U of L holds off Long Beach State, 63-48

Rick Pitino, with four experienced players he can rely on and a big group of youngsters learning their way, likened this season's University of Louisville basketball team to a chain.

Terry Rozier, a steely link for sure, had 23 points, seven rebounds and six steals in guiding the No. 5 Cardinals to a 63-48 victory over Long Beach State in a Tuesday matinee game in which Pitino also gave the younger players ample opportunities to show what they can do as the team enters ACC play.

"One weak link on a chain and the fence falls apart," Pitino said. "We've got eight open links, eight guys who don't understand what we do, and we have four that do (understand). We've got to close the links up week by week."

Montrezl Harrell, another strong link, scored 16 points, including the last six of the game to deny any late Long Beach State threat, and senior Wayne Blackshear fought off an illness to post 12 points and seven rebounds for U of L (12-1).

After that, with the fourth veteran, point guard Chris Jones, benched as punishment for flopping during Saturday's loss to Kentucky, Pitino tried to see who else could be a solid link in the chain. After using only three reserves against the top-ranked Wildcats, Pitino played 11 players against the 49ers (5-10) in the Cards' final non-conference regular-season game.

Freshman center Anas Mahmoud made a good case for an important role, adding four points, three rebounds and two blocks in his first career start, replacing fellow freshman Chinanu Onuaku, who didn't get in because of a sore ankle and a recent lack of productivity.

Mahmoud, the skilled but skinny 7-footer, was productive from the jump, making his first two shots for Louisville's first points and showing more offensive refinement than U of L has gotten at the position maybe all season. One of his first-half blocks started a fast break that ended with Harrell's alley-oop dunk on a lob from Quentin Snider, another freshman who saw extensive time.

"It's a great trust from the coach to put me in that position, and I hope I did well," Mahmoud said.

Jones played only nine minutes – mostly late in the game - leading to an opportunity for the freshman Snider, who played a career-high 26 minutes and finished with six points, two assists and one rebound. He hit two first-half 3-pointers.

"Q. is getting a lot better, a lot better," Pitino said. "… That link is closing."

Another freshman, Shaqquan Aaron made his first start in place of Jones but had little impact. He came out 2 ½ minutes after tipoff and finished with no points, rebounds or assists in five minutes.

Pitino said Aaron, who missed the first nine games of the season due to an NCAA review of his amateur status, "is one of the links that just doesn't have a clue" as far as the Cards' complex defensive switching and terminology.

Reserves Mangok Mathiang, Anton Gill, Jaylen Johnson and David Levitch also played, combining for two points.

Pitino said that he's tried to remind the freshmen that some of the most successful players he's coached at U of L – Peyton Siva, Russ Smith, Gorgui Dieng – struggled mightily to find their way their first years.

"They all want to play," Pitino said. "… I think each week that goes by, we'll close the link a link bit more. What I'm hoping for is come March, we've got nine to 10 links that are closed."

Luckily for the Cards, Rozier was dynamic, making 7 of 14 shots, including 3-pointers, and Pitino was pleased with how U of L, which led by as much as 22, played for much of the game against Long Beach State.

The 49ers, whose poor record has come against rigorous schedule that's included games at UCLA, Texas, Syracuse and St. John's, had Pitino's respect as an offensive team, and he said he was very concerned they could hurt the Cards.

"For 30 minutes, that's the best basketball we have played all year," he said, praising the Cards' switches on defense and passing on offense. "... Then for a period in the second half, we hunted shots and didn't pass it as well and we didn't look as good."

U of L shot 59 percent in the first half and seemed in complete control after a 12-0 run early in the second to go up 45-23. But Long Beach State, which held Louisville to eight field goals after halftime, chipped away and got within 51-41.

Mike Caffey's three narrowed the margin to 57-48 with 2:42 to go, but Harrell closed strong to end the game with a long jumper, dunk and a layup.

"I thought Louisville's defense was something we couldn't get comfortable with until it was too late," Long Beach coach Dan Monson said. "We finally started attacking and not turning it over, and the deficit was too much."

Jones, who had made only 3 of 15 shots against UK, didn't take a shot and went scoreless. He expressed remorse after the game for pretending to be elbowed by UK's Dakari Johnson.

"I told him, 'You're not playing because of that (flopping) incident. That's something that Louisville guys don't do,'" Pitino said. "But he was the best cheerleader on the bench, and he did a great job with the guys."

Steve Jones can be reached at (502) 582-7176 and followed on Twitter at @SteveJones_CJ.

UP NEXT

NO. 5 LOUISVILLE AT WAKE FOREST

8 p.m. Sunday, Winston-Salem, N.C.

TV: ESPNU Radio: WKRD-790