13 NCAA Basketball Tournament: Louisville Cardinals 79 – 48 North Carolina A&T Aggies

Today the Louisville Cardinals #1 seed took on NC A&T #16 seed in Lexington, KY.  Louisville took control of the game from the tip and never looked back. With eleven minutes to go in the first half Louisville lead 22-7 and held NC A&M to 14% field goal percentage and while Louisville shot 64%.  With five minutes to go in the first half Louisville had moved their led up to 21 with the score being 40 – 19.   Russ Smith (point guard) had been having a good game at this point with 8 points and Montrezl Harrell (forward) having 8 also.  Peyton Siva (Guard) also helped build the big led with 5 assists and no points but with a huge defensive effort.

At half time Louisville led by 16 with the score being 47-31.  North Carolina A&M picked up their field goal percentage to 47% (10-21) and Louisville was shooting an impressive 66% (18-27).   Louisville was in control of the stat line they led rebounds 11-6, assists 12-6, steals 10-3 and turnovers 10-13.  Leading scores for N.C. A&M was Adrain Powell (forward) with 8, Bruce Beckford (forward) also with 8 and two others had 6 points.  Russ Smith led Louisville with 9 points and 2 assists, Gorgui Dieng (center) had 6 points and 5 rebounds and Peyton Siva with 2 points and 5 assists.

The second half went a lot like the first half with Louisville with a good defensive effort and shooting the lights out.  With 15 minutes to go in the game Louisville led 56-37 for  a 19 points led.  With 12 minutes to go in the game Louisville led by 28 with the score being 65-37.  With 5 minutes to go Louisville increased their lead to 33 and never looked back to the final buzzer.

The whole game was controlled by Louisville that easily won 79-46.  The Cardinals won by defensive pressure and shooting the lights out which led to having a good state line as they led shooting 56% to 41%. They also led in rebounds 30-19, assists 14-7, turnovers 16-25 and steals 20-8.   The leading scorer for Louisville was Russ Smith with 23 points.  The leading score for the Aggies was Bruce Beckford with 12 points and 4 rebounds.  Louisville played like a #1 seed today and easily sent North Carolina A&T home with 19-17 season record.  The Louisville Cardinals will move on to play Saturday against the winner of the Colorado St. #8 Vs. Missouri #9 game that will be played tonight at 9:20 Eastern on TBS.

Written by: Blue Brandon

Follow me @wbnBlueBrandon

Email me [email protected]