THE BASICS:

RESULT: Louisville 87, Hartford 52
LOCATION: KFC Yum! Center (Louisville, Ky.)
ATTENDANCE: 18,910
RECORDS: Louisville (2-0); Hartford (1-2)

THE LEAD:
Pancake Thomas scored a career-high 20 points, but Louisville used a strong defensive contest to down the Hartford men's basketball team, 87-52 on Tuesday night. J.R. Lynch matched his career high with six points as well in a losing effort, with the Cardinals placing three players in double figures.

FIRST HALF:
Hartford came out of the gates solid, going blow-for-blow with the Cardinals in the early going. Thomas netted the first five points for the visitors, tying the score at 5-5 with a three and a gorgeous crossover to get to the rim. After a U of L basket, George Blagojevic knocked down a clutch three, and the Hawks took an 8-7 lead.
 
The Cardinals went on a 7-0 run to regain the advantage, but the Hawks responded, with a pair of free throws from Justin Graham and a pair of dunks from Thomas making it a 17-14 Cardinals lead with 11:41 left. U of L extended the lead back to 10 before a Thomas jumper cut it to 26-18 with 8:21 remaining.
 
Louisville then locked down defensively and stretched the lead to 19 in the closing minutes, but the Hawks closed the half with five straight at the free-throw line to make it 45-31 at the break.

SECOND HALF:
The Cardinals defense locked down to open the second half, as Louisville was able to push its lead to 66-32 before a Thomas triple snapped the rally at the 9:30 mark. That three-ball sent the Hawks on a 9-1 run, including a hustle play that sprung Blagojevic for a layup and a nice drive to the rim from Justin Graham.
 
But that was as close as the Hawks would get in the contest, as the Cardinals' size proved too much for the Hawks to overcome. Seven different players cracked the scoreboard for Hartford in the stanza, as Louisville finished off the contest.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
• Hartford shot 21-for-27 at the free-throw line, the second time in three games that the Hawks have shot better than 75 percent at the line.

• Thomas' 20 points marked the first 20-point game for the Hawks this season.

• TreVaughn Wilkerson scored his first career points with a pair of second-half free throws.

UP NEXT:
The Hawks wrap up their road trip with a game at St. Peter's on Thursday, Nov. 19. Tip time is slated for 7 p.m. in Jersey City.