The seventh ranked University Louisville Men’s basketball team defeated Temple 88-66 on Thursday night at the KFC YUM! Center.
The Cardinals (24-4) were led by Russ Smith, who scored 24 points and moved to ninth in career scoring at Louisville.
Smith’s backcourt mates both finished with career highs. Terry Rozier posted his career best with 19 points while Chris Jones added a career high of eight assists to go along with nine points.
“I was really impressed with Chris. I thought Terry was very good because I told them I want both of them to get to the free throw line more and more straight-line drives,” Rick Pitino said. “I think they both have tremendous upside to their games. I like both guys very much and I thought they were both outstanding tonight.”
Montrezl Harrell overpowered the Owls in the paint, scoring 21 points and pulling down six rebounds.
Louisville took control early, bursting out to a 24-6 lead through the first seven minutes of the game. Smith had three layups in transition during the run as Louisville accumulated 21 fast break points throughout the game.
Louisville travels to Memphis (21-7) on Saturday.
“We always try to just get better in the month of February leading into March. I think we have gotten a lot better. We are a good basketball team right now,” Pitino said.
