No. 5 Louisville 71, No. 21 Connecticut 61: Montrezl Harrell notched 22 points and 11 rebounds as the Cardinals claimed their first and only American Athletic Conference tournament title at Memphis, Tenn.

Harrell made 9-of-14 from the floor in recording his third double-double of the season against the fourth-seeded Huskies (26-8). Russ Smith followed up his 42-point semifinal performance with 19 points and five steals and Chris Jones added 11 points for second-seeded Louisville (29-5), which claimed the 12th conference tournament title for head coach Rick Pitino.

DeAndre Daniels registered 17 points and 10 rebounds and Conference Player of the Year Shabazz Napier supplied 16 points for the Huskies, who lost all three meetings with the Cardinals this season. Amida Brimah added 14 points and seven rebounds.

After trailing by 14 points at the end of the first half, the Huskies were never really in contention in the second half, going down by 20 points on a 3-pointer from Jones with 15:38 remaining. Daniels scored on a jumper to make it a 13-point game with five minutes left, but the Cardinals scored five quick points to snuff out the rally.

The Huskies moved within 13 once again on two free throws by Napier with 2:18 remaining, but by then it was too late to catch the surging Cardinals. Louisville was able to beat Connecticut at its own game in the first half, making four 3-pointers to the Huskies' 1-of-8 and Harrell had 10 points and six rebounds as the Cardinals finished the half with a 37-23 advantage.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Brimah had eight points in the first half, but his presence was felt more on the defensive end, where he altered several shots by the Cardinals, who made 16-of-33. ... The Huskies shot 44.4 percent from the field, but made just 4-of-16 from beyond the arc. ... The Cardinals, who are moving to the ACC next season, trailed for a total of 27 seconds in their three wins during the tournament.