CRAWFORD | Not pretty, but Louisville shows grit to shut down Winthrop, 76-61

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Yeah, I know. The rebounding. And the three-point shooting wasn’t great. And the turnovers, Great Odin’s Raven, the turnovers.

Look, it was ragged. Louisville beat Winthrop 76-61 on Friday night in the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals were 20.5-point favorites, but there were times in the first half when you wondered if anyone would get to 20 points.

It was the kind of game you’d expect to see a team play after Thanksgiving Dinner, not before it. Louisville played hard. Every minute. It just wasn’t often pretty.

Most games, you can find something. But as Leonardo Da Vinci is quoted as saying in the new Ken Burns documentary about him, "They can't all be the Mona Lisa."

I heard he said that. I haven't yet gotten to watch.

The Cardinals did hound Winthrop defensively. They gave up nothing easy on the inside. But Winthrop also missed its share, and several other teams’ share, of open looks, especially from three-point range. And the Eagles did something you might not expect, pulling down 17 offensive rebounds against a bigger Louisville team.

Winthrop did the key thing a team must do to pull down a bunch of offensive rebounds – it missed a LOT of shots.

For the game, Winthrop went 22-for-70 from the field, 6 of 29 from three-point range and just 11 of 22 from the line. When it wasn’t missing shots, or free throws (11-22), it was having shots blocked. Louisville swatted nine of them, five by James Scott. Winthrop had three 0-for-6 streaks in the game. The teams combined to miss 23 of their first 30 shots.

The difference in this one was that Louisville eventually found its offense. Winthrop is still looking.

Reyne Smith scored 20 points, including five as part of a 14-3 run that put the Cardinals up 10 late in the first half, and gave them the upper hand the rest of the way. He also scored six straight points in the final 1:14 of the first half to put Louisville up eight at the half.

But nothing came easily. Except turnovers. Those flowed as freely as honey. Louisville actually shot 48 percent, but the margin was depressed because the Cardinals turned it over 20 times, or more than a quarter of its possessions. And though Winthrop was able to turn those into only 11 points, they robbed the Cardinals of scoring opportunities that would’ve made the margin bigger.

Louisville got 12 points each from Scott and J'Vonne Hadley, and 10 from Chucky Hepburn, who was more aggressive getting to the basket than he was a game ago, and also dished out three assists.

And this should also be remembered. Winthrop knew Louisville's system and is picked to finish second in its league. And if the Cards can win by 15 on a night that isn't their best, that's progress.

So is this -- Louisville improved to 3-1. Kelsey's predecessor didn't get his third win in his first season until Feb. 1. And they are now two games above .500 for the first time since Chris Mack's final game as coach.

Against an outmanned, scrappier team, Louisville was even more scrappy. Give them credit for that.

Even if things look rough, they are still looking up. For now. The competition picks up precipitously next week in the Battle 4 Atlantis, where Louisville will face Indiana in its opener on Wednesday at noon, then either Gonzaga or West Virginia the next day.