No. 4 Louisville 74, Villanova 55: Russ Smith scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half as the Cardinals harassed the mistake-prone Wildcats into 25 turnovers en route to a Big East tournament quarterfinal win at Madison Square Garden.

Smith shot 4-for-6 beyond the arc and 10-of-11 from the foul line while Luke Hancock added 12 points to lead Louisville (27-5), which avenged a surprising loss to Villanova on Jan. 22 with a dominant defensive effort. The Cardinals, winners of eight straight, will meet Notre Dame in Friday's semifinals.

JayVaughn Pinkston paced the Wildcats (20-13) with 21 points while Mouphtaou Yarou posted his eighth double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The Cardinals forced 17 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, but scored only 11 points off the Wildcats’ miscues and shot 35.2 percent, allowing Villanova to remain within nine despite their mistakes. However, Gorgui Dieng hit back-to-back jumpers to open the second half and Smith gave Louisville a 39-27 lead on a 3-pointer with 16:34 remaining.

Smith added two 3-pointers later in the half to stretch the margin to 20 and, despite a sloppy one-minute stretch by the Cardinals, the Wildcats could get no closer than 12 points thereafter. Villanova committed seven turnovers after the break, but Louisville countered by shooting 54.2 percent in the second half.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Louisville has outscored opponents by an average of 15.9 points during its winning streak. … Villanova’s three-game winning streak against top-five opponents came to a halt. … Smith’s scoring effort was his second-best of the season, behind only the 31 points he scored Dec. 18 against Missouri-Kansas City.