LOUISVILLE – When Jevoni Robinson left North Carolina State to come to Barry University, he was looking for an opportunity. Saturday, he and fellow 6-foot-8 power forward Buccaneers newcomer Tray Leonard gave Barry fans a glimpse of what type of investment the Bucs made.
Oh yeah, and the rest of the Bucs, including a perfect-shooting Arie Williams, didn’t disappoint either in Saturday’s 91-71 exhibition loss at No. 8 Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center in front of 19,237.
“The exposure has been tremendous,” Barry second-year coach Butch Estes said. “The fact that we were able to keep it respectable helps a little bit.”
The Buccaneers outrebounded the Cardinals, 53-41, and outscored one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s newest members in bench production, 37-16, in a game where Barry shot just 33.3 percent from the field.
Robinson, whose high-flying highlight-reel dunk on Louisville All-American Montrezl Harrell and Mangok Mathiang on a feed from Juan Ferrales with 8:07 left in the first half pulled the Bucs within 27-22, finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and three assists in his BarryU debut. He shot four of five from the floor in the first half.
“I just wanted to get my teammates pumped,” said Robinson, who recorded his double-double in 23 minutes. “I believe that dunk excited them a little bit more to be more motivated to come out here and just want to compete.”
Leonard, a Fordham transfer, also had a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards while hitting five of eight. Leonard scored 11 points in the second half, including a jump hook over Mathiang and a triple from the top of the key that drew the Buccaneers within 78-64 with 4:29 to play.
“It was kind of a challenge, but I believe if you go out there and play hard, play hard every day you can compete with anybody,” said Leonard, who along with Yunio Barrueta had second half blocks. “
Williams, a sophomore from Chicago, had 10 points and a steal, going 3-for-3 from the field including two triples. His three-ball with 8:24 to go cut the Cardinals’ lead to 69-56. Williams also scored in transition following one of Deric Hill’s three steals and seven assists. Hill also scored nine points in his second game in the Yum! Center. Adrian Gonzalez went 4-for-8 from the field for nine points.
Louisville’s Wayne Blackshear had 22 points on nine of 15 shooting. Harrell had 18 points, five boards and two blocks. He was eight of 13 from the floor. Terry Rozier had 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Mathiang was 5-for-5 shooting for 11 points and eight boards.
Barry outscored Louisville, 29-27, in second chance opportunities. But the Cardinals’ inside presence dominated the Bucs, 50-30. Louisville parlayed 20 turnovers into 25 points. The Buccaneers converted 12 Cards’ turnovers into 16 points.
The Buccaneers will draw another top-10 exhibition test 7 p.m. Thursday at No. 7 Florida at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville in a game to be broadcast on ESPN’s SEC Network.
“I’m ready,” Leonard said. “Every time I step on the court, I kind of take it personal from the things I’ve been through to get here to Barry. I just try to go out there and do everything I can to make sure my team is in position to win the game.”
BarryU vs LOUISVILLE
11/1/14 12:35PM at KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky.
At KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY
LOUISVILLE 91, BARRYU 71
BARRYU (0-0)
Tray Leonard 5-8 4-8 15; Jevoni Robinson 5-11 3-4 13; Arie Williams 3-3 2-2
10; Adrian Gonzalez 4-8 0-0 9; Deric Hill 2-12 3-3 9; Juan Ferrales 2-8 2-4
6; Anders Haas 1-6 2-2 5; Yunio Barrueta 2-10 0-2 4; Alvaro Simoza 0-1 0-0
0; Toure Hunt 0-0 0-0 0; Josh Irving 0-0 0-0 0; Savad Garner 0-5 0-0 0.
Totals 24-72 16-25 71.
LOUISVILLE (0-0)
BLACKSHEAR, Wayne 9-15 2-2 22; HARRELL, Montrezl 8-13 2-3 18; ROZIER, Terry
6-14 2-4 15; MATHIANG, Mangok 5-5 1-3 11; JONES, Chris 3-8 2-4 9; GILL,
Anton 3-6 0-2 8; ONUAKU, Chinanu 2-4 1-2 5; SNIDER, Quentin 1-3 0-0 3;
LEVITCH, David 0-1 0-0 0; AGAU, Akoy 0-1 0-0 0; MAHMOUD, Anas 0-1 0-0 0;
STOCKMAN, Matz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 37-71 10-20 91.
BarryU........................ 29 42 - 71
LOUISVILLE.................... 45 46 - 91
3-point goals--BarryU 7-28 (Deric Hill 2-8; Arie Williams 2-2; Tray Leonard
1-2; Adrian Gonzalez 1-1; Anders Haas 1-4; Yunio Barrueta 0-7; Juan Ferrales
0-3; Alvaro Simoza 0-1), LOUISVILLE 7-23 (BLACKSHEAR, Wayne 2-7; GILL, Anton
2-4; JONES, Chris 1-5; SNIDER, Quentin 1-1; ROZIER, Terry 1-4; LEVITCH,
David 0-1; HARRELL, Montrezl 0-1). Fouled out--BarryU-Savad Garner,
LOUISVILLE-None. Rebounds--BarryU 53 (Jevoni Robinson 13), LOUISVILLE 41
(ROZIER, Terry 8; ONUAKU, Chinanu 8; MATHIANG, Mangok 8). Assists--BarryU 16
(Deric Hill 7), LOUISVILLE 18 (ROZIER, Terry 7). Total fouls--BarryU 17,
LOUISVILLE 21. Technical fouls--BarryU-None, LOUISVILLE-None. A-19237