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INDIANAPOLIS - Steve Alford figured the key to beating Louisville was for his Hawkeyes to play hard and smart.
Alford was correct.
Pierre Pierce made the first of two free throws with 9.2 seconds left in overtime Saturday, and Greg Brunner scored a career-high 26 to lead Iowa to a 70-69 victory over No. 17 Louisville at the Wooden Tradition.
"We knew we probably wouldn't make more 3s than them, so I thought the two areas we could beat them in were on the boards and at the free-throw line," Alford said.
The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Cardinals 45-27, then won from the free-throw line despite struggling there for much of the game, shooting 13-for-24.
It was what Alford hoped for.
The Hawkeyes fought hard, took advantage of the Cardinals' mistakes and took care of the ball better than they had in their first two games, even against Louisville's tight pressure defense.
And with their leading scorer, Pierce, on the bench for almost nine minutes in the second half, they relied on other scorers.
Brunner shot 10-for-14 and gave Iowa a strong inside presence in place of the injured Glen Worley.
Pierce finished with eight points, five assists and six rebounds, and Brody Boyd hit four 3-pointers and finished with 22 points.
"We worked on being poised all week," Boyd said. "When you have poise and confidence, you're going to win games."
Louisville, one of the last three Division I schools to open play Saturday, looked shaky.
The Cardinals shot 40.4 percent from the field and made nearly as many 3-pointers (11) as 2-pointers (12). Their pressure defense was effective only in spurts, and there were too many errors.
The result was predictable: Louisville lost its first season opener in coach Rick Pitino's three seasons.
Pitino's opening-game record as a college coach dropped to 15-3, and he lost for the second straight season at the Wooden Tradition.
"I felt our scheduling was the reason we lost this game," Pitino said. "They executed better at the endings of plays and I thought not having a couple games under our belt really hurt us."
Taquan Dean's 3-pointer with 53.3 seconds left in regulation tied it at 63 for Louisville.
NO.3 MICH. ST. 77, PENN 52: Shannon Brown had 12 points off the bench, including three spectacular dunks on his 18th birthday, to help the host Spartans in the first game of the Spartan Classic.
Kelvin Torbert had 15 points at power forward, a new position, and Chris Hill added 13, all in the final 21 minutes for Michigan State. But the bench was just as important in pulling away from the Quakers.
Brown was the best player on the court with 6-of-10 shooting from the field and five rebounds, and Delco Rowley and Tim Bograkos supplied a lift for the slow-starting Spartans.
NO.5 MISSOURI 90, OAKLAND (MICH.) 85: Jimmy McKenney and Rickey Paulding scored 21 each to lead the visiting Tigers to a tough season-opening victory.
Missouri led the Golden Grizzlies, in their sixth year of Division I-A play, by one with less than three minutes to play.
The game was a homecoming for Paulding, a preseason All-American, and teammate Arthur Johnson, both products of the Detroit Public School League. Oakland is 30 miles north of downtown Detroit, and the pair had a large cheering section among the sellout crowd of 4,055.
NO.9 UNC 82, CLEVELAND ST. 76: Jawad Williams made a critical 3-pointer with 1:27 left and the visiting Tar Heels survived a scare.
Williams, who went to high school in Cleveland, drilled his 3-pointer from the right wing as North Carolina overcame a four-point deficit by scoring the final 10.
NO.11 TEXAS 94, CENTENARY 59: P.J. Tucker scored 15 and James Thomas added 13 for the host Longhorns. Texas led 42-33 at the half, and Thomas scored six straight to open the second half and start a 25-9 run.
NO.12 ILLINOIS 75, TEMPLE 60: Roger Powell had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Deron Williams added 18 points and Dee Brown had 16 to lead the visiting Illini. Illinois broke Temple's 2-3 zone by making almost all its baskets from the outside.
NO.13 SAINT JOSEPH'S 75, ODU 72: Jameer Nelson scored 24, including a halfcourt shot with less than 10 seconds remaining, to lead the visiting Hawks. Troy Nance's steal and Isaiah Hunter's layup with 20 seconds left capped a 15-4 run and pulled the Monarchs within 72-70.
NO.15 WISCONSIN 55, RUTGERS 43: Devin Harris scored 18 and the Badgers atoned for 3-of-20 3-point shooting with an 18-of-22 performance at the free-throw line to win their 15th straight home game.
NO.16 GONZAGA 82, GEORGIA 76 (OT): Ronny Turiaf scored all 11 points in overtime and made key defensive stops for host Gonzaga. Rashad Wright's basket for Georgia tied the score at 71 with four seconds left in regulation.
NO.18 WAKE FOREST 86, YALE 61: Jamal Levy led four players in double figures with 19 points as the visiting Demon Deacons rolled. Levy also had a game-high seven rebounds for Wake Forest, which had 11 team steals and forced 20 turnovers.
NO.19 UC 76, COPPIN ST. 56: Field Williams matched his career high with 24 points, hitting 8 of 10 3-pointers, and the host Bearcats relied on their trapping defense, forcing 29 turnovers that set up 30 points.
NO.21 NOTRE DAME 78, MOUNT ST. MARY'S 64: Chris Thomas scored 22 and Chris Quinn 15 as the host Irish improved to 15-1 in November in four seasons under coach Mike Brey.
NO.24 OKLA. ST. 84, PEPPERDINE 82: Tony Allen hit the go-ahead free throw with 2.5 seconds left and Joey Graham rebounded Allen's miss on the second attempt and made a free throw as the host Cowboys won their 30th straight nonconference home game.