NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Western Kentucky found a way to stop Samardo Samuels and No. 3 Louisville.
Double-teaming Louisville's freshman big man at every turn, the Hilltoppers stunned the Cardinals 68-54 on Sunday for their first victory over a top-three opponent in more than 40 years.
A.J. Slaughter led the Hilltoppers (3-2) with a career-high 25 points and Steffphon Pettigrew added 17 points and 12 rebounds for Western Kentucky, which dominated the Cardinals (2-1) at both ends of the floor in the second half.
Terrence Williams had 19 points and Earl Clark added 11 points and 11 rebounds for Louisville, which shot just 27 percent from the field and made just six of 30 3-pointers.
Western Kentucky held Louisville without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes in the second half and rode Slaughter and Pettigrew to the program's biggest regular-season win since knocking off then-No. 4 Kentucky in 2001.
This was no last-second stunner. Western Kentucky took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Slaughter with 13:50 remaining and pulled away.
Slaughter, the leading returning scorer from last year's team that reached the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament, did it all to lift the Hilltoppers to their first victory over a top-three team since knocking off No. 3 Indiana in 1967.
In front of a highly partisan crowd at the Sommet Center, about 45 minutes south of Western Kentucky's campus in Bowling Green, McDonald borrowed a page from Pitino's playbook. The Hilltoppers used a stifling defense to negate Louisville's size advantage and safely navigated the Cardinals' full-court pressure.
Louisville, meanwhile, hardly looked like the trendy preseason Final Four pick. Settling for jumpers when the middle was cut off, the Cardinals clanged their way out of the game.
No. 1 North Carolina 116, North Carolina-Asheville 48: Ty Lawson scored 22 points to help No. 1 North Carolina beat North Carolina-Asheville 116-48 despite playing without national player of the year Tyler Hansbrough.
Danny Green scored 18 points for the Tar Heels (7-0), who had an easy time staying unbeaten heading into their matchup with No. 5 Michigan State this week in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
No. 8 Notre Dame 93, Furman 61: Kyle McAlarney scored 32 points and Ryan Ayers had a career-high 19 points to lead No. 8 Notre Dame to its school-record 39th straight home victory, beating Furman 93-61.
Notre Dame (5-1), playing without Luke Harangody for the first time because he has pneumonia, got off to a slow start, as Furman (1-4) led 11-6 early. But McAlarney got the Irish going with back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the half.
McAlarney, who needed five stitches to his upper lip after getting elbowed in the second half, was 9-of-17 from 3-point range to match his second-highest scoring performance. He is the first Irish player to post back-to-back 30 point games since Troy Murphy did it in 2000.
No. 5 Michigan State 65, Wichita State 57: Marquis Gray scored 12 points to lead No. 5 Michigan State to a 65-57 win over Wichita State in the Old Spice Classic.
Clevin Hannah had 19 points for the Shockers (2-2).
MSU (4-1) took fifth place in the holiday tournament, bouncing back after a first-round upset by Maryland to win two straight. The Spartans went on a 22-8 run midway through the second half to take a 50-39 lead.
No. 6 Texas 77, Rice 56: Justin Mason scored 14 points and No. 6 Texas shook off any lingering jet lag from a holiday tournament in Hawaii with a 77-56 win over Rice.
No. 17 Florida 86, UMKC 65: Alex Tyus scored 25 points and reserve Chandler Parsons added 17 to help 17th-ranked Florida overcame a slow start and defeat Missouri-Kansas City 86-65.
No. 21 Georgetown 75,
Maryland 48: Austin Freeman scored 18 points, and DaJuan Summers had 14 in No. 21 Georgetown's 75-48 victory over Maryland in the Old Spice Classic.
Greg Monroe added 12 points to help Georgetown (4-1) rebound from a 90-78 loss to No. 12 Tennessee on Friday.
Eric Hayes and Adrian Bowie had 11 points each for Maryland (4-2).
Saturday's results
Kentucky 54, West Virginia 43: Jodie Meeks scored a game-high 19 points to lead Kentucky to an upset win over West Virginia 54-43 in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational.
Meeks, who was named the tournament MVP, went 12-of-12 from the free throw line. Patrick Patterson added 15 points and 10 rebounds for Kentucky (4-2), who held the Mountaineers to four points in the final 7:39.
After West Virginia (4-1) led as many as 12 in the second half, the Wildcats rallied to take a 37-36 lead with 7:31 left. Kentucky never trailed again.
Alex Ruoff led the Mountaineers with 10 points.
The Mountaineers jumped to a 9-2 lead and never trailed in a low scoring first half, leading 26-16 at halftime.