• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Louisville cruises past Seton Hall for third straight win

Feb 24, 2013 - 12:17 AM Louisville, KY (Sports Network) - Gorgui Dieng scored a career-high 23 points and Russ Smith added 19, as 10th-ranked Louisville rolled to a 79-61 win over Seton Hall.

Dieng made 10-of-11 shots and pulled down eight rebounds in the victory, while Smith hit only four field goal attempts but made each of his 10 free throws.

Luke Hancock connected on a trio of 3-point attempts and chipped in 13 points for the Cardinals (22-5, 10-4 Big East), who hadn't played since beating South Florida last Sunday and have now won three in a row. Louisville has lost just once in its last seven games, with the lone setback coming in a five-overtime setback at Notre Dame two weeks ago.

"The first game we played them, we let them get to the free-throw line 31 times," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "Tonight, we played really good defense, and we didn't put them on the free-throw line."

Aaron Cosby scored 17 points and Eugene Teague added 16 for Seton Hall (13-15, 2-13), which has lost nine in a row and fell to 0-8 against ranked opponents this season.

The Pirates held a 19-17 edge midway through the first half after a bucket by Fuquan Edwin, but Hancock drilled a three to ignite a 17-2 Louisville run.

"They turned up the heat a little bit and we didn't handle that really well," Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. "You have to give them a lot of credit, they're at home and when they start pressing and creating turnovers, which they do very well and we just didn't handle it."

Peyton Siva, Smith and Kevin Ware also hit from beyond the arc during the surge, which gave the Cardinals a 34-21 advantage with just over five minutes to play before the intermission.

Seton Hall trimmed the deficit to 10 a few moments later, but consecutive baskets by Dieng sent Louisville into the break with a 40-26 cushion.

The Cardinals forced 11 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes and made 5-of-7 shots from long range.

Seton Hall never got closer than 12 in the second half. The last time came at 52-40 with just under 13 minutes left, but Louisville ripped off the next seven points to again break it open.

Game Notes

Louisville finished 7-of-15 from beyond the arc ... Ware scored eight points and Siva added seven ... Edwin finished with 11 points for Seton Hall and Brian Oliver scored 12 ... Louisville swept the season series, earning a 73-58 win last month in Newark, and is 13-5 all-time against Seton Hall. The Pirates have won just once in Louisville, an 83-81 triumph in 1952.