NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tenacious defense held third-ranked Louisville (2-1) to 26.8 percent shooting from the field while the Hilltoppers (3-2) got a career-high 25 from Shelbyville, Ky. native AJ Slaughter as WKU stunned the Cardinals 68-54 on Sunday afternoon at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn.  The victory marked the first for the Toppers over an opponent ranked in the top three in the nation since a 110-98 win over #3 Indiana at Diddle Arena on December 28, 1967. 

Louisville entered the game with a taller, quicker, deeper roster, but were unable to find their offensive rhythm all afternoon.  The Cardinals missed their first seven shots from the field and finished 15-of-56 for the game. 

WKU opened with a 10-7 advantage eight minutes into the contest on Steffphon Pettigrew's lay-up.  After missing 10 of their first 12 shots from the field, Louisville got back-to-back lay-ups from Earl Clark to claim their first lead of the game.  Slaughter quickly gave the Toppers back the edge on the 15-footer the next trip down the floor with 10:28 on the clock, an advantage they would keep until the closing minutes of the first half. 

Clark struck again, this time from outside, with a three-pointer with 1:44 remaining in the half to seemingly shift the tide in favor of the Cardinals heading to the locker room.  But after a Will Scott trey with 58 ticks left capped a 7-0 Louisville spurt, Sergio Kerusch made one of two free throws and Slaughter nailed a 25-footer at the buzzer to knot the score at 28-28. 

Slaughter, whose oldest sister played basketball at Louisville and whose younger sister is heading to play for the Cardinals, grew up a U of L fan.  He saved his best performance yet for the biggest stage, knocking down 8-of-15 shots and 7-of-9 at the line for 25 points, just missing his first career double double with nine rebounds. 

In the second half, Louisville continued to struggle offensively, going 10 minutes without a field goal beginning at the 16:20 mark.  Two free throws by freshman sensation Samardo Samuels at 14:15 gave the Cardinals their final lead of the night at 37-36.  The Toppers scored 13 of the next 16 points to stake a 49-40 spread with 7:56 remaining on a fast break bucket from Pettigrew.  The 2007 Kentucky Mr. Basketball finished with his first career double double with 17 points, 10 coming in the second half, and 12 rebounds. 

As a team, WKU outrebounded the Cardinals 48-36 while turning the ball over just four times in the second half. 

Terrence Williams finally ended the field goal drought for Louisville with 6:23 left as the Cardinals trimmed the deficit to six, 51-45, but an 8-3 run by the Toppers pushed the spread into double figures, 59-48, with 3:35 remaining on a Slaughter basket as WKU sank 15-of-18 second-half free throws to win going away. 

Anthony Sally accounted for all 10 bench points for the Hilltoppers who shot 41.1 percent from the field, but just 4-of-17 from downtown for 23.5 percent. 

Williams finished with 19 points for Louisville while Clark and Samuels each chipped in 11. 

WKU has a quick turnaround as they return home to Diddle Arena to face Georgia, the defending Southeastern Conference Tournament Champions, at Tuesday, December 2 at 8:00 PM.

NOTES:
• Game featured a match-up of two teams that advanced to the 2008 NCAA Sweet 16
• Over the last eight years, only Kentucky (198) has more victories in college basketball than WKU (190) and Louisville (183)
• WKU improves its all-time record versus ranked opponents to 33-84 including 2-4 against #3 teams
• WKU's last win over a top 3 opponent was December 28, 1967, 110-98 over Indiana in Diddle Arena
• WKU's last win over a top 5 opponent was November 15, 2001 against #4 Kentucky 64-52 at Rupp Arena
• WKU improves its record versus Louisville when they are ranked to 5-7 all-time, with the previous occurance coming in 1993
• First win over a ranked foe by WKU since last year's NCAA Tournament First Round, the 101-99 OT win over #14 Drake
• WKU improves to 78-77 all-time against the 16 current members of the Big East
• WKU improves to 39-33 all-time against Louisville, but claims just its third win in the last 20 meetings dating back to 1961
• AJ Slaughter set a career-high with 25 points

QUOTES:
WKU head coach Ken McDonald
On the win:
“I didn’t do it and that is what is important.  It was very surreal shaking hands with Coach Pitino before the game because I grew up around him when he took Providence to the Final Four.  I was sitting there hoping that this game didn’t come down to coaching.  The players made plays and this game was all about the players.  For us mentally it was about the approach and changing the part where there is a little bit of disbelief and where we are still trying to get our system in place.  I don’t think you can actually do that and actually believe and go forward until you win a game (on the road).  I told the team that once we go out and win that game (on the road) then we will never go back.”

On defending Louisville's Samardo Samuels:
“He is such a hard matchup because he has the combination of quickness and strength.  He is very aggressive and he is just really impressive to watch.  We went small and that has been the philosophy for us the past couple of games and it has been good to us.  I knew that Steffphon would battle with him and he definitely battled.  I knew that it was going to take a team effort to help control him but the entire tempo started with Steffphon." 

WKU junior guard AJ Slaughter (#4)
On playing against Louisville:
“I think they came out thinking that they were going to beat us and that they were overlooking us.  The swagger that they had told me that they didn’t think they had to come out and compete and that they thought they were better than us.  I told the guys before the game that I didn’t think they were ready to play and that we needed to come out and throw the first punch so they wouldn’t know what hit them.  I knew if we did that then we could win this game.”

On the win:
“Our whole team worked hard and we all wanted this win more than anything.  We got out there and rebounded and I just think that we wanted this win a lot more than they did.”

WKU sophomore forward Steffphon Pettigrew (#30)
On Louisville's mindset entering the game:
“They probably just underestimated us because they are the number three team in the country and we are Western Kentucky University.  Coach told us that we needed to go out there today and throw the first punch and always keep our composure and that is what we did.” 

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino
Opening statement:
“It was a very disappointing performance from our guys.  You have to give Western Kentucky credit, because they did great.  Our shots would not fall, and at the other end they made their shots.  They did a good job on the low post.  You have to give them a lot of credit.  Unfortunately for us, we had the worst week of practice that I've experienced as a head coach.  You don't like to learn your lessons from losing, but the way we practiced, we didn't deserve to win.”

On WKU's success on the boards:
“We are bigger, but we don't rebound well.  This culture today gets affected by scoring.  So we get three rebounds from our guards.  Last year, our guards rebounded.  Guards just aren't getting it done."