Louisville's defense keys rout of Miami (OH)

• Louisville put away Miami (OH) quickly in a 80-39 win Sunday.
• The Cardinals made 9 of 16 3-pointers in the first half.
• Russ Smith had 23 points for the Cardinals.

The University of Louisville won't always shoot as well as it did in the first half against Miami of Ohio on Sunday. On the occasions when the Cardinals do, it will likely result in a beatdown similar to Sunday's 80-39 win over the RedHawks.

No. 2 U of L (3-0) made nine 3-pointers in the first half as it jumped out to a 22-point lead. The Cards, who entered the game shooting just 24 percent from behind the arc, made 12 of 26 of their 3-point attempts.

"I've heard all the things about them not making shots, and I think it's interesting that everybody's saying that," Miami coach John Cooper said. "One of the things that they have created is that they've been able to win games without making shots. So now when you start making shots, it makes you almost a dual-headed monster."

Cooper tried to play zone early with the hopes that it would keep them in the game at the start. It actually made things worse for the RedHawks (1-2) because with every made shot the Cards were able to get into their full-court pressure.

U of L junior guard Russ Smith said it was bound to happen eventually.

"We're not just going to not make shots," Smith said. "Everybody's a scorer on the team. Everybody works hard. Everybody shoots the ball. And if you shoot with confidence, the next one is hopefully going to go in. You're not going to keep missing them; eventually something is going to drop, especially if they're good shots."

Smith set the tone for the Cards from the perimeter, making four of his first five 3-pointers and setting a personal best with a total of five. The junior guard had 14 of his 23 points in the first half.

But Smith, who leads the team by shooting 48 percent from 3-point range, has been playing that way this season. The Cards had a few other players contribute from the perimeter, too.

Peyton Siva, who entered 1 of 7 for the season from 3-point range, made 2 of 3 attempts. Wayne Blackshear, who entered 2 of 13, made 4 of 7 attempts and finished with a career-high 14 points.

During one span in the first half, four U of L players combined to make seven 3-pointers, turning a 7-4 deficit into a 29-12 lead. Gorgui Dieng's basket was the only field goal that wasn't a three during that stretch.

"Any given night, anybody can just turn on," Blackshear said. "Tonight, it was Russ and myself. Peyton helped us out a little more. Any given night, anybody can shoot it."

As good as the Cards looked on offense — shooting a season-high 48 percent and recording a season-best 22 assists — coach Rick Pitino had another message from their shooting spree.

Don't get used to it.

"That's not us," Pitino said. "I'm happy we shot it well, I'm happy we moved the ball well, but this team is built on defense. It was last year; it will be this year."

The Cards had, statistically speaking, their best defensive performance of the season by limiting the RedHawks to 29 percent shooting. Pitino played some zone for the first time this season and called off the full-court pressure in the second half.

The combination of shooting, a 43-26 rebounding advantage and defense led him to proclaim it the best game the Cards have played this season.

"That's the best we've looked in Red-White scrimmages, in exhibition games," Pitino said. "Obviously you look good when the ball goes in. But we played tremendous defense. Everybody really played very well at the defensive end. We rebounded well. We need to have a great game going into, I think, the strongest field I've ever seen as a coach."

The Cards head to the Bahamas to play in the Battle 4 Atlantis starting Thursday against Northern Iowa. If rankings pan out, U of L could potentially face No. 14 Missouri on Friday and No. 9 Duke in Saturday's championship.

Ultimately, Pitino said the games won't mean anything come tournament time.

"It's where you stand in February and March obviously, but, with our schedule we got to be ready. We could lose all three, win all three, because every team's a great team," Pitino said. "I'm real happy the way we played defense, real happy the way we've been rebounding, real happy with our full-court press — everything about the game very pleased with. It's the best we've looked."

C.L. Brown writes for The Courier-Journal.