Louisville, Kentucky: No. 11 Louisville Beats Chattanooga 84-70 as Bidunga Scores 16 in Debut

No. 11 Louisville opened its season on Monday night with an 84-70 win over Chattanooga at the KFC Yum Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The Cardinals led for almost the whole game, built a 56-35 halftime lead and held off a better second half from the Mocs to start the season 1-0.

A fast start in Louisville

Flory Bidunga scored 16 points in his Louisville debut. Bidunga, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year last season at Kansas, made 6 of 9 shots, added nine rebounds and had three steals. Louisville jumped ahead 8-2 in the first two minutes behind two three-pointers from Jackson Shelstad. Bidunga dunked to make it 15-5 with 3:21 played, and the lead stayed in double figures for the rest of the game.

A 10-0 run pushed the score to 37-14 with 9:43 left in the first half. Louisville reached halftime ahead 56-35 after shooting well inside and turning Chattanooga mistakes into points.

Five starters in double figures

All five Louisville starters scored in double figures. Adrian Wooley scored 15 points, Seth Trimble and Jackson Shelstad scored 13 each, and Alvaro Folgueiras added 10. Karter Knox finished with nine points and a game high 11 rebounds.

Louisville won in the paint and on defense. The Cardinals outscored Chattanooga 42-26 in paint points, forced 18 turnovers and turned them into 20 points. Louisville finished with 12 steals, four of them from Wooley.

The shooting numbers were weaker. Louisville made 25.7 percent of its three-point shots and 57.7 percent of its free throws.

A short bench on opening night

Louisville played the opener short handed. The Cardinals announced on Monday that senior guard De'Shayne Montgomery will miss four to six weeks with a left foot injury. Montgomery is the second Louisville player lost before the opener, after senior center Gabe Dynes had surgery on his right shoulder on October 27 and is expected to miss at least four months. The two injuries leave Louisville with 10 available scholarship players.

Chattanooga fights back late

Yonatan Levy and Zach Bleshoy led Chattanooga with 14 points each. Bleshoy added a team high seven rebounds, and Lenny Anigbata scored 12. The Mocs outscored Louisville 35-28 in the second half, shot 29 percent in that half for Louisville, and held the Cardinals to 1 of 16 from three-point range after halftime.

A 15-6 Chattanooga run cut the deficit to 15 points with 3:47 left. Yssam Moungalla hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to set the final 14 point margin.

The win was Louisville's 22nd in its last 23 season openers and its third straight opener win under coach Pat Kelsey. Louisville hosts Morehead State on Saturday, November 7.