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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Up by one at the half, Louisville pulled away using a 20-3 run to open the second half as the University of South Florida men's basketball team fell to the Cardinals, 73-52, Wednesday night at Freedom Hall.

USF's BIG EAST opener saw freshman Toarlyn Fitzpatrick and junior Jarrid Famous post double-doubles, as Fitzpatrick pulled down 11 rebounds and added 11 points, while Famous had a team-high 12 points with 10 boards.

USF (10-3 overall, 0-1 BIG EAST) shot a respectable 42 percent in the first half but slipped to 32 percent in the second, hitting 38 percent overall for the game. Louisville, (10-3, 1-0) hit 46 percent for the game.

Junior Dominique Jones fouled out with just under 13 minutes left in the game after scoring just five points - his second lowest scoring output at USF - while Fitzpatrick picked up three fouls in the first half.

Senior Chris Howard also fouled out with 4:28 left on the ticker, while senior Ryan Kardok saw 27 minutes of action off the bench and scored his second career bucket, a 3-pointer with 4:50 left in the first half.

Edgar Sosa had 16 points to lead the Cardinals, who held the advantage in bench points (25-7), points in the paint (44-34), and points off turnovers (24-17). Neither team did well from beyond the arc, with Louisville going 3-of-15 (20 percent) and USF hitting just 1-of-9 attempts (11 percent).

Fitzpatrick brought the Bulls out of the gates by scoring the team's first five points and grabbing four rebounds in the first four minutes.

USF took the 6-5 lead with 15:52 left in the first period, but Fitzpatrick took a seat on the bench after picking up his second foul and the Cardinals took off on a 9-2 run.

With six minutes left in the first half, the Cardinals took their largest lead to that point in the game, 26-15.

Three Bulls - Mike Mercer, Famous and Jones - combined for a 7-0 run before the half to draw the score within one at the half.

Both Mercer and Famous played all 20 minutes in the first half while Jones and Chris Howard were in for 19 and 18 ticks, respectively.

Louisville started the second half with a 10-3 advantage in the first four minutes, fueled by the loss of Jones and Fitzpatrick due to fouls. Jones picked up back-to-back fouls and took a seat just three minutes into the period.

Coach Heath used a variety of lineups over the first seven minutes of the half but returned to the starting lineup with 13:00 left in the game. Just eight seconds later, Jones picked up his fifth foul and was done for the game, as his night ended with just five points and three rebounds.

Louisville sank both free throws which ended the 20-3 run that started at the beginning of the half, and then a dunk by Preston Knowles at 10:44 got the Cardinals' lead to 20 for the first time in the game, 56-36.

The Bulls did score the next seven points, capped by a pair of free throws from Howard, to get the deficit down to 13 at the 8:11 mark of the half. Howard, though would foul out with more than four minutes left and Louisville eventually got the lead back up to 20 at 67-47 at the 4:17 mark before finishing up for the final 73-52 margin.

USF will play its first BIG EAST home game Wednesday at the Sun Dome against Notre Dame. First tip for the matchup that will be seen on ESPNU is slated for 7 p.m.

Team Notes

-  USF is 1-4 in BIG EAST openers, including the 68-45 victory over Rutgers on Jan. 2, 2008.

-  The Bulls are 11-58 overall in BIG EAST play since joining the league for the 2005-06 season.

-  USF trails Louisville 3-24 in the all-time series, with nine straight losses to the Cardinals. The Bulls' last victory over UofL was in Conference USA play on Jan. 31, 2001, a 73-67 victory in Tampa.

-  Head coach Stan Heath is in his 23rd season of coaching, ninth as a head coach and third at USF. He has posted a 143-121 overall record and is 31-44 at USF.

Individual Notes

-  Freshman forward Toarlyn Fitzpatrick scored USF's first five points of the game and had four rebounds in the first four minutes.

-  Fitzpatrick recorded his first-career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, both career highs. He also had two blocks, a career high.

-  With a pair of steals in the first half, junior Dominique Jones moved into 10th on the USF career steals list, surpassing Chucky Atkins' (1993-96) 115. He now trails Tony Armstrong (1988-91), who had 125. Jones ended the night with three steals.

- Jones ended the night with five points and three rebounds. It's his second-lowest point total of his career. Against Wright State on Dec. 21, 2009, he didn't score in 39 minutes on the court. In that game he was 0-12 from the field, 0-5 from beyond the arc. Jones has scored in single figures only seven times in three seasons at USF.

- Junior forward Jarrid Famous collected his fourth double-double of the season, racking up 12 points and 10 rebounds.

- Famous has now recorded four consecutive double-figure scoring games and nine overall this season. He also has five double-digit rebound nights.

- This is the first time two players have had a double-double in the same game since Nov. 17, 2007, against FAU, when Kentrell Gransberry and Chris Howard each posted double-doubles.