No. 20 Louisville steamrolls Pitt behind strong shooting performance
Ryan Conwell scored 24 points for No. 20 Louisville, which went on the road to steamroll Pitt 100-59 on Saturday.
The senior guard, whose team-leading 19.5 scoring average ranked seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference, had 17 in the second half. He connected on nine of his 16 shots and went 5-for-11 from beyond the 3-point arc, to go along with six assists and six rebounds.
Louisville (13-5, 3-3 ACC) had neither freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. nor sophomore forward Khani Rooths available, but the Cardinals did not need either to tame the Panthers (8-10, 1-4) and avoid a fourth loss in five. They shot 63.2% (36 of 57) from the floor and 51.7% (15 of 29) from beyond the arc, both season bests, and tied a season-high with 24 assists.
J'Vonne Hadley was 7-of-9 shooting to finish with 17 points and seven rebounds for Louisville. Sananda Fru, who made 6 of 7, and Adrian Wooley tallied 12 each, and Isaac McKneely added 11.
McKneely drilled a trey 29 seconds into the contest which kickstarted a 13-0 run over the first 4:38. The Virginia transfer hit three long-distance shots during that opening run, and the Cardinals were just getting started. They used a 23-7 run to open up a 30-point lead less than 16 minutes into the game.
Conwell made just 3 of 9 shots in the first half and was 1-for-6 from 3-point range. The Xavier transfer found his stroke in the second half, ensuring the Panthers would not make it interesting in the second half.
The Cardinals came in Saturday ranked fourth nationally in made 3-pointers per game (11.7). They made 11 of their 19 treys in the first half and shot 18 of 30 (60%) overall in the first 20 minutes to lead 53-22 at halftime.
While Louisville did not miss much, Pitt made just two of its first 18 shots. The Panthers finished shooting 38.2% (21 for 55) and 29.2% from 3-point range.
Brandin Cummings led the Panthers with 11 points, finishing as their only player in double digits.