Louisville spent more than 36 minutes playing with a double figure lead on its way to a opening night win over visiting Chattanooga.
All five starters scored in double figures for the Cardinals, who shot 45 percent from the field as a team. Preseason All-American big man Flory Bidunga led the way, scoring 16 points to go along with nine rebounds and three steals. Adrian Wooley added 15 points and four steals, while Jackson Shelstad chipped in 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Still, the season-opening performance didn’t leave Pat Kelsey without some less-than stellar film to show his players before Saturday’s tilt with Morehead State.
After carrying a 21-point lead into the locker room at halftime, U of L didn’t seem to play with the same fire — or efficiency — in the second 20 minutes. The result was being out-scored, 35-28, by a Chattanooga squad picked to finish in the Southern Conference. The Cards committed seven of their 10 turnovers in the second frame, and connected on just 1-of-16 from three against a UTC squad that sunk its defense and dared Louisville to beat them from the outside.
At the end of the day, however, U of L won its 22nd season-opener in its last 23 tries and improved to 3-0 in season-openers under Kelsey.
Plenty to work on, even if for an hour it looked like it was going to be close to a perfect start.
