LOUISVILLE, Ky. – WKU Hilltopper Basketball fell to Louisville Wednesday night in the KFC Yum! Center 93-84. While the Hilltoppers outrebounded Louisville, the Cardinals shot well above their average with a 54.5% clip from the floor, including netting 13 of 25 (52.0%) from beyond the arc.
"Give Louisville a lot of credit," said head coach Rick Stansbury. "Louisville was really good tonight. We knew they were capable of that… When they make shots, when you make shots, it changes everything and they made shots. They made timely shots. When you look at the stats, we had some momentum to start that game… You can't let that momentum change."
WKU scored first, for the ninth time this season, with a 3-pointer from Emmanuel Akot. The Hilltoppers strung together a 12-2 run between the 16 and 13-minute marks, taking a 15-7 lead.
The Cardinals worked at the Tops' lead, eventually putting up a 12-2 run to take a 21-20 lead. After Dayvion McKnight scored one more time to take a short one-point lead, Louisville responded with a 3 and maintained its lead through the game.
While WKU came within two points at the 2:32 mark thanks to 3-pointer by Jairus Hamilton, the Cardinals immediately answered with eight straight points. They hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to take a double-digit, 46-35 lead into halftime.
Coming out of the break, the programs exchanged baskets before Louisville scored seven straight, forcing Stansbury to call a timeout.
WKU was able to slowly chip away at the Cardinal lead in different chunks: a five-point string with 13 minutes left and a handful of back-to-back baskets for the remainder of the half.
The Hilltoppers were able to cut into the Louisville lead from as high as 20 to as low as 10, but never got over the hump. The two teams both scored 48 points in the second frame as Louisville picked up its first win of the season.
WKU shot 47.1% from the field and knocked down nine 3-pointers. The Hilltoppers also pulled down a season-high 18 offensive rebounds, adding 19 on the defensive end to outrebound the Cardinals 37-29.
Jairus Hamilton logged his sixth double-double as a Hilltopper with 20 points and 12 rebounds, including seven offensive boards. He shot 7 of 13 from the floor and made three 3-pointers.
McKnight led WKU in scoring with 25 points along with five boards and two assists.
Louisville's El Ellis had 30 points and 10 assists.
WKU will finish out its non-conference slate at South Carolina on Thursday, December 22. The game will be televised on the SEC Network at 6 p.m. CT.
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