LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Louisiana-Lafayette seemed to be in a good place late in the first half against No. 7 Louisville, using good perimeter shooting and showing a fearlessness to build several small leads against the defending national champions.

Unfortunately for the Ragin' Cajuns, they couldn't get more than a basket ahead and their 41-39 edge disintegrated into a 54-47 halftime deficit that quickly got out of reach in the second half. Within 6 minutes they were down by 21 and the hole got deeper in an eventual 113-74 rout by the Cardinals on Saturday.

Louisville (8-1) has made good use of big runs known as `the boom' to turn games around in recent years, and Saturday provided another example as its fast pace on both ends wore down the Ragin' Cajuns (6-3). After shooting 61 percent (19 of 31) in the first half including seven 3-pointers, they hit 7 of 31 and just 2 of 16 from long range in the second.