If every night this season for the Louisville men’s basketball team goes the way night one did … well, the Cards are going to win every game they play by 59 points.
That was the final margin on Monday evening as U of L trounced visiting South Carolina State, 104-45, in what was the sixth-largest final margin of victory in the history of the program.
It could have been worse.
Louisville spent a solid chunk of the second half with a 60+ point lead, and that was after Pat Kelsey had more or less called the dogs off.
The Cardinals scored the game’s first 13 points and were never remotely threatened by the Bulldogs. Terrific defense, some hot early outside shooting from Isaac McKneely and the spectacular play of five-star freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. allowed Louisville to carry a 59-15 lead with them into the locker room at halftime.
The 44-point halftime advantage marked the largest in the history of Cardinal basketball.
Brown’s debut in a Louisville uniform ended with 11 points, six assists and several highlight reel plays despite seeing minimal time on the court in the second half.
Speaking of highlight reel dunks, Khani Rooths had four or five of them himself in the process of coming off the bench and leading all scorers with 20 points. McKneely (17), J’Vonne Hadley (13) and Ryan Conwell (12) each scored in double figures as well.
I don’t care what South Carolina State looked like (bad … the word I was looking for was bad), the wounds of three consecutive losing seasons are still fresh enough for me to savor every second of a historic blowout like Monday night’s.
The fun is just getting started.
