National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Louisville 71, Connecticut 58
When: 9:00 PM ET, Friday, February 18, 2011
Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky
Officials: # John Cahill, # Tony Greene, # Karl Hess
Attendance: 22776

Peyton Siva collected 15 points, six steals and four assists as No. 16 Louisville dominated No. 12 Connecticut, 71-58, on Friday.

Gorgui Dieng added 13 points and 12 rebounds while Chris Smith scored 11 points off the bench for the Cardinals (20-7, 9-5 Big East), who moved into a tie for third place in the conference, one-half game ahead of Villanova and St. John’s.

The top four regular-season finishers get a double bye in the Big East Tournament.

Louisville broke out in the first half, dominating on the defensive end by forcing 10 turnovers to take a 31-23 lead into the locker room. Jamal Coombs-McDaniel scored 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first 20 minutes for the Huskies but the rest of the team shot just 3 of 18.

Connecticut scored the first nine points of the second half to take the lead but the Cardinals knocked down three straight 3-pointers to spark a 13-2 run and pull away.

Coombs-McDaniel and Kemba Walker finished with 16 points apiece for the Huskies (20-6, 8-6), who went nearly eight minutes without a field goal in the second half.

Top Game Performances
 
Connecticut   Louisville
Jamal Coombs-McDaniel 16 Scoring Peyton Siva 15
Jeremy Lamb 3 Assists Preston Knowles 7
Alex Oriakhi 8 Rebounds Gorgui Dieng 12
Kemba Walker 9 Free Throws Made Rakeem Buckles 3
Shabazz Napier 2 Steals Peyton Siva 6
Jamal Coombs-McDaniel 2 Blocks Rakeem Buckles 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Connecticut 58 37.0 5-13 19-27 8 35 4 5
Louisville 71 41.5 5-16 12-20 16 40 3 12