LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) - For a majority of his first season as the head coach for Louisville men's basketball, Pat Kelsey has been adamant that his team's three-pointers would start falling.

On Saturday, they did not just fall, but rained down upon Florida State. Reyne Smith, the most veteran player Kelsey brought to the Cardinals from Charleston, was the star of a season-best effort from deep for UofL in a 90-76 win. 

Smith finished with 27 points, his best effort of this year, while shooting 6/9 from deep and not missing a shot from the field in the second half. His team splashed 15 triples, with 10 of them coming in the second half, and made 52% of its three-point attempts for the game.

"It's fun when you kind of find a rhythm and in the moment, you don't really know what's happening out there," Smith said. "Every time you get the ball, everything feels really good. You don't really think. So, it's always fun, kind of getting in the zone like that. I hope to do it a little more regularly. But yeah, I mean, it's a lot of fun kind of being out there and feeling like you're just throwing a rock into the ocean."

Against a Seminole squad known as one of the best teams in the nation at forcing turnovers, the Cards protected the ball and created open looks from beyond the arc. They finished with 18 assists and just seven turnovers, as Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards attacked the paint and found open shooters with defenders closing down. The two guards finished with eight assists each.

"We played with great poise when we attacked," Kelsey said, sitting in between Smith and Noah Waterman, who also made 4 threes. "They do a great job of flocking to penetration, blocking shots and stealing the ball.

"But I felt like our guys did a great job of finding these guys, especially when they got a hot hand. And when we attacked the paint, we didn't turn it over. We didn't let them take the ball from us. They had poise and were able to kick out and find open shots."

This effort makes back-to-back games where the Cardinals shot at least 35% or better from three, the first time they have accomplished that this season. They had also not seen two games in a row with double-digit made triples since doing it in their first three games of the season from Nov. 4 to 19.

Waterman echoed what Kelsey has preached all year, which is continuing to trust a process instead of getting down about the results. He tied his season high for made threes.

"Same old thing, just getting my reps up and not really worrying about the misses," Waterman said. "When you're a shooter, you can't really worry about that."

Four different Cardinals scored at least 15 points: Edwards dropped 19, Hepburn had 16 and Waterman added 15 to back Smith's star showing. They spread the wealth and backed up an emphasis on being better with turnovers, especially in preventing transition opportunities.

Florida State had just 7 fast-break points and scored only 10 points off of those 7 Cardinal turnovers a game after Kentucky repeatedly punished the Cards while running out.

"I think taking care of the ball helps because turnovers for touchdowns against these guys are bad news, and not turning it over didn't allow them to get out in transition like that," Kelsey said. "It was a major focus the last couple days in practice.

"We stunk in that regard against Kentucky, who is one of the best transition teams in the country, and Florida State pushes and attacks in transition as well. So, I thought we made great strides there."

Louisville will next host Eastern Kentucky at the KFC Yum! Center on Dec. 28 at noon.

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