Preston Knowles scored all 20 of his points in the second half as Louisville took over after the break en route to a 77-69 victory over No. 19 Nevada-Las Vegas on Saturday.

Chris Smith added 17 points and Kyle Kuric hit five 3-pointers for the Cardinals (8-0), who remained undefeated and should sneak into the top-25 this week.

UNLV (9-1) had no problem solving Rick Pitino’s pressure defense in the first half, shooting 55 percent from the field and hitting seven 3-pointers to take a 38-33 edge after the first 20 minutes. Oscar Bellfield had 11 points in the half to lead the way for the Runnin’ Rebels.

But the second half was a different story, as Louisville used a 21-6 spurt to take a 57-51 lead with 10 minutes left. Knowles took over during the run, scoring 14 points and hitting a pair of 3-pointers. The Cardinals ended up outscoring UNLV 44-31 in the second half.

Louisville has yet to leave the KFC Yum! Center this season and will play two more at home this week before its first road test, at Western Kentucky on December 22.