RAPID REACTION | Slow start, tough finish, Louisville powers its way past Cincinnati 74-65

CINCINNATI (WDRB)-- Yep. That’s what Louisville-Cincinnati looks like.

Hand-to-hand combat. Blood on jerseys. Guys with knots on their foreheads. Layups the hardest shot on the court.

It took the No. 6-ranked Louisville basketball team a minute to acclimate. Actually, it took them 7 1/2 minutes to acclimate. That’s how long it took the Cardinals to score their first basket in this 101st renewal of the school’s most-played rivalry.

But there was one guy in a Louisville uniform who knew better than anyone else what was up, because he’s played against the Bearcats three times (with three different schools).

Ryan Conwell took the game over for Louisville in the second half, scoring 25 points — 17 of them after the break — to will the Cardinals to a 74-64 win in the Heritage Bank Center in downtown Cincinnati.

The game boosted Louisville to 5-0, and continued a UC losing streak against Top 10 opponents that stretches back to 2012.

Cincinnati led 17-6 early before Louisville got into the fray, but it was never pretty.

All of that quick cutting Louisville likes to do? Impeded. Held. Road-blocked. The multiple screens? Blown up.

This was less about strategy than brute strength. And even then, Louisville was bothered.

It made just 2 of 7 layups in the first half, and struggled to finish anywhere around the rim, outscored 14-6 in the paint before the break.

J’Vonne Hadley left the game late in the first half after bumping heads with a Cincinnati defender, but was back to open the second half.

Louisville got a major boost from a couple of sizable sources. Sananda Fru was a major presence on both ends. And Khani Rooths came into the game and caused major disruption at the top of Louisville’s pressure defense. He played only six first-half minutes but Louisville was plus-nine in those.

An early 7-2 run in the second half put Louisville up four. An 11-3 run, just past the midway point of the half, put the Cards up 11. Fru had four points in the run and a Conwell three-pointer capped it.

Cincinnati fought back, pulling within six on back-to-back scores with 4:35 left.

Then Mikel Brown entered the chat. He banged a three from the right wing, then got a deflection and finished with a slam to restore the 11-point lead with 3:25 left.

Brown had gone just 2-for-11 before those scores, but the ball was stuck to him in the closing minutes as he drove, dished and got to the line. He finished with 22 points — 12 in the second half — and a pair of key steals late.

Louisville shot 48 percent in the second half and held Cincinnati to 36 percent. And after being outscored in the paint in the first half, outscored the Bearcats inside 18-14 in the second.