Louisville Beats Connecticut in First Game as Basketball’s No. 1

The University of Louisville outscored the University of Connecticut by 21 points in the second half to win 73-58 in its first game as college basketball’s No. 1 team.

Russ Smith scored 23 points and Chane Behanan had 16 points and nine rebounds last night in Hartford, Connecticut, as Louisville improved to 16-1, including a 4-0 record in the Big East Conference. The victory came hours after the Cardinals climbed two spots to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll.

Connecticut (12-4) opened a 34-28 lead at halftime before being outscored 45-24 during the second half. Louisville took control with a 19-5 scoring run and limited the Huskies to three baskets in the first 13 minutes of the second half.

Louisville, which has won 11 straight games, next plays sixth-ranked Syracuse on Jan. 19.

Fourth-ranked Kansas last night pushed its winning streak to 14 games with a 61-44 victory over Baylor.

Ben McLemore scored 17 points to lead the Jayhawks, who built a 33-20 halftime lead in improving their record to 15-1 and 3-0 in the Big 12 Conference.

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net