The Miami University men’s basketball team jumped back into the national spotlight Sunday afternoon. Once again, the RedHawks got singed.

Second-ranked Louisville used a 23-2 run to grab control in the first half and limited MU to 29.8-percent shooting in an 80-39 thrashing at the KFC Yum! Center.

“Welcome to the new job, right?” a smiling Miami coach John Cooper said of losing to No. 6 North Carolina State 97-59 and the Cardinals in the first three games of his tenure.

“There aren’t a lot of people that are going to come into either one of those environments and win basketball games. We couldn’t figure it out, and we certainly didn’t leave the blueprint for other teams to follow.”

The RedHawks (1-2) led several times in the first five minutes before Louisville’s full-court pressure took over. And the hosts started hitting shots, burying five 3-pointers during that 23-2 surge.

Middletown High School graduates Bill Edwards, Geovonie McKnight and Allen Roberts paced MU’s scoring. Edwards and McKnight both had 7 points, and Roberts chipped in 6.

“It’s good to see what the best is, playing against the best, going forward,” said Edwards, a redshirt junior forward. “We want to get to a point where we’re in these games and not just coming to play the games. I think it’s just a grind, and it’ll pay off for us in the long run.”

Russ Smith tossed in 23 points and sank 5-of-7 shots from beyond the arc for the Cardinals (3-0), who delighted the crowd of 20,258 with numerous dunks, 12 treys and a 43-26 board advantage.

“We thought this team would give us problems, but we shot so well,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. “And when you shoot so well, you get your press out that many more times. We’re a defensive team. We win with our defense.”

The Cardinals shot 48.3 percent from the field, 55.2 percent after the break. The score was 39-17 at halftime, and Louisville began the second half with an 18-3 spurt.

“We talked about not letting that happen, coming out the first four minutes and attacking,” Edwards said. “As you could see, we didn’t. But that was our mind-set.”

Said Pitino, “We certainly played all three phases of the game extremely well. It’s the best we’ve looked.”

Miami’s trapping pressure worked wonders in its 80-54 win over Grambling State, but Cooper chose a different path Sunday.

“It’s a fine line — do you pressure them?” he said. “Here’s the other thing: If you’re not scoring, you can’t get to your pressure. We wanted to mix it up, but when you miss shots, it’s really hard to get your pressure set.”

Jon Harris grabbed a team-high five boards for the RedHawks, who committed 19 turnovers. No MU player managed to shoot better than 40 percent from the floor.