They may not be ‘The Greatest,’ but Louisville sure looked a lot like native son, Muhammad Ali, in their 78-59 win over Rutgers last night, mixing style and substance on their way to a dominant performance at the Rutgers Athletic Center.
Like the three-time heavyweight champ, the No. 9 Cardinals (14-3, 5-0) fought with an unyielding confidence, earning their sixth straight win and handing the Scarlet Knights (9-10, 0-6) their seventh straight loss. Rutgers has played six top-20 ranked opponents in those games.
“We’re playing in the best conference in the nation,” Rutgers guard Mike Rosario said. “Every night, everyone’s bringing it.”
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As the reigning Big East Player of the Week, Louisville forward Terrence Williams led the team with 23 points, 11 rebounds and four steals, putting in an early bid for back-to-back honors.
“It’s tough to ‘D’ him,” Rutgers 6-foot-2 guard Corey Chandler said. “He’s 6-6 and strong and he got a lot of points because he’s bigger than me. He’s a great, all-around player. He did everything [last night].”
Rutgers head coach Fred Hill said, “He’s a great player and a long, athletic player. He’s their ‘3’ man.and we’re playing small. Those are difficult matchups for us at times. He took advantage of it and he played very well.”
Almost seven minutes into the game, the Scarlet Knights held a two-point lead. An overexcited fan in the student section, yelled, “Larry Bird’s not walking through that door,” to Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, mocking a famous speech during the coach’s tenure with the Boston Celtics.
Well, it didn’t take long for the kid to see that the legendary coach didn’t need ‘Larry Legend.’ Heck, the Cardinals could’ve won with Larry David.
Over the next ten minutes, Louisville rattled off a 23-0 run, prompting Hill to pull all five players at one point. Louisville’s full-court press and the absence of Rutgers’ center Hamady Ndiaye to foul trouble, allowed the Cardinals to attack the paint at will and take a 40-20 halftime lead.
“I wasn’t pleased with our defensive effort overall and it was really our transition ‘D’, Hill said. “They took advantage of our misses and converted them into easy baskets. They make you play frenetic and in part of that run, that’s kind of what happened.”
Rosario said, “It was a lot of adrenaline going. The game was going so fast because of their press and it made our team give up the ball fast and make quick decisions. A lot of us weren’t poised enough to let the game come to us.”
Rosario carried the scoring load for Rutgers with 21 points while Chandler added a career-high seven assists. The duo helped cut the lead down to 13 with 12 minutes remaining, but they would never get any closer.
“I expected the Big East to be like this before I stepped in it,” Rosario said. “The Big East is physical and there are just a lot of great players. As a freshman, I’m seeing that right now.”
Rutgers senior guard Anthony Farmer hurt his left wrist and left the game after ten minutes, but no prognosis was available after the game.