LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — They said it would be a rock fight. Louisville turned it into a shooting gallery.

How’s this for a resumption of the rivalry? No. 11 Louisville beat Memphis 99-73, the second-largest margin in the 91-game history of the series.

It was so bad that ESPN moved the game to ESPN News for the final four minutes. A couple more threes from Louisville, and it would’ve been on QVC.

And the threes came. From everywhere, and almost everyone.

Eighteen threes. Ten scorers. Six different players hit from beyond the arc. And one guy known for hitting them — Isaac McKneely — didn’t make one. Didn’t need to. The Cardinals didn’t beat Memphis with a hot hand. They beat them with every hand.

They came at Memphis like a group text. Everyone replied.

And if you’re trying to pick a player of the game, forget it. It’s hard to pick a star when the spotlight keeps moving.

“That power of the unit, that uncommon commitment to the guy that sits next you in the locker room, it defies human nature,” Louisville coach Pat Kelsey told Bob Valvano after the game. “It's what makes our program and our team really good.”

Let’s pause here. Because that’s not just some chalk talk phrase. That’s math.

Louisville assisted on 24 of its 30 field goals. That’s 80 percent. Look up “trust” in the dictionary and it says something like that.

And it wasn’t just one guy setting everybody up. Seven players had multiple assists. More dimes than a busted vending machine.

Memphis made a fateful decision before the game that it would pressure Louisville all over the court. Louisville responded to the press with a devastating equation: Break, drive, spray, splash.

"They continued to press us, and what we said we were going to do off their press is just attack,” Kelsey said. “… I thought maybe they’d back off, and they didn't. So, we just kept attacking. We got a bunch of open looks.”

The threes came in waves. They came from all over, blizzard style. It was a drive-thru. Quick service. Tip your scorers. And it was Louisville’s bench throwing the haymakers. Adrian Wooley 4-for-4. Kasean Pryor 3-for-3. 

Memphis had to wonder what hit it. It used to be they just threw knives or batteries on the court in this series. Here was Louisville shooting darts. They took 28 shots in the first half; 22 of them were three-pointers.

Memphis hadn't been struggling. It came in on a three-game winning streak, off an upset of No. 18 Baylor.

"Obviously, it’s a terrible, terrible outcome for us with a week to prepare,” Memphis coach Penny Hardaway said. “Kudos to Louisville, they played a really good game, well-oiled machine. On both ends of the floor, they were the aggressor. I'll just have to take this as a coach and say my team wasn't as prepared as their team was and we had a bad loss."

Louisville was up double digits after 10 minutes and led by 20 at the half. The game wasn’t played at a breakneck pace, Louisville was just efficient enough to make Ken Pomeroy’s computer start to smoke (1.67 points per possession in the first half and 1.47 for the game, for you stat folks).

The scouting report coming in for Louisville was to watch out for the Memphis offensive rebounders.

Pryor told Paul Rogers on radio after the game: “The first three emphases were rock fight, rock fight and rock fight.”

Louisville didn’t flinch. The scoring balance: Ryan Conwell 17 points, Mikel Brown 16, Wooley 15, Pryor and Sananda Fru 11, Khani Rooths 10, J’Vonne Hadley nine. Louisville shot 56 percent from the floor and 51 percent from three.

It was fun to watch. And, not surprisingly according to Louisville players, fun to play.

“I think it's extremely fun,” Rooths said. “You know, we all want to see each other win. So, when we got our time to shine, we’re gonna take it, and then when it's our partner’s time to shine, we're gonna root them on and just keep on going. And it's contagious, as y'all can see.”

Y’all got that, right?

Kelsey, after the game, took a trip into the student section to thank fans. He’d challenged fans to show up despite the cold on Friday. They answered the call.

In the two years prior to Kelsey’s arrival, Louisville had gone 11-24 in the KFC Yum! Center. After Saturday’s win, it has won 18 straight at home.

“I challenged our fans and they responded, man,” Kelsey said. “They responded. I thought the atmosphere was awesome. Awesome. There were moments in the game where it got really loud at the right time. It was awesome. There was juice in the building, man. Special, special day.”

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