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Louisville wins again, chews up Cornell

Nov 16, 2013 - 5:05 AM Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Wayne Blackshear scored 20 points, while Montrezl Harrell pulled down 15 rebounds, as No. 3 Louisville whipped Cornell, 99-54, in the first-ever meeting between the programs on Friday.

Chane Behanan totaled 13 points and 12 boards for the Cardinals (3-0), who bolted to a 53-14 lead at halftime and cruised to victory -- their school- record 19th in succession.

"We watched these guys and we prepared really hard, because against Syracuse they were up six at halftime and against Binghamton they were up 19 in the second half," said Louisville head coach Rick Pitino. "They've been jumping on teams with their three-point shot and we didn't want to give that up. So our guys were well prepared to go against them and didn't take them lightly at all."

Luke Hancock had 12 points, with Russ Smith and Stephan Van Treese adding 10 each in the rout.

Nolan Cressler finished with 10 points and eight rebounds for the Big Red (0-4).

"You're going against the best teams in America, so you kind of get a barometer of where you may be as a program and as a group. Our team is so young and we're still trying to figure ourselves out and I think it gives us a chance to go back to the drawing board and figure out where we can go and get better," said Cornell head coach Bill Courtney.

The outcome was never in doubt from the outset, with Louisville scoring 22 of the game's first 24 points just over six minutes into the contest.

A Braxston Bunce layup put the visitors in double digits with 7:09 left in the first half, but Cornell trailed 37-11.

It was a 39-point spread at the break after Robert Misschler hit a triple for the Big Red.

Louisville's lead swelled to a game-high 49 when Hancock connected from in close with 14:33 on the clock to make it 69-20.

Cornell was only able to reduce its deficit to 36 from there.

Game Notes

The Cardinals shot 59 percent from the field, holding their Ivy League opponents to 29 percent shooting ... Blackshear finished 4-of-5 from long distance, but the hosts connected on only 9-of-21 shots from beyond the arc.