By Derek DeBurger
A still-shorthanded No. 11 Louisville took care of business against the Montana Grizzlies.
Once again, the Cards were without Mikel Brown Jr. and also Kobe Rogers.
Not the holidays yet
After getting the first bucket off a layup from J’Vonne Hadley, Louisville couldn’t keep Montana off their hips.
Louisville took the lead to five points and it stayed there for about three quarters of the first half.
The only bright spot of the contested minutes was that Isaac McKneely started hitting shot from beyond the arc. Of the five three-pointers that Louisville hit in the first half, three of them came from McKneely.
The game really blew wide open when the Cards ended the half on a 15-0 run.
Louisville went up 42-20 at halftime.
The second half started somewhat similar to the first, with the exception being a 20-spot for the Cards.
Louisville couldn’t shake the grizzlies for the first few minutes until Ryan Conwell hit a layup, Sananda Fru threw down an ally-oop from Hadley and Hadley got back-to-back layups of his own to cap off an 8-0 run.
Once Conwell, who went 0-for-6 from deep in the first half, started hitting threes, it was time for the Grizzlies to hibernate.
Even after the walk-ons checked in, Louisville kept extending their lead; something rare under Pat Kelsey.
Louisville won 94-54.
Survive and thrive
Considering the Cards were down both of their true point guards in Brown and Rogers, a 40-point blowout win is quite impressive.
The guards that did play stepped up, with Conwell scoring 14 points after an ugly first half, and McKneely had an efficient 16 points.
Fru led the team with 18 points and eight rebounds, taking advantage of the inferior inside presence of Montana.
This is the type of game where you sigh once it’s over then move on.
Louisville will enter the bulk of conference play, starting with a road trip to California.
Louisville advances to 10-2 on the season.
Photo by Harrison Plank / The Louisville Cardinal
