No. 7 Louisville Forces 30 Turnovers, Opens Second Half on 28-2 Run to Rout Stetson 87-35

LOUISVILLE, Ky. For one half on Wednesday night, Nov. 4, No. 7 Louisville looked like a team still shaking off the rust of an opener. Then the second half started, and the Cardinals turned a comfortable lead into a rout almost before the Hatters could get a shot off.

Louisville opened the third quarter on a 28-2 run, forced 30 turnovers and beat Stetson 87-35 at the KFC Yum! Center. Imari Berry led four Cardinals in double figures with 16 points, Tajianna Roberts added 14, and Ariyana Cradle and Zamareya Jones scored 11 apiece. Amiya Joyner pulled down 14 rebounds, and Louisville finished with 21 steals.

Louisville moved to 2-0 and Stetson fell to 1-1. Here is the box score (opens in a new tab) and Louisville's recap (opens in a new tab).

Defense first, offense later

The first half was not pretty for the home team on the offensive end. Louisville missed its first six shots, according to the Associated Press, and finished the half 11 of 31 from the floor with 12 turnovers. On most nights that kind of shooting keeps an opponent in the game.

It did not on this one, because Stetson could not hold on to the ball. The Cardinals never trailed, and their pressure kept turning Hatters possessions into Louisville chances. Louisville led 17-8 after the first quarter, then won the second 23-12. Roberts closed the half with a 3 with 19 seconds left to make it 40-20 at the break.

Roberts led the early scoring with 10 first-half points. Joyner did the dirty work, posting nine points and 12 rebounds before halftime, according to Louisville, a near double-double in the first 20 minutes alone.

A 28-2 run settles it

Whatever the halftime message was, it worked. Louisville came out of the locker room and made 12 of 13 shots over a span of 5 minutes, 42 seconds, according to the AP, while Stetson went more than five minutes without scoring. By the time Roberts hit a jumper with about 90 seconds left in the third quarter, the 28-2 run had pushed the lead to 68-22.

Berry and Jones drove the surge. Each scored seven points in the third quarter, and each hit a 3 in the period, according to Louisville. The Cardinals also grabbed 15 rebounds in the quarter, which won 28-6, the largest margin of any period on the night.

The difference between the halves was stark. After going 11 of 31 with 12 turnovers in the first half, Louisville shot 20 of 35 after the break, 57.1 percent, and turned it over only five times. That is the version of this team that coach Jeff Walz will want to see more often once the schedule gets harder.

With the game decided, Walz emptied the bench, and Louisville won the fourth quarter 19-9.

Berry, Roberts and a balanced attack

Berry was the most efficient scorer on the floor. Berry made 6 of 11 shots, 2 of 5 from 3 and both free throws for 16 points in only 20 minutes, with three steals. Roberts finished with 14 points on 4 of 8 shooting, made 5 of 6 at the line, and contributed four assists and four steals in 27 minutes.

Jones gave Louisville 11 points on 4 of 8 shooting, with two 3s, four rebounds and four assists in 20 minutes. Cradle, a freshman, was the bench spark. Cradle scored 11 points on 4 of 6 shooting, made 3 of 4 at the line and grabbed five steals, the most on the team.

The bench carried a heavy share of the load. Louisville got 37 points from its reserves, according to the school. Grace Mbugua scored nine on 3 of 5 shooting, Rebekah Graves added eight on 3 of 4, Deniya Prawl had five points and five rebounds, and Ayse Melek Demirer scored four points with seven rebounds.

The one cold line belonged to Carys Baker, who went 0 for 9 from the floor and 0 for 5 from 3 in 24 minutes. Baker still found ways to help, with nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks, but the shots simply did not fall.

Joyner owns the glass

Joyner's night was the clearest sign of what Louisville added in the offseason. The 6-foot-2 post, a transfer from LSU, finished with nine points on 3 of 7 shooting and 14 rebounds in only 16 minutes, along with two steals.

According to the AP, the 14 rebounds were Joyner's most in a game since grabbing 20 for East Carolina against North Texas on Feb. 22, 2025. Doing that in 16 minutes, and with 12 of the rebounds coming in the first half, points to a player who can change a game on the glass without needing the ball.

Louisville outrebounded Stetson 51-32, and Joyner and Baker accounted for 23 of those rebounds between them. The Cardinals also scored 38 points in the paint, according to Louisville.

The rebounding mattered more than usual because Louisville was short-handed. According to the AP, the Cardinals played without starters Elif Istanbulluoglu and Mackenly Randolph, who were both banged up in Monday's 119-47 opener against Bellarmine. Joyner and the reserves filled that space.

Thirty turnovers for Stetson

The box score tells Stetson's story in one column. The Hatters turned the ball over 30 times, and Louisville scored 40 points off those turnovers, according to the AP. Stetson managed only three assists all night.

Louisville's 21 steals came from all over the roster. Cradle had five, Roberts four, Baker and Berry three each and Joyner two. Stetson had five steals of its own and forced 17 Louisville turnovers, 12 of them in the first half, but the Hatters never had the offense to make those stops count.

When Stetson did get a shot up, it rarely went in. The Hatters shot 13 of 55 from the floor, 23.6 percent, and 2 of 18 from 3. The free throw line was the one bright spot, where they made 7 of 8.

Driessen led Stetson with 10 points off the bench, making 2 of 10 shots and all six free throws. Nieves had six points and seven rebounds but also committed seven turnovers. Eppley scored six on a pair of 3s, Garcia-Escribano Pozo had four points and six rebounds with five turnovers, and Locatelli scored three on 1 of 10 shooting.

Some of the struggle was expected. Stetson lost its top five scorers from last season's team, which won 20 games and played in the WNIT, according to the AP. A trip to a top-10 opponent's home floor this early was always going to be a hard place for a rebuilt rotation to find its footing.

What it means for Louisville

Two games in, the pattern is clear. Louisville beat Bellarmine 119-47 on Monday and Stetson 87-35 on Wednesday, and in both games the defense created more offense than the half-court sets did. The Cardinals had 21 steals and forced 30 turnovers against Stetson, and they did it without two starters.

The shooting is the thing to watch. Louisville went 8 of 27 from 3, 29.6 percent, and 17 of 26 at the line, 65.4 percent. Those numbers will not hold up against the better teams on the schedule, and a 47.0 percent shooting night overall was propped up by that second-half burst.

The good news for Walz is the depth. Nine of the 11 Cardinals who played scored, and the bench outscored Stetson by itself. If Istanbulluoglu and Randolph return soon, the rotation gets even longer.

Louisville goes on the road on Sunday, Nov. 8, visiting Southern Indiana in Evansville at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+. Stetson also plays Sunday, at Miami.

Sources: ESPN box score, Louisville Athletics recap, Associated Press.

Photo: Louisville Athletics.