Paradise Island, Bahamas (Sports Network) - A pair of undefeated teams make
the trip to Paradise Island in the
Bahamas, as the Northern Iowa Panthers and the second-ranked Louisville
Cardinals take part in the Battle 4 Atlantis at Imperial Arena on Thursday
night.
Both teams are away from home for the first time in 2012-13 and the potential
for much tougher competition is also in the cards with some of the top
programs in the nation having been invited to this event.
For the Cardinals and head coach Rick Pitino, the schedule to this point has
been mainly an exercise in pumping up the team's stats. Not only have all
three of those contests been played at the KFC Yum! Center, they've all been
decided by no less than 26 points. There were lopsided victories over
Manhattan and Samford to start, and then last Sunday Louisville dismantled
Miami-Ohio in an 80-39 final.
As for the Panthers, members of the Missouri Valley Conference, they managed
to pad their stats a bit in the opener against Wartburg (103-50) before having
a close call versus Toledo (84-81) in which they needed overtime to come up
with the three-point win. Over the weekend, UNI entertained North Dakota and
again had an easy time of it in a 72-47 final in order to stay perfect after
three games
Both of these teams, meeting for the first time, will be back in action on
Friday, with matchups against Missouri and Stanford to be determined based on
the outcomes today.
From the opening tip, Louisville had complete control against Miami, limiting
the visitors to a mere five field goals in the first half and 29.8 percent
shooting from the floor overall. Offensively, the Cardinals took their cue
from Russ Smith who scored a game-high 23 points on 5-of-7 shooting behind the
three-point line, his efforts out on the perimeter easily topping that of the
RedHawks who made good on just 4-of-20 on the outside. Wayne Blackshear, who
converted 4-of-7 on his three-point attempts, accounted for 14 points and
Gorgui Dieng chipped in another 11 points. Peyton Siva tallied just six
points, but made up for it with 10 assists and four steals. Considered one of
the top players in the Big East Conference again this season, Siva is shooting
only 31.3 percent from the field as he generates just 7.7 ppg, but clearly his
top responsibility is to get his teammates set up for easy baskets, which he
has done to the tune of 9.0 apg. Smith (21.3 ppg) and Blackshear (10.7 ppg)
have been the recipients of several of those helpers already.
For their third and final home game to kick off the 2012-13 season, the
Panthers had the luxury of hosting North Dakota and feasted on the visitors
with a 25-point win last weekend at the McLeod Center. Northern Iowa held UND
to just 32.7 percent shooting from the field and 5-of-22 behind the three-
point line, but then again the Panthers had their own issues out on the
perimeter (9-of-24) as well. Jake Koch heading a list of three double-digit
scorers with his 16 points, adding eight rebounds, four assists and a couple
of blocked shots for good measure, followed by Chip Rank off the bench with
13 points and Matt Bohannon with 11. Although he was limited to just eight
points against UND, Deon Mitchell is still the top scorer for the Panthers
with his 17.7 ppg as he shoots 66.7 percent from the floor. Seth Tuttle (12.0
ppg) and Koch (11.7 ppg) also supply plenty of offensive punch, the latter
leading the team with 9.7 rpg as well.
The Sports Network