four of which were three-pointers, en route to shooting 48.0 percent from the field in the second half.

Louisville's defense continued to hand Pitt wide open shots, but their offense also didn't really give them much of a chance to mount a comeback. Shooting only 29.6 percent in the first half, this fell to 25.8 percent for the second half.

Next up, Louisville will stay on the road for a rematch of their ACC opener against Miami. Tip-off against the Hurricanes is set for Saturday, Feb. 11 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of El Ellis: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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