College basketball

Big East: Pitino tickled as Cards play to potential

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville's Juan Palacios caught the ball in the lane, then flicked a behind-the-back pass to Brian Johnson, who hit a reverse layup and drew the foul.

Minutes later, guard Terrence Williams grabbed an outlet pass from Taquan Dean, dribbled around his body, crashed into Akron's Zach Sowers and made the basket.

Standing in front of the Cardinals bench, coach Rick Pitino couldn't help but smile. During a 111-85 rout of the Zips on Saturday, Pitino thinks he might have seen his real team for the first time.

"I thought all our guys were terrific," Pitino said. "We're pulling it together. We see the potential. This was by far our best game of the year."

Dean led five Louisville players in double figures, scoring 22 as the Cardinals posted their highest point total at home since 1999. Louisville (5-0) shot 60 percent - including 71 percent in the second half - to prevent Akron (3-2) from beating a ranked team for the first time.

Romeo Travis led the Zips with 21 points, but they had no answer for the balanced and unselfish Cardinals. Louisville had 31 assists on 40 field goals and only nine turnovers.

NO.4 VILLANOVA 90, LONGWOOD 77: Randy Foye scored 27 and Allan Ray added 20 for the Wildcats in Atlantic City, N.J. Villanova (6-0) used 3-point shooting and effective pressure defense to withstand an early challenge, with Foye and Ray scoring from outside and 6-foot-8 forward Will Sheridan (13 points) dominating inside.

NO.7 MEMPHIS 97, PROVIDENCE 89: Darius Washington scored 20 and Rodney Carney 17 to lead the visiting Tigers. Washington had 15 points in the second half, including several key baskets down the stretch, as Memphis won for the seventh time in eight games.

WISC. 77, MARQUETTE 63: Kammron Taylor scored 18 and Ray Nixon added 15 as the host Badgers dominated their in-state rival. The victory was the 100th of Bo Ryan's career at Wisconsin. The Badgers (7-1) have won six of its past eight against Marquette (6-3), including four in a row at home.

PITT 91, PENN ST. 54: Carl Krauser missed only two shots while scoring 20 as the host Panthers finished with the largest margin of victory in the 145-game series. Pitt (7-0) has won five in a row by an average margin of 27 points and six of seven from the Nittany Lions.

W. VA. 86, DUQUESNE 66: Kevin Pittsnogle scored 21 and Mike Gansey added 20 for the host Mountaineers, who hit nine first-half 3-pointers. West Virginia (6-3) led 48-33 at halftime.

BUFFALO 62, RUTGERS 53: Roderick Middleton had 19 points and Calvin Cage added 16 to lift the host Bulls. Down by one at halftime, the Scarlet Knights (6-2) opened the second half with a 10-2 run to make it 36-29. Buffalo erased the deficit with a 12-2 run that made it 41-38 with 9:53 to go.

SYRACUSE 58, COLGATE 35: Gerry McNamara scored 14, Demetris Nichols had 13 and the host Orange used a second-half surge to beat the Raiders. It was the 40th straight win for Syracuse (7-2) over Colgate.

DePAUL 61, DAYTON 54: Sammy Mejia scored 23 and Draelon Burns 10 to lead the visiting Blue Demons. DePaul (4-3) shot 44 percent and held Dayton to 35 percent.

[Last modified December 11, 2005, 02:15:36]