By Harrison Plank

No. 20 Louisville basketball got a much-needed road win Saturday night over Pitt after dropping three of their last four games.

Coming out swinging

After starting their last game down 14-0 against Virginia, Louisville seemed to learned from their mistakes. The Cards started the game on a 13-0 run, spearheaded by Isaac McKneely hitting a trio of threes.

Pitt’s home crowd finally had something to cheer about after a much needed timeout. Brandin Cummings hit a 3 to put the Panthers on the board, but the first half was still looking all Cards.

Miscues from Pitt both offensively and defensively along with Louisville’s signature barrrage of threes got this game out of hand quickly.

While Pitt’s offense was sputtering, stellar defense by the Cardinals held the Panthers without a field goal for over seven minutes.

A pair of threes from Aly Khalifa forced the Panthers to call their second timeout early in the first half, but Louisville seemed too busy growing their lead to care.

Pitt was finally able to get double digit team scoring with five minutes to go in the half, trailing 39-11. Two back-to-back Roman Siulepa threes gave Pitt a glimer of hope, but the Cards still had a 25-point lead.

A Barry Dunning Jr. dunk brought a little more energy into the lifeless Pitt arena, but an Adrian Wooley three almost immediately sat the few remaining Pitt fans down as quick as they got on their feet.

Louisville took their foot off the gas defensively to end the half, but was just as accurate from beyond the arc. Louisville ended the half with 11 made threes on 19 attempts. No Louisville fan could be upset going into the break up 31.

The Cards led Pitt at half 53-22.

Running circles around them

Pitt’s offense seemed to have improved coming out of the locker room, but stopping the Cards on the other end of the court was not something they seemed capable of. 

Ryan Conwell looked like a one man army. He put up 11 of Louisville’s 13 points early in the half while going shot for shot with the whole Pitt team.

The Cardinals continued to coast off their huge lead while Pitt chipped away at it, but this game was more than over even before the half.

Just as Pitt’s young offense was putting together a run of their own, Louisville went on a late 14-2 run to give the Cards a 89-51 lead.

Pat Kelsey called off the dogs and both teams would trade buckets back and forth until the final buzzer sounded.

Louisville beat Pitt 100-59.

Onto the next

From start to finish, the Cardinals controlled this game.

The team continued to do what they do best: shooting the rock. Louisville connected on 15 of 27 attempts from beyond the arc, while holding Pitt to only 7 made on 24 attempts.

Ryan Conwell’s 24 points lead both teams in scoring, while also dishing 6 assists and grabbing 6 rebounds. He shot 5 for 11 from three for the night, solidly improving on his last outing against Virginia in which he shot 3 for 12 from three and 5 for 21 from the field.

The Cards also shared the wealth on offense. All five Louisville starters ended the game with double digit scoring nights.

Pitt seemed to have come off the bus already in a deficit that they couldn’t overcome.

After Louisville’s disappointing slump in recent games without star freshman Mikel Brown Jr., a win of this magnitude serves as a much-needed boost to fanbase and locker room morale.

Up next, the Cardinals will face Virginia Tech, where they will look to improve above .500 in conference play.

Louisville is now 13-5 on the season and 3-3 in the ACC.

Photo Courtesy / Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images