CARDINALS

Cards pull away, rout Cal State Northridge

Jeff Greer

@jeffgreer_cj

Up next%3A No 1. Kentucky at No. 4 Louisville
When%3A 2 p.m. Saturday%2C KFC Yum%21 Center
TV%3A ESPN2 Radio%3A WHAS-840 and WAKY-103.5 %28UK call%29%3B WKRD-790 %28U of L call%29

The University of Louisville basketball team has developed a habit that sophomore guard Terry Rozier doesn't like, and it manifested itself in Tuesday's 80-55 win over Cal State Northridge.

The fourth-ranked Cardinals coasted through the first 30 minutes of their final game before their arch nemesis Kentucky comes to the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday, and they woke up just in time to run past a Northridge team that has lost 10 of its 13 games.

"We get caught up in playing how our opponent plays," Rozier said. "If we play a tough opponent, we play tough. If we play a team that's not so hyped up, we don't play that well. That's a habit we have to lose."

Louisville (11-0) got a career-high 31 points from Wayne Blackshear, and Terry Rozier added 16 points, six rebounds and five assists. Walk-on guard David Levitch added nine points from three 3-pointers.

The box score read as if U of L had put together a strong performance: 47 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range, 18 assists on 27 field goals, 20 forced turnovers.

But beauty – or in this case, utter distaste – is in the eye of the coach.

"I'd rather not talk about tonight's game, but I will say this: David Levitch was unbelievable," U of L coach Rick Pitino said in a brief post-game press conference.

"We didn't do a great job tonight, but we're thrown all of whack without Montrezl Harrell. Now it's time to get back to work."

Harrell, Louisville's 6-foot-8 All-American forward, served his one-game suspension for a flagrant foul in Saturday's win over WKU.

In Harrell's place, Mangok Mathiang totaled six points, six rebounds, four blocks and three steals.

But Pitino wasn't happy with Anas Mahmoud (four points, seven rebounds, three blocks) and Chinanu Onuaku (two points, four rebounds). He'd hoped the two freshmen big men would help offset Harrell's absence and show that they were ready for the UK game.

"I wanted to play (Mahmoud) tonight to see what he could do, but he didn't play until 12 minutes to go in the game," Pitino said. "(Onuaku) didn't play. He had zero offensive rebounds."

All U of L really needed to get through this pre-Christmas, mid-week game was Blackshear. Pitino said he'd told Blackshear before the game that he'd have a big night.

The 6-foot-5 wing didn't anticipate setting a new career high.

"It was just one of those nights," Blackshear said. "My teammates were finding me. My first shot went in, and I just kept making shots after that."

In the post-game locker room, it was hard to avoid conversation shifts toward the looming game against Kentucky.

Several Lexington-based media members covered the U of L game, and with the Northridge win in the books, the rivalry game made for easy post-game fodder.

"We handle it well," Blackshear said. "We really know what the game is all about. … I know how it's going to be this whole week. The only thing we can tell the freshmen is don't pay any attention to it."

Harrell also said the focus will turn back to Louisville's offense. Once again there was a lot of standing around or missed screens to initiate the offensive sets.

"We have to get back to the drawing board and get ready to play on Saturday," Harrell said.

"We have a few things we need to work out. We're definitely playing too careless with the ball. We have to value our possession. We can't be putting it on the floor and looking to turn the crowd on."

Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).

UP NEXT

NO. 1 KENTUCKY AT NO. 4 LOUISVILLE

2 p.m. Saturday, KFC Yum! Center

TV: ESPN2 Radio: WHAS-840 and WAKY-103.5 (UK call); WKRD-790 (U of L call)