NASSAU, Bahamas — Chucky Hepburn had 16 points, 10 assists and seven steals, Noah Waterman also had 16 points and Louisville beat No. 14 Indiana 89-61 on Wednesday in the opening game of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Louisville (4-1) beat a ranked team for the first time since topping Virginia Tech 73-71 on Jan. 6, 2021. It's the highest ranked opponent the Cards have beat since beating No. 3 Duke 79-73 on Jan. 18, 2020.
Kasean Pryor scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half and Reyne Smith added 12 points for Louisville.
Malik Reneau scored 21 points and Oumar Ballo added 11 for Indiana (4-1). Reneau reached 20-plus points for the eighth time in his career.
"I want to give Indiana a lot of credit," said Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey. "They're extremely talented, very well coached, very difficult to prepare for. That's one of the elite teams in the country, I believe. I'm so proud of our guys, their defensive effort. I just thought they played with such tenacity and grit, so much activity. We were fortunate to come out with a win."
The Cardinals led 37-29 at the break after making 7 of 17 from 3-point range and shooting 57% overall. Indiana missed six straight shots on two occasions in the first half, sandwiched around a string of seven missed field goals, as the Cardinals shot 9 of 29 (31%).
Louisville exploded for 52 second-half points by shooting 66.7% from the field. Pryor missed only one of his six shots in the second half.
Key moment
Louisville quickly built a commanding lead in the second half after starting on an 11-2 run, highlighted by Pryor’s fast-break dunk. The lead reached 30 on freshman Khani Rooths’ alley-oop dunk that came during the Cardinals’ 16-0 run for a 78-40 lead.
Key stats
Louisville entered the week ranked sixth in the country in 3-point attempts per game at 34. The Cardinals attempted 27 against Indiana and made 10 of them — with four apiece from Waterman and Smith. Louisville also came into the game averaging 19 forced turnovers per game. The Cardinals scored 30 points off 23 Indiana turnovers.
Up next
Louisville, which played its first road game of the season, plays on Thursday against the winner of Game 2, West Virginia. The Mountaineers shocked No. 3 Gonzaga beating them 86-78/ Indiana moves to the consolation bracket to face the Zags.
Kelsey added, "Obviously, the caliber of teams in this tournament, you can enjoy the win for about one minutes and 47 seconds," added Kelsey. "We'll turn the page to get ready for our next opponent because we go again tomorrow at noon. We've got to recover our minds and bodies, recover quickly, and we're fortunate to get to compete again tomorrow at noon."