No. 10 Louisville Rolls Past DePaul

The 10th ranked Louisville Cardinals squad won their fourth straight with a 79-58 victory over the Blue Demons at Allstate Arena on Wednesday night.

Louisville (23-5, 11-4) had the benefit of having five players score in double-figures, while DePaul (11-17, 2-13) had to rely on a two man scoring punch from the duo of Cleveland Melvin and Brandon Young.

Young led all scorers with 22 points on seven of 19 from the floor. Melvin added 20 points of his own. Yet DePaul got very little offensive contributions from the rest of their cast.

The Blue Demons went a miserable one of nine from beyond the arc. Sophomore Jamee Crockett was 0 for five and Moses Morgan was two for seven from the floor.

“I was more disappointed in our shot selection,” said DePaul coach Oliver Purnell. “Those just weren’t on balance shots. Those were difficult to make.”

The Blue Demons were inpatient on offense and rushed many shots.

“You can’t take bad shots and expect to shoot at a high percentage,” Purnell said.

The Cardinals were led by 17 points from Russ Smith who reached the 1,000 point mark tonight. Peyton Siva scored 16 points, while Chane Benahan and Gorgui Dieng added 10 apiece.

Montrezl Harrell came off the bench to contribute 11 points for U of L.

The Blue Demons travel to the warmer climes of Tampa, Florida on Sunday to take on the South Florida Golden Bulls.

Box Score

Notes:

- Wednesday was the 59th meeting between the two programs... Louisville leads the series, 38-21... the Cardinals have won 10 straight games against the Blue Demons.

- Cleveland Melvin moved from 17th to 15th on DePaul's all-time scoring list... he passed Stanley Brundy (1985-89) for 16th and Tyrone Corbin (1981-85) for 15th.

- Melvin scored at least 20 points in back-to-back games for the first time since three straight games from Nov. 21-30...he has 10 games this season of at least 20 points and 27 in his career.

- Brandon Young passed Jim Lamkin (1951-55) and moved into 21st place on DePaul's all-time scoring list... he also moved from ninth to seventh on the all-time assists chart.

- Young scored at least 20 points for the eight time this season and 21st time in his career.

- With the loss, DePaul has now dropped 42 straight games against ranked opponents.