INDIANAPOLIS — Louisville leapers made all the right moves Friday night. They dunked over anything and everything. They darted through the lane. They danced along the baseline.
And for good measure, perhaps to keep the Lucas Oil Stadium crowd awake during the 103-64 blowout over Arizona in a Midwest Regional semifinal, the top-seeded Cardinals added a few over-the-shoulder passes.
Show time?
“It was just guys being unselfish,” Louisville junior guard Jerry Smith said.
The ball always seemed to be in the right place in the right hands for Louisville, which shot 57.6 percent and advanced to an NCAA Tournament regional final for the first time since 2005. This was the most points ever scored in the NCAA Tournament by a Louisville program accustomed to being there.
“We’ve had some good Sweet 16 games, but this was a dominant performance,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. “We played great tonight because the guys passed the ball so beautifully.”
Louisville (31-5) is bidding for its ninth Final Four appearance and first since losing to Illinois in a national semifinal in 2005.
Arizona (21-14) can start looking for a permanent replacement for retired coach Lute Olson, who stepped down in October. Interim coach Russ Pennell did an admirable job of directing a 9-9 Pac-10 team to the Sweet 16. He is not expected to be a serious candidate.
“(Louisville) shared the ball extremely well. . . . Unfortunately for us, we had no answer,” Pennell said. “We weren’t quick enough on our (defensive) rotations. They had a little bit of everything going tonight.”
Louisville raced to a 49-28 halftime lead and never let up.
“If they play like that, it’s going to be pretty hard to beat them,” Pennell said of the Cardinals.
Lacking depth and struggling to keep up with Louisville’s substitutions, 12th-seeded Arizona may have run out of gas. The Wildcats needed big numbers from three juniors who had accounted for 71 percent of their season scoring. Forward Chase Budinger, perhaps surprising Louisville with his bounce, played brilliantly and scored 22 points, but point guard Nic Wise and post player Jordan Hill struggled.
Meanwhile, Louisville placed five players in double figures, and all 13 who got on the court scored at least one basket.
