LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In its only exhibition before the official start of its 2023-24 campaign, the Bellarmine University men's basketball team rolled to a 75-44 win over Division III Transylvania on Tuesday in Knights Hall.

Fifteen players saw action for Bellarmine, with 10 logging over 13 minutes. Thirteen Knights scored, all but one grabbed a rebound, 11 distributed an assist and eight collected a steal.

"This was fun coaching," Knights Coach Scott Davenport said. "We scripted the playing time on Sunday, and that's why we played all the combinations. This was a great learning experience; we couldn't simulate that in practice."

Although it wasn't always pretty — Bellarmine committed 15 turnovers, the rebounding was even and BU hit just 13-of-22 free throws — the Knights' offense was nonetheless efficient, producing a 55.1-percent clip from the floor while shooting near that same range in both halves. In addition, the defense limited the Pioneers to only 27 percent from the floor.

"The rebounding obviously was a glaring, glaring issue," Davenport said. "You take this film and break it down possession by possession, and granted we have smart kids who want to do well, and they'll learn from it."

Bellarmine led 35-19 at halftime and outscored Transylvania 40-25 in the second half. In his first action with the Knights, Miami (Ohio) transfer and sophomore guard Billy Smith led the team with 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field.

Senior guard Bash Wieland converted four of his five shots in scoring 10 points while senior guard Garrett Tipton matched him with 10. Senior guard Alec Pfriem and junior forward Langdon Hatton tied for team-high rebounding honors with seven. Pfriem and Wieland had three assists each.

Bellarmine will open the season Nov. 6 at Washington.

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