Rozier helps Louisville pull away from Northern Iowa

[March 23, 2015]  SEATTLE -- Sophomore Terry Rozier hit just about every big shot on the way to a team-high 25 points Sunday night, but the Louisville guard's most important contributions came on the back end of two thunderous dunks by teammate Montrezl Harrell.

A pair of alley-oops from Rozier to Harrell over the final 3 1/2 minutes helped the Cardinals hold off Northern Iowa on the way to a 66-53 win that sent Louisville to the Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive year.

"It felt like it really took some of the air out of them," Harrell said of the effect the dunks had on the Panthers down the stretch. "Those are big-time plays that you like to have because it really gets your team going."

Fourth-seeded Louisville (26-8) will take on No. 8 seed North Carolina State in the East Regional semifinal, marking the first time in program history that the Cardinals have been to four straight Sweet 16s.

What makes this one even sweeter is the road Louisville has traveled since starting point guard Chris Jones was dismissed amid allegations of sexual assault one month earlier.

"We just wanted to go out and stick together," Rozier said of the turmoil that scarred Louisville's regular season.

Rozier scored 25 points on 8-of-13 field-goal shooting and added seven assists to lead Louisville, which was making its first-ever trip to the state of Washington and earned its 21st trip to the Sweet 16. Coach Rick Pitino has led Louisville to the Sweet 16 seven times in his 14 years at the school.

Rozier scored seven points and added the two alley-oop assists over the final 14 minutes to help the Cardinals pull away from the pesky Panthers (31-4).

"We battled hard to grab the momentum, and we just couldn't do it," Jacobson said. "Louisville deserves a lot of the credit for that."

Seth Tuttle had a team-high 14 points for Northern Iowa.

After a tight opening 10 minutes, Louisville pulled away midway through the first half and never trailed again.

Northern Iowa made a run to cut the deficit to six points, at 42-36, early in the second half and again when reserve Nate Buss pulled the Panthers to within 55-49 with 4 1/2 minutes remaining, but Louisville answered each time.

The Rozier-to-Harrell connection resulted in a thunderous dunk with 3:30 remaining, giving Louisville a 57-49 lead. That took a lot of the wind out of Northern Iowa's sails after the Cardinals' Wayne Blackshear blocked an attempted fast-break dunk from Northern Iowa's Wesley Washpun on the other end of the floor.

Rozier added another alley-oop to Harrell with 1:25 remaining, leading to a dunk and foul as the Cardinals opened up a 61-50 lead and essentially put the game away.

"We've got that feel for each other," Rozier said, "so we made it happen today."

Harrell finished with 14 points, while Blackshear and guard Quentin Snider chipped in with 10 points apiece.

"Tonight we played our best game of the season," Pitino said.

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