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Louisville uses big second half to rout Providence

Feb 19, 2009 - 5:51 AM LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Ticker) -- Terrence Williams had more than enough chances to show off the health of his right wrist against defensively-lacking Providence.

Williams scored 17 points as seventh-ranked Louisville used a dominant second-half run to shake Providence, 94-76, in the Big East Conference on Wednesday.

Freshman Samardo Samuels also had 17 points and Earl Clark added 13, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Cardinals (20-5, 11-2 Big East), who beat the Friars for the seventh straight time.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who guided Providence to the 1987 Final Four, improved to 4-0 against his former school.

Edgar Sosa scored 18 points as Louisville ended up with six players in double figures and became the sixth Big East team to run up 90 points against Providence this season.

Although the series has been lopsided, the Friars (16-10, 8-6) sizzled early, taking a 46-45 edge at the break after shooting 75 percent (18-of-24) in the first half.

"Besides almost having an aneurysm at halftime, it was a pretty good game," Pitino said. "We tried to warn our guys, even against Connecticut, in the first half Providence was up for most of the half. I think they ended the half down three.

"When you run and shoot quickly with this team, they will blow everybody out. You have to make them play defense; take your time and get the offensive glass. We just did not do a good job; we just did not understand it."

However, Providence was done in by some poor shooting and sloppy play after the intermission, going 9-of-30 (30 percent) from the floor and committing 13 of its 22 turnovers.

"We play a very up-tempo style, but so does Louisville," Providence coach Keno Davis said. "In certain games we wear out our opponent. That obviously didn't happen tonight. It shows just how they stress conditioning, how they are able to play a 94-foot game.

"It's not an ideal matchup for us to go up against a team that does a lot of the same things we do. They just do those things a little better than us right now, and they have players that are little better than us at doing it."

The Friars did still have a 53-50 lead with 17:57 remaining before the Cardinals ripped off a 19-1 run, pulling ahead 69-54 on a free throw by Williams with 9:19 left. Jerry Smith scored seven of his 10 points during the burst.

Williams added six points during the run, nearly eclipsing the eight he had in his previous three games as he struggled with a sprained wrist.

The senior small forward finished 7-of-11 from the field with two 3-pointers. He also handed out eight assists and pulled down six rebounds.

"We are good and he is a 100 percent," Pitino said. "We just had to get him through that last game."

"I don't know where to start," Davis said. "He has the ability to not just be a scorer, but be somebody that makes the players around him better. He can go and get a huge scoring night, but he can also beat you in a lot other ways. He can beat you with the passing, beat you with his defense, and beat you with his rebounding. So to be able to be so versatile and do so many things, you can't really game plan against that."

Behind the passing of Williams and Clark, Louisville finished with 24 assists while ending up 55 percent (35-of-64) from the field.

Curry, Weyinmi Efejuku and Jonathan Kale all had 15 points for Providence, which fell to 1-5 against ranked teams this season.

Kale also had nine rebounds and Geoff McDermott seven for the Friars, who did finish with a 34-26 advantage on the boards in losing for the third time in their last four road games.

Providence will have two more games against top-25 opponents among its last four as it seeks its first NCAA Tournament berth in five years.

"With four games left and an 8-6 record, we have the ability to finish in the top half of the Big East," Davis said. "If we finish in the top half, I don't know if that guarantees us an NCAA Tournament bid; we might have to win a game in New York, but I don't know. I don't think anybody really knows."