The Louisville Cardinals took on the Northern Iowa Panthers in a Round of 32 slugfest that had a surprising result. The Cardinals ran away with this game in the beginning and didn’t look back. Louisville advances to play NC State in the Sweet 16, but for now here is the recap on tonight’s game.

1st Half: Both teams were hitting perimeter shots like there was no holding back. It was surprising to see the Cardinals hitting opening shots when given the opportunity. Terry Rozier was tearing up the Panthers defense as he was hitting shots left and right. UNI only kept the game respectable by hitting most of their long range bombs. Seth Tuttle was unable to get it going early as there wasn’t much spark on the offense. Louisville was up by nine points at halftime as Rozier was on fire.

2nd half: Northern Iowa looked to attack early to make a tear in the lead. Every shot that seemed to ignite the Panthers, Louisville had an answer to every big shot by counting it with their own. Louisville even went on a stretch where they couldn’t score at the slightest. UNI failed to get much closer in the game but made an attempt. The biggest play for Louisville was when they were only up by single digits and UNI got a steal that looked like an easy layup until Wayne Blackshear came in to swat the ball away. Montrezl Harrell also had a slam that was a dagger to the heart of the Panthers as their comeback hopes looked gone. The Cardinals closed out the game by making their free throws.

Louisville 66 Northern Iowa 53

Game Notes: Terry Rozier had 25 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. Montrezl Harrell had 14 points and six rebounds. Wayne Blackshear had 10 points and six rebounds. Quentin Snider had 10 points and four rebounds. Seth Tuttle had 14 points and seven rebounds. Nate Buss had 11 points. Paul Jesperson had 10 points and six rebounds. Louisville went 17-21 from the free throw line and shot 5-11 from beyond the arc. Northern Iowa shot 39 percent and Louisville shot 45 percent from the field. Louisville had 7 turnovers compared to 10 by Northern Iowa.

Sweet 16: Louisville - NC State 7:37 PM Friday