LOUISVILLE, KY (AP) -- Louisville coach Rick Pitino had just put down the microphone following a postgame interview on Wednesday when he spotted Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard.
Pitino walked over, patted the former Louisville assistant on the back and gave him a playful hug that Willard eagerly returned.
It was the only kindness Pitino showed his latest protege all night.
Mike Marra and Peyton Siva scored 14 points apiece and the Cardinals dominated the Pirates 73-54 on Wednesday night in a game that was a mismatch from the opening tip.
Louisville (12-2, 1-0 Big East) scored 24 of the game's first 26 points and hardly broke a sweat over the final 30 minutes as Pitino improved to 24-6 all-time against former assistants.
"I knew we would come out and play well," Siva said. "It's a great way to start the Big East. Everybody plays hard against you in the Big East. Everybody gives you a good game. If we didn't play hard, they would take advantage. We knew we had to have this game."
Particularly after Pitino went through a mini-dissertation Tuesday, outlining how damaging a loss to a lower-level conference opponent can be to his team's long-term prospects. He challenged the role players on his injury-riddled club to step up when power forward Rakeem Buckles joined Jared Swopshire on the bench in street clothes after Buckles suffered a broken left index finger last week.
The Cardinals responded with some spirited work on defense, outrebounding the Pirates 46-35, holding them to a season-low, 29-percent shooting, blocking nine shots and coming up with nine steals.
Unheralded reserves George Goode and Stephan Van Treese led the way. Goode made just the second start of his career at center and finished with six points and three rebounds. Van Treese, who has drawn Pitino's ire for his inconsistent play, added some toughness in the lane, grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds.
"Rebounding, it's just part of my game," Van Treese said. "I tried to get as many as possible."
There were plenty to go around as the Pirates fired up brick after brick.
Fuquan Edwin led Seton Hall with 18 points and nine rebounds and Jeff Robinson added 14 points, but the Pirates weren't competitive when it mattered. Seton Hall missed 12 of its first 13 shots and never got within single digits over the game's final 33 minutes.
"It's tough to come back when you're down 24-2," Willard said.
Maybe the Pirates were stunned by the sight of Goode knocking down elbow jumpers. He scored Louisville's first two buckets as he matched his point total in the last six games combined.
"I just got out there and did what my team needed me to do, nothing special," Goode said.
Yet it's what the Cardinals needed after being whipped by rival Kentucky on New Year's Eve. The 10th-ranked Wildcats dominated Louisville, winning by 15 in a game that wasn't that close.
Pitino wasn't worried about a hangover. Neither were the Cardinals, who were eager to wash away the taste of a bitter defeat.
"We did all the things today we didn't do against (Kentucky)," Goode said. "This team is good at doing all the big things. It's the little things, like talking on defense, rebounding (that are important)."
Seton Hall tried to gather itself, eventually getting within 28-16 before the Cardinals were able to move back in front 36-21 at the half.
Louisville quelled any chance of a Seton Hall rally by opening the second half with a 15-5 burst, capped by a dunk from Gorgui Dieng.
The Cardinals also received a boost from Marra. The sophomore forward was mired in a woeful shooting slump last month before missing two games with a sprained ankle. He came back briefly against Kentucky but was ineffective, missing all three of his shots in 11 minutes.
Marra's touch, however, returned against the Pirates. He made 3 of 5 3-pointers and didn't force it while posting his highest output in a month.
"Shooting is shooting, sometimes it will be there, sometimes it won't," Marra said. "Whenever I start missing shots, it's all mental. My dad was here for the holidays and he helped me with my shot. I got up a lot of reps in the gym."
The work paid off as the Cardinals remained unbeaten at home against Seton Hall since joining the Big East in 2005.
Willard exchanged a warm embrace with his father, Ralph, a member of Louisville's staff, after the game and received words of encouragement from Pitino.
"He just said, 'Keep your head up and keep working,' " the younger Willard said.
(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
