LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Ray Spalding scored 18 points, Jordan Nwora added 17 and Louisville cruised into the NIT quarterfinals with an 84-68 victory over Middle Tennessee on Sunday.

"The game was kind of got off to a pretty blistering start thanks to the guy here on my right [Ryan McMahon]," said head coach David Padgett. "We shot the ball very, very well, we played unselfishly. Every time we have done that this year where we shoot the ball, we pass the ball, passed up a good shot, to get a great one, we played really, really well. We defended pretty well in the first half. They made a run in the second half which we knew they would, our defense was not great. But offensively we played very well tonight."

Ryan McMahon chipped in with 15 points and V.J. King 13 for Louisville (22-13), which will face Mississippi State (24-11) on Tuesday night. Nwora and McMahon each made four of the Cardinals' 11 3-pointers.

Deng Adel, Louisville's leading scorer at 15.6 points, was scoreless in 21 minutes - with just one shot attempt - to remain 13 points shy of becoming the 69th 1,000-point scorer in program history.

McMahon and Spalding combined to score 23 of Louisville's 41 first-half points. The Cardinals shot 55 percent from the field in the half with 7-of-13 shooting from distance.

Conference USA player of the year Nick King scored 24 points and Brandon Walters added 16 for Middle Tennessee (25-8). Giddy Potts, who scored 25 points in the opening round, and Antwain Johnson each scored 10.

"Obviously, very happy with this win," said Padgett. "That's a heck of basketball team that had an incredible season, so hat's off to them. We've got a quick turnaround here, so we've got about 48 hours before we've got a Mississippi State team coming in here that will be hungry. So a good win, but we've got to move on to the next one."

The Cardinals will host Mississippi State on Tuesday at 9 p.m.