No. 3 Louisville finishes strong, beats Seton Hall
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gorgui Dieng tallied 16 points and 14 rebounds as No. 3 Louisville used a second-half surge to down Seton Hall, 73-58, at Prudential Center.
Montrezl Harrell had 14 points and Russ Smith added 11 with seven boards and five assists for the Cardinals (14-1, 2-0 Big East), who have won nine in a row.
"I think we're a very good offensive basketball team, but we needed to get better defensively," Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said. "We hadn't played well defensively until the second half tonight."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Brandon Mobley poured in 18 points, while Eugene Teague chipped in with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Pirates (12-4, 1-2), who have lost two straight since a seven-game win streak.
Consecutive baskets from Kevin Ware made it 40-34 for the Cardinals early in the second half, but the Pirates countered to forge a 42-42 deadlock on a trey from Fuquan Edwin.
Luke Hancock ended a quick Louisville burst with a three-pointer to make it 52-44 with 8:04 remaining, and the Cardinals kept the pressure on, assuming a 15-point advantage when Wayne Blackshear connected from long distance to give the visitors a 63-48 spread with 4:06 to go.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Seton Hall was forced to foul and within the next two minutes, Louisville's lead grew to 67-50. The Pirates were never able to close the gap below double digits for the duration.
"This is a team game and we have a lot of guys who can score," said Siva. "It's definitely a good sign that we can win, because me and Russ didn't shoot well."
Harrell sank back-to-back buckets to give Louisville an early 10-5 edge, then a brief surge from the Pirates gave them a 16-14 lead on a Mobley jumper.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Peyton Siva's 3-point play pushed the Cardinals back in front by a 30-22 count, and the visitors' lead grew to as much as 35-26 on a Smith layup until Seton Hall closed out the half on an 8-1 surge to close within 36-34, thanks to Teague's easy bucket in the paint.
Game Notes
Louisville has won 12 of the 17 meetings between the teams ... Siva ended up with seven points and a game-high eight assists ... Teague committed a game- worst six of Seton Hall's 16 turnovers.