Louisville coach Rick Pitino (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Rick Pitino might be coaching his fourth college team, but one thing remains the same: He always wins the first game.

        The new Louisville coach improved to 4-0 in college debuts, as the Cardinals beat South Alabama 92-38 Sunday night before a sellout crowd at Freedom Hall. Pitino also won his debuts at Boston University, Providence and Kentucky.

        “What we wanted to do was play incredibly hard and get a victory, which we did,” Pitino said. “In this environment, we wanted to have incredible hustle and play great defense.

        “We were on our toes. We were in control the whole game.”

        Reece Gaines scored 18 points for Louisville as Pitino won for the 14th time in 16 college season openers.

        The Cardinals employed Pitino's trademark full-court pressure from the opening tip and blew the game open early. South Alabama finished with 36 turnovers and set a Freedom Hall record with the fewest points by a Louisville opponent.

        “We're really excited about playing this style,” said Gaines, one of nine players back from last year's team. “We reached one of our overall goals, and that's to play great defense with great effort. We're playing a different style of basketball.”

        Wearing a pinstriped black suit and a shimmering gold tie, Pitino appeared out of the arena's north tunnel to a standing ovation about two minutes before tipoff.

        Pitino was hired in March to replace Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum. Pitino resigned two months earlier as coach and president of the Boston Celtics after 3 1/2 unsuccessful seasons.

        He inherited a Louisville team that went 12-19 last season.

        “I'd say a 50-point victory is progress,” he said.

        SOUTH ALABAMA (0-1) — Ivy 0-6 3-4 3, H.Williams 1-2 0-0 2, White 2-6 3-8 7, Ricks 0-3 0-0 0, D.Williams 0-4 2-4 2, Thompson 6-10 0-3 14, Hunter 0-1 0-0 0, McLavish 0-1 0-0 0, Salow 4-9 1-2 10. Totals 13-42 9-21 38.

        LOUISVILLE (1-0) — Myles 3-5 8-14 14, Whitehead 3-6 2-2 8, Brown 5-11 3-4 15, Hurt 5-8 0-0 13, Gaines 6-10 4-4 18, Wilkinson 0-0 0-0 0, Northern 0-1 0-0 0, Turner 1-2 0-0 2, Bender 2-3 1-2 5, Mohammed 0-0 0-0 0, Naydenov 1-5 4-6 7, O'Bannon 0-3 6-6 6, George 0-1 0-0 0, N'Sima 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 28-60 28-38 92.

        Halftime—Louisville 47, South Alabama 15. 3-point goals—South Alabama 3-11 (Thompson 2-5, Salow 1-2, Ivy 0-1, Ricks 0-1, D.Williams 0-1, McLavish 0-1). Louisville 8-20 (Hurt 3-5, Brown 2-3, Gaines 2-4, Naydenov 1-4, Northern 0-1, O'Bannon 0-3). Fouled out—McLavish. Rebounds—South Alabama 34 (White 9), Louisville 41 (Myles 8). Assists—South Alabama 8 (D. Williams 5), Louisville 14 (Hurt, Gaines 3). A—19,413.

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