Louisville Blows Out Pepperdine as Kenny Payne Survives The Weekend

The Louisville Cardinals and Kenny Payne were facing criticism from every side of the media in the past few days, and with their backs against the wall they found a way to beat Pepperdine by 22 points.

Kenny Payne has been surrounded with rumors regarding the firing of him as the head coach, and if Louisville lost to Pepperdine he would have likely been let go Monday morning. However, Louisville found a way to blow out Pepperdine by 20+ points, and it bought Payne at least another 5 days with the job.

Pepperdine never really had control of the game, and from midway through the first half Louisville controlled the game. The Cardinals were up 14 at halftime, and at one point in the second half, they were up 30 points on Pepperdine. The game finished with a 85-63 score in favor of the Cardinals.

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield continued his streak of dominance as he put up 20 points and 12 rebounds for the game. Curtis Williams also had his breakout game of the season where he put 16 points and shot 4/5 from three.

Louisville dominated the glass and was able to pass the ball around to get open shots. When the Cardinals are being active in the half-court and moving the ball around the offense looks good. The Cardinals had 17 assists on 32 made field goals yesterday, and if they can keep up the assist rate they may be able to be a decent basketball team offensively. Defensively they also seemed a lot more intense and played with a sense of ferocity that wasn't seen in last week's game.

Just to put it in perspective Louisville had 5 assists against Arkansas State last Wednesday.

Louisville looked like a good and competent basketball team today, but we will see if it is something that can be consistent when they take on the Kentucky Wildcats this Thursday.