Rick Pitino said Tuesday afternoon that Hartford would provide a tougher task for Louisville than the one posed by Samford in Friday night's season-opener. Technically, the final score of the two games backed up his statement.
Four days after dropping 86 points in a 41-point season-opening victory, the Cards pasted visiting Hartford, 87-52 in front of 20,000 plus fans at the KFC Yum Center Tuesday might.
The Hawks had zero answer inside for Cardinal big man Chinanu Onuaku, who poured in 18 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the field. The sophomore center also chipped in 9 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Damion Lee added 18 points of his own, while Trey Lewis pitched in 11.
Quentin Snider again gave an admirable performance off the bench, scoring 9 points (including a sensational spinning lay-up in the second half) to go along with a team-high 6 assists. Dillon Avare also entered the game late to bury the first two 3-pointers of his college career. He was named the new Mayor of Hartford following the final buzzer.
