Louisville bracing for quick two-game swing

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Neutral site games seem to have Louisville stuck in neutral.

Maybe it's the half-filled arenas that buzz with all the energy of a quiet Sunday morning brunch. Maybe it's the unfamiliar surroundings. Maybe it's the lack of hostility and an "us against the world" mentality that a true road game provides.

Whatever the reasons, the ninth-ranked Cardinals are just 1-5 in their last six regular-season neutral-site contests, including a 68-54 meltdown in Nashville, Tenn., against Western Kentucky last month. The loss knocked Louisville briefly out of the Top 10 and gave the Cardinals a cold dash of reality after reading perhaps a little too much of their own preseason hype.

Louisville (6-1) will get a pair of chances to show what it's learned beginning on Thursday in Cincinnati, when the Cardinals play Mississippi (7-3) as part of the SEC/Big East Invitational. They'll then hop on a plane and head west for another neutral-site test against Minnesota (9-0) in Phoenix on Saturday.

The Cardinals aren't planning on making the long flight home next week a miserable one and say they don't plan on duplicating the mistakes they made in Nashville.

"(We've got to) play every second like it's your last and don't let the name on your jersey or the (ranking) by your name on TV determine if you're going to win the game," forward Terrence Williams said. "Win the game by executing the plays, knowing the scouting report and listen to your coach."

It's something Williams admits the Cardinals didn't do against the Hilltoppers. Louisville all but forgot about freshman center Samardo Samuels and decided to chuck 3-pointers instead while trying to get back into the game. In the bland surroundings of the Sommet Center, the shots didn't fall.

Four easy wins inside the noisy comfort of Freedom Hall followed, but the Cardinals feel they still have a long way to go to prove themselves. Playing well over the next three days could help.

"Our players know now, I can see the excitement in their eyes," coach Rick Pitino said. "This is the SEC/Big East challenge. We lost two last night, so we all realize how important these games are and understanding the competition picks up and the level of play picks up."

Louisville's last trip to U.S. Bank Arena ended with a loss to Dayton two years ago. That Louisville team -- like this one -- was trying to find a way to mix in a number of talented freshmen. Creating chemistry can take awhile, and Pitino admits his team isn't there yet.

"You wouldn't want them to be there yet," Pitino said. "They have to go through the real road trips, where 18,000, 13,000, 15,000 people despise the ground you walk on. That's when you get real close and find out you only have 13-14 friends in the house. That's when you get close, is when you start to play those road games."

Maybe, but the Cardinals could use some positive play in tight contests. Their closest game all season has been the loss to the Hilltoppers, and Pitino knows the road gets much more difficult when the calendar flips and the Cardinals get into Big East play.

"We wanted to schedule so that going into (the Big East) the competition keeps getting better and better," Pitino said.

The games will also provide Pitino a chance to see how quickly his team can adapt to differing styles of play. The Rebels like to run behind guards David Huertas and Chris Warren, while the Golden Gophers have quickly morphed into the mold of most Tubby Smith-coached teams.

"(His) teams play for 40 minutes," Williams said. "They have a great style. They get up on you, pressure you. They're relentless on defense and they have a type of style where they deny the ball where if they're on you from the start, you don't know what type of offense to run against it."

Good thing the Cardinals have options. During last week's 94-75 win over Austin Peay, Williams, Samuels and Preston Knowles all topped 20 points, the first time that's happened in 18 years.

"I think the good thing about our basketball team is you can't stop one or two players," Pitino said. "You've got to pick your poison. Preston Knowles was the indicator last game, it could be (Edgar) Sosa tomorrow, it could be T-Will another night, it could be Earl (Clark). There's no one player you can key on for us, and that's a good thing."

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.