By Dalton Ray–

No. 11 men’s basketball team destroyed Southern Illinois 74-51. The Cards are now 8-1 and are back in action Saturday at 2 p.m. coach Rick Pitino aims for his 400th win at Louisville against Texas Southern. The Cardinals have held teams under 70 points five times this season.

Mangok Mathiang lead U of L with 15 points and six rebounds. Donovan Mitchell finished with seven points on a poor shooting night. Deng Adel added a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

U of L jumped early and didn’t let the Salukis have a chance. Mathiang started the game with a quick seven points. Mitchell’s 3-pointer gave Louisville a 10-0 lead three minutes into the game.

Over the next five minutes, the Cardinals extended their lead to 21-6. During the first nine minutes, U of L shot 69 percent from the field to SIU’s 26 percent.

Later, the Salukis went on a 10-4 run and cut the lead to single digits. The run forced Pitino to call a timeout and reset his team.

“We’re having a very difficult time putting together a 40-minute game. Like the first half against Baylor and like the first 14 minutes of the game, we were brilliant and we’re having a difficult time sustaining it. Especially in our passing of the ball,” Pitino said.

The Cardinals answered SIU’S run with a 7-0 run of their own. Southern Illinois went over the top multiple times to beat the Louisville press, but failed to hold possession on each attempt.

Southern Illinois ended the half on an 8-0 run as U of L walked into halftime with a 37-26 lead. Louisville shot 55 percent from the field, hitting 16-of-29 shots. Sloppy play from Louisville allowed the Salukis to stay in the game. The Cards turned the ball over nine times in the first half. 

Just like in the first half, Mangok got the scoring going to start the second. Quentin Snider’s corner three gave Louisville an 18-point lead. At the first media break, Louisville lead 46-28.

The second half started off slowly as U of L only scored 11 points in the first eight minutes. Louisville used their advantage in height as they owned the edge in blocks six to three.

Ray Spalding provided three highlight dunks, ending with eight points and four rebounds.

U of L held Southern Illinois to under 40 percent shooting and out-rebounded the visitors by 11. Louisville dominated the Salukis in points in the paint and second-chance points. The Cards outscored SIU 40 to 22 in points in the paint.

Photos by Isaac Sanchez / The Louisville Cardinal