Just one week after Louisville coach Rick Pitino said his players deserved their first loss of the season, he praised them after a second straight victory.
“We played a very intelligent basketball game,” Pitino said after the 11th-ranked Cardinals beat Ohio 91-56 on Sunday in the Marques Maybin Classic. “Our guys were terrific tonight. Good things happen when you pass the ball.”
The best passer for the Cardinals (4-1) was power forward Earl Clark. The junior had 17 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high eight assists as Louisville made a loss to Western Kentucky seem like old news.
“Earl played great from beginning to end,” Cardinals guard Edgar Sosa said. “He got other people involved. He got the ball down low to Samardo (Samuels) and when he gets the ball like that, we’re hard to stop.”
In other games involving ranked teams on Sunday, it was No. 6 Oklahoma 69, Tulsa 44; No. 12 UCLA 85, Cal State-Northridge 67; No. 13 Michigan State 75, Bradley 59; No. 19 Arizona State 64, Nebraska 44; and Florida State 57, No. 23 Florida 55.
most of them coming on feeds from Clark – and Jerry Smith snapped out of an early season slump with 16 points.
Clark considered entering the NBA draft last spring, then decided to return to school to become a more complete player.
“Coach P showed me a lot of clips from last year of good games that I had, he showed me how I scored in different ways,” Clark said. “I’m a better player when I play more athletic.”
And so are the Cardinals, who had 26 assists on 33 field goals and held the Bobcats (3-3) without a basket for a 10-minute stretch spanning the first and second half.
After the 68-54 loss to Western Kentucky, Pitino assessed his team, which was ranked third in the preseason Top 25, this way:
“You don’t like to learn your lessons from losing, but to be quite honest the way we practiced all week, we did not deserve to win,” he said last Sunday. “You reap what you sow.”
Jerome Tillman had 21 points and seven rebounds for Ohio, which shot 37 percent, committed 18 turnovers and had no answer when the Cardinals had Clark and Samuels on the court.
“They present you with that dilemma when you have to deal with Samuels inside,” Ohio coach John Groce said. “So their size and athleticism around the basket, coupled with their 3-point shooting, made them very difficult to defend.”
No. 6 Oklahoma 69, Tulsa 44
bounds, and Willie Warren scored 14 points for the Sooners (8-0) in the first college basketball game played in the BOK Center.
Warren and Tony Crocker, who had 12 points, hit consecutive 3-pointers as the Sooners scored the game’s first 13 points. Cade Davis’ 3 from the right wing stretched Oklahoma’s lead to 20-3.
Justin Hurtt scored 10 points to lead the Golden Hurricane (4-4), who never got within 20 points in the second half.
No. 12 UCLA 85, CS Northridge 67
At Los Angeles, Josh Shipp scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half to lead the Bruins at home.
Freshman Jrue Holiday added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Darren Collison had 14 points and six assists for UCLA (5-2), which shot 58 percent in a sloppy game that featured a combined 42 turnovers.
Tremaine Townsend scored a career-high 23 points for the Matadors (1-6) and Kenny Daniels had 13 points and six rebounds.
No. 13 Michigan St. 75, Bradley 59
At East Lansing, Mich., Chris Allen scored 19 points for the Spartans (5-2), who were coming off a 35-point loss to No. 1 North Carolina in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Michigan State started trying to rebuild its confidence by winning the first of three straight home games.
Theron Wilson scored 16 points for the Braves (4-3), who haven’t won on a Big Ten school’s home court since 1960.
No. 19 Arizona St. 64, Nebraska 44
e, Ariz., James Harden had 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists to lead the Sun Devils (7-1) in the Pac 10-Big 12 series. Rihards Kuksiks added career highs of 18 points and six rebounds and Ty Abbott scored 15 points, including three 3-pointers.
Steve Harley scored 11 points to lead the visiting Cornhuskers (6-1), who were 13-of-45 from the field (29 percent) and were outrebounded 37-25.
Florida St. 57, No. 23 Florida 55
At Tallahassee, Fla., Ryan Reid scored four of his 13 points in the final 1:20 to lead the Seminoles to their third straight win in the intrastate series. Jordan DeMercy had a career-high 12 points for Florida State, coming off its first loss of the season against Northwestern.
Nick Calathes led the visiting Gators (6-2) with 16 points, while Dan Werner, who missed a 3-point shot at the buzzer, added 10.
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