The Louisville Cardinals hosted their first conference game against the Duke Blue Devils. Cards fought courageously but eventually collapsed.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Cardinals have now played three ranked teams at the KFC Yum! Center and have fallen to all of them. However, this game was a little bit different. Louisville would come out roaring, making 50% of their three-point shots in the first half. They would lead for a total of 19 minutes and two seconds in that first half. Eventually they would lead 37-33 going into the half.
The second half would be a different story. After being down 49-42 with 14:32 left in the second half, Duke would slowly start to creep back into the game. They would take the lead with eight minutes left in the 2nd half for the first time since leading 3-2 in the first minute of the game. Duke never looked back and in time would win 76-65.
For Louisville, The Cards had three players score in double-figures. Terrence Edwards Jr. led the way for the Cards in points scoring 21 and tacking on two rebounds and two assists. Reyne Smith added 13 points and three rebounds, and Khani Rooths put up 10 points while adding six rebounds. Louisville as a team did improve this game in three-point shooting hitting 35.5% on the night. Pat Kelsey just a few days ago mentioned the “averages will average out.”
The young Duke Blue Devils had a pretty good night. They had four players score in double-figures, Cooper Flagg had a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Tyrese Proctor put up 13 points while shooting a 46% field goal percentage. Kon Kneuppel also had a good game adding on 12 points and six assists on the night. Finally, the last player to score in the double digits is Sion James with 11 points and shooting a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.
If you read my last article on the ‘Stats and Predictions’ of this game, my prediction was not very far off. I will say though, this team fought hard. I did not expect to have a lead of 30-16 at one point in the first half. For this Louisville team only having eight scholarship players available for this game, they did very well. It does give me hope for the rest of the year knowing this team can at least compete against a top-10 team.
Cards have a quick turnaround hosting the University of Texas El-Paso (UTEP) on Wednesday at the Yum! Center. I know there is zero revelance here but getting to play UTEP next while also finding out our football bowl game is in El-Paso in a few weeks is very serendipitous if you ask me.
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