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No. 13 Louisville rolls past Evansville in opener

Evansville v Louisville

LOUISVILLE, KY - NOVEMBER 11: Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Louisville Cardinals handles the ball against Christian Benzon #2 of the Evansville Purple Aces in the first half of the game at KFC YUM! Center on November 11, 2016 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Jaylen Johnson had 17 points and 14 rebounds while Donovan Mitchell added 15 points and five rebounds to lead No. 13 Louisville to a 78-47 season-opening victory over Evansville on Friday night.

Mangok Mathiang added 11 points and eight rebounds as the Cardinals played 14 players with 10 scoring. The Cardinals stared slow but got rolling late in the first half, holding the Purple Aces without a field goal over the last 9:05 of the half to take a 43-27 halftime lead.

Senior Jaylon Brown led the Aces with 19 points but made only 5 of 13 shots from the field against the Cardinals mostly man-to-man defense. Evansville made just 16 of 57 field goals attempts.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino wanted the Cardinals to play fast and they did, especially late in the first half. The Cardinals trailed 26-20 with 9:05 but went on a 23-1 run.

Louisville outrebounded the smaller Purple Aces 52-29 and had 10 blocked shots. The Cardinals shot 47.6 percent from the field but made just three of 15 3-point attempts.

The Cardinals forced Evansville into 13 turnovers and 28.1 field goal shooting (16 of 57) in the first half.

The Purple Aces finished the first half missing their final 14 field goal attempts with six turnovers. Evansville was giving the Cardinals fits leading 26-20 with 9:05 after Brown hit two 3-pointers.

Johnson, who made just two of 10 3-point attempts last season, pulled up from the right side and swished his first attempt of 2016.

The win was the Cardinals 100th (100-14) at the Yum Center in just their sixth season there.

BIG PICTURE

Evansville: The Purple Aces had to replace several key players from a team that went 25-9 last season.

Louisville: Pitino hyped this opener as the first of several big non-conference tests for his team. The Cardinals host Long Beach State next Thursday and face LSU or Wichita State in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas before hosting Purdue in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 30.

CLOSE FRIENDS

Louisville and Evansville are separated by only about 120 miles and hadn’t played since 1957. The win by the Cardinals ties the series 13-13.

UP NEXT

Evansville: The Purple Aces host Alcorn State on Monday night.

Louisville: Hosts William & Mary on Monday night in the third meeting between the schools and first since 1952. The Cardinals lead 2-0 but face a team that went 20-11 last season.