Posted on by jeffrey9910

After leaving the end of the Kent State game early, the Cardinals junior center Tevis Austin has been diagnosed with a broken arm. He’s expected to miss two months of action. Small forward Derek Walters is also nursing a sprained wrist. And for the Hoosiers point guard, Alex Hayden is also suffering from a sprained wrist.

According to Vegas, the Cardinals entered today’s game 10.5-point favorites. The first half went as expected as it was a back-and-forth evenly matched battle. The biggest lead was the four points the Hoosiers took into the locker room at the half. The Hoosiers shot 52% from the field and 46% from beyond the arc. The Cardinals shot 49% from the field and a horrendous 1-of-4 from beyond the arc. Freshman power forward Ricky Clark and freshman center Mark Burks led the Cardinals with seven points each in the first half.

Freshman shooting guard Joe Campbell scored eight points on 3-of-5 shooting to lead the Hoosiers in the first half while going 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Louisville dominated the points in the paint in the first half, outscoring the Hoosiers 22-8 and 8-0 on the fast break.

The Cardinals kept it close until around the halfway mark of the second half when the Hoosiers started to pull away. The Hoosiers saw three starters finish the game with double-digit points. Senior center Juan Sanders scored 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting and 3-of-4 from the free throw line. Sanders also grabbed six rebounds while dishing out five assists. Senior guard Alex Hayden scored 16 points with seven assists and three rebounds while freshman guard Joe Campbell scored 15 points.

Louisville had only two players finish in double-digit points. Sophomore center Sam Reece led the way with 11 points and three rebounds along with three blocks. Reece went 5-of-7 from the field. Freshman power forward Ricky Clark scored 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting along with four assists. Freshman center Mark Burks led the bench with nine points and two rebounds.

The Cardinals finished the game 4-of-14 from beyond the arc with senior guard Tate Kincade going 0-for-4 during the game. Kincade shot 33% from beyond the arc last year and so far this year is shooting just 16%.

For the Louisville Cardinals fans in attendance, they may have gone and got their halftime concessions fearing the worst as the Highlanders and Cardinals went into the halftime tied at 35 all. The Cardinals defense came out on fire in the second half and held the Highlanders to just 15 points to pick up the 79-50 win.

In the first half, the Highlanders shot 42% from the field and 33% from beyond the arc, compared to 44% from the field for the Cardinals and 50% from beyond the arc. With starting center Sam Reece getting into foul trouble early, freshman center Mark Burks played nine minutes in the first half and led the Cardinals, scoring 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting while grabbing three rebounds. Senior point guard Tate Kincade scored 15 points and senior center Duany Johnson scored six points off the bench while grabbing three rebounds. For the Highlanders senior center David Samuels scored nine points with six rebounds. Freshman power forward Melvin Warhank and junior point guard Ryan Bradley both scored six points.

Tate Kincaide scored nine points in the second half to finish the game to lead Louisville with 17 points on 6-of-11 from the field and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, while grabbing three rebounds and dishing out eight assists. Burks finished the game with his season-high of 16 points off the bench, going 8-of-12 from the field with five rebounds. Freshman shooting guard Darrell Gordon finished with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting with three assists.

Senior center David Samuels was the only Highlander to finish with double-digit points, scoring 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 3-of-4 from the free-throw line while grabbing 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Sophomore shooting guard Wes Larson and freshman power forward Melvin Warhank finished with six points each. Warhank grabbed two rebounds, while Larson grabbed four.

Next week the Cardinals continue their nine-game homestand to start the season, playing just one game next week. Hosting the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (3-3, 1-2 Away) on Wednesday December 7th.