J'Vonne Hadley broke Louisville basketball down on "Defense!" before Pat Kelsey 's No. 10 Cardinals ran out onto Denny Crum Court for the second half of Monday's regular-season opener.

The KFC Yum! Center scoreboard read: U of L 59, South Carolina State 15 — per statistician Kelly Dickey , the program's largest halftime lead going back to at least 1975, when his records begin. Defense, indeed.

Louisville did not let up on that end during its a 104-45 win over the Bulldogs, who averaged 79.5 points per game en route to a 20-13 record and a second-place finish in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in 2024-25. Per Dickey, the 59-point margin of victory is the sixth-largest in program history.

SC State coach Erik Martin had to replace his five top scorers from that team — so i

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