The University of Louisville men’s basketball team wrapped up its foreign tour to the Bahamas in style, securing a 111-71 exhibition victory over the University of Calgary in their second game of the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League on Thursday afternoon.
“I sound like I’m trying to be smart when I say this, but I’m going to quote Winston Churchill right now,” head coach Pat Kelsey said in his postgame interview. “He said something about ‘this is kind of the end of the beginning.’ It’s not the end obviously, it’s the end of the beginning. By that I mean, the last eight weeks have been a lot for our guys. They showed up on June 5 and didn’t know anybody from anybody. They worked their tails off every day in the weight room, on the court, off the court, to grow closer together and to start the year in a positive way and I couldn’t be prouder of this group for that.”
Louisville started strong, jumping to a 12-3 lead with senior guard Chucky Hepburn and fifth-year senior forward Kasean Pryor scoring the Cardinals’ first 12 points. Pryor was particularly hot, contributing 10 of Louisville’s first 15 points on his own.
The Cardinals then went on an 11-0 run between 5:17 and 3:01, pushing their lead to 26 points. By halftime, Louisville was up 59-38, shooting 54.3% from the field and 46.7% from three-point range. The team had logged assists on 13 of their 19 field goals in the first half.
The second half saw Louisville extend its lead even further with a 20-3 run between 13:57 and 9:38, bringing the score to 93-51. Defense was a point of pride for the Cardinals as they held the Dinos without a made field goal for a seven-minute stretch, allowing only four field goals in the final nine minutes of the game.
Pryor led Louisville’s efficient scoring effort with 20 points, going 6 of 8 from the floor, while also pulling down five rebounds and adding an assist and a steal. He was joined in double figures by Terrence Edwards Jr. (14 points), J’Vonne Hadley (13), Koren Johnson (15), and Noah Waterman (10).
The Cardinals shot 52.1% from the field, making 37 of 71 attempts, and assisted on 22 of those buckets. Louisville dominated the boards, outrebounding Calgary 53-25, including 17 offensive rebounds.
The Cardinals leave the Bahamas with a 2-0 record in the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League. Louisville will return to exhibition action in October at the KFC Yum! Center.