Cardinals able to weather Griffin’s assault on boards
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Rick Pitino graciously acknowledged the latest milestone in his Hall of Fame career with the hope his Louisville Cardinals grow from the tougher-than-expected victory that required overcoming some deficiencies.
Quentin Snider scored 15 points, and V.J. King added 13 as No. 11 Louisville overcame a cold-shooting start to beat Texas Southern 102-71 on Saturday and give Pitino his 400th victory as the Cardinals’ coach.
Pitino, who last month earned his 750th career college victory, improved to 400-163 in his 16th season with Louisville. His Cardinals (9-1) first had to shake off early sluggishness and a 4-for-21 start from the field to pull away from the scrappy, athletic Tigers and win their fourth in a row.
They also had to overcome a rebounding clinic conducted by Texas Southern’s Derrick Griffin, who grabbed 26 of his team’s 49 boards to establish as NCAA Division I high for this season. His performance included 15 offensive rebounds that helped the Tigers make things tense for 25 minutes before Louisville slowly pulled away.
“Well, congratulations to Derrick Griffin because that was an amazing rebounding performance,” said Pitino, whose team edged TSU by two rebounds overall. “Happy with the victory, but when you can learn lessons in victory rather than defeat, like the Baylor game (a 6663 loss), it helps you a lot. … It was good tonight because those guys got taken to the woodshed on the glass, and they’ll learn a valuable lesson.”
The Cardinals made 30 of their final 57 shots (53 percent) to finish at 44 percent from the field overall while holding the Tigers to 35 percent. Snider’s first double-figure game scoring in four contests set the tone followed by five teammates.
Donovan Mitchell had 12 points, Jaylen Johnson and Deng Adel 11 each and Mangok Mathiang 10 for Louisville.
Freshman point guard Demontrae Jefferson debuted with 27 points for TSU, which lost its fourth in a row. Dulani Robinson added 16 points, and Griffin had 15 for the Tigers (4-5).
Griffin didn’t seem fazed by his rebounding performance.
“Playing defense was key,” said the 6-7 sophomore, last season’s Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year and this year’s preseason choice. “That’s what we focus on, and our offense comes from our defense.”