Spokesman-Review
National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Louisville 69, Illinois St. 66
When: 1:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 1, 2012
Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky
Officials: # Jeff Anderson, # John Gaffney, # Earl Walton
Attendance: 19816


No. 6 Louisville 69, Illinois State 66: Peyton Siva drilled the go-ahead 3-pointer with just over four minutes to play and added a pair of free throws in the waning moments as the host Cardinals used a second-half surge to rally past the upset-minded Redbirds.

Russ Smith had a team-high 24 points and Chane Behanan scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half for sixth-ranked Louisville (6-1), which struggled in its second straight game without Gorgui Dieng. The center is expected to miss four to six weeks with a broken left wrist.

Redbirds guard Tyler Brown followed up his career-high 36-point effort versus Northwestern last weekend with a game-high 25 on Saturday.

Jackie Carmichael exploited the weakened interior of the Cardinals by scoring 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting for Illinois State (5-2), which was bidding to knock off a Top-5 team for the first time since upsetting No. 4 Indiana State in 1978.

Siva (20 points) gave Louisville a 63-61 lead after draining a 3-pointer with 4:19 remaining. His layup extended the cushion to four and his pair of free throws proved just enough as Brown couldn't connect on a game-tying 3-point attempts.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Carmichael scored seven quick points as the Redbirds jumped out to a 14-2 advantage. ... Illinois State, which went just 2-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half, made 12 of 13 shots from inside the arc as it built a 33-25 lead at intermission. ... The teams had met only once before with Louisville claiming a 117-107 victory on March 4, 1974.

Top Game Performances
 
Illinois St.   Louisville
Tyler Brown 25 Scoring Russ Smith 24
Johnny Hill 6 Assists Luke Hancock 4
Jackie Carmichael 9 Rebounds Chane Behanan 9
Tyler Brown 6 Free Throws Made Russ Smith 11
Nick Zeisloft 3 Steals Russ Smith 3
Jon Ekey 1 Blocks Stephan Van Treese 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Illinois St. 66 52.1 5-19 11-14 13 29 1 5 22
Louisville 69 45.5 5-21 14-25 13 31 3 10 15