LOUISVILLE 90, DEPAUL 82 (OT): Kyle Kuric led the way with 25 points and Russ Smith stepped up in overtime as No. 18 Louisville escaped to send host DePaul to its sixth straight loss.

Chris Smith scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half and overtime and Russ Smith finished with 18 points to go with five assists and six steals for the Cardinals (21-6, 9-5), who kept their hopes of a top-four finish in the conference and a double-bye in the Big East Tournament alive.

Louisville took the lead for good in overtime on back-to-back baskets by Russ Smith. DePaul turned it over twice down the stretch, allowing the Cardinals to pull away.

Louisville made a pair of moves to grab the lead late in regulation. The Cardinals went up on an odd play, when Russ Smith’s shot was blocked, but Chris Smith grabbed the loose ball and laid it in for a 74-72 edge at the 1:12 mark.

DePaul called a timeout and drew up a play, but Russ Smith stole the ball, hitting Kuric for a layup to push it out to 76-72.

The Blue Demons kept coming, and Donnavan Kirk buried a 3-pointer. Chris Smith split a pair of free throws, giving Charles McKinney the chance to tie it with 2.2 seconds left to force overtime.

Brandon Young scored 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting to lead DePaul (11-15, 2-12).

GAME NOTEBOOK: DePaul shot 55 percent in the first half and took a 42-32 lead into the break … Young had shot 32 percent over the previous five games … Louisville forced 19 turnovers and collected 11 steals.