No. 16 Louisville Handcuffs Rutgers, Holds Knights to 37 Points

Filed under: Louisville, Big East

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) -- Preston Knowles hit three 3-pointers in a game-opening 17-2 run that carried No. 16 Louisville to a 55-37 victory over Rutgers on Tuesday night.

The Cardinals (21-7, 10-5 Big East) hit six of their first nine shots from long range in opening a 19-point first-half lead and handing Rutgers (13-14, 4-11) its third straight loss and seventh in eight games.

Knowles finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, Kyle Kuric added 11 points and Louisville held Rutgers to a season-low point total in its second best defensive performance of the season.

Gilvydas Biruta had 12 points to lead the Scarlet Knights, who made 13 field goals in shooting a season-low 29.5 percent. The 37 points were the fewest for Rutgers since it had that many in a 2007 loss to DePaul.

Louisville's previous opponent low this season was 35 against San Francisco, and the Cardinals had a chance of tying that until Rutgers got a late layup from Austin Carroll in the final 12 seconds.

This game was never in doubt after the 17-2 run during which Rutgers was 1 of 8 from the field, 0 for 2 from the free throw line along with five turnovers.

Louisville hit 7 of 16 shots from 3-point range in the opening half with the total being one less than it had in the last two games combined.

While he finished 4 of 13 from the field, Knowles was deadly in the opening minutes. Every 3-pointer the guard took hit nothing but net, and at least one was NBA distance.

Louisville was outstanding in the first 17 minutes, opening a 33-14 lead on Mike Marra's third 3-pointer of the half.

After that Louisville seemed to lose its intensity.

Rutgers had a chance to get back in the game in the second half when Louisville missed 10 of its first 12 shots in the opening 11 minutes.

Two free throws by Biruta got Rutgers within 39-30 with 9:37 to go, but Chris Smith hit a free throw and Knowles and Terrence Jennings added two more apiece in an 11-2 spurt that ended with 3-pointers by Knowles and Smith.

 

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