(11) Louisville 73

**Stardust** · 01-04-2012, 09:22 AM

Until the offense comes around, the University of Louisville menâs basketball team doesnât mind winning with defense.

It was on full display in the first half Tuesday night as the Cardinals dismantled St. Johnâs 73-58 before a crowd of 9,258 in Madison Square Garden.

U of L (13-2, 1-1 Big East Conference) held the Red Storm (7-7, 1-2) to 14 percent shooting and a season-low 18 points in the first half and 28.1 percent shooting for the game. St. Johnâs, which has five freshmen in its seven-man rotation, went nearly 10 minutes without making a shot. The Johnnies were mired in shot-clock violations and several times took bad shots right before the 35-second clock expired.

âWe did this off our defense,â U of L coach Rick Pitino said. âPeyton (Siva) didnât play well, Kyle (Kuric) didnât play well, Chris Smith didnât play well, Chane (Behanan) didnât play very well, and we did this with our defense. But you know your offense is going to come and get better.â

That left center Gorgui Dieng, who had 12 points, nine rebounds and a career-high seven blocks, as one of the few players Pitino praised. The 6-foot-10 sophomore did his part to dissuade the Red Storm from taking the ball into the paint. His four blocks in the first half caused several players to alter other attempts in the lane.

After the Johnnies tied it at 10 on Moe Harklessâ dunk with 10:20 left in the half, they didnât get another basket until 23 seconds remained and trailed 29-18 at halftime. Their previous low for a first half was 20 in an 81-59 loss at Kentucky on Dec. 1.

âYoung guys, theyâre mentally going to lose faith,â Pitino said. âRather than just get a layup, just get a backdoor, theyâre going to take quick shots.â

The Cards couldnât take all the credit for of those missed shots. The Red Storm found gaps in the Cardsâ zone and had open looks they couldnât knock down. They were just 5 of 35 in the first half, including 2 of 12 from 3-point range.

âIt seemed like we gave up a lot of shots early not communicating like we should,â said Kuric, who bounced back from a season-low two points against UK with 15 points. âThey kind of took their time and worked the shot clock down real low. We just rebounded the ball well.â

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