Defending Champ Louisville Blows Past KY Wesleyan 115-67

Slamming 8 dunks and 20 points, Montrezl Harrell–a man among children–led the defending national champion Louisville Cardinals over Kentucky Wesleyan in a romp 115-67.

Aiding Harrell were 4 guards in double figures- Terry Rozier with 18, Russ Smith with 17, Chris Jones with 16, and Anton Gill with 13.  Rozier also led the team with 9 rebounds.

The key thing on display was the new rules on hand-checking, etc.   And it was in full force, as 5 Panthers fouled out, and 64 fouls were called in the  very long 2 1/2 hour ballgame.  Luckily, the Cards never had any trouble in the foul area, and for this game, against an over matched foe, the new “freedom of movement’ rules benefited them.

One thing that was harped on by Pitino, and it was true:  Stephan Van Treese has to be more of a force at the 5 spot.  In 19 minutes he registered only 2 rebounds–this against a very over matched team.

The center position was one that I thought would be a problem for us, and apparently it is going to be.  It will be interesting what will develop here over the next few weeks.  We may yet see more Trez in at center soon.