Louisville basketball shows it can play with ACC’s best in loss to Duke at KFC Yum! Center

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At the very least, Louisville basketball sent a message to the rest of the ACC with its 76-65 loss to No. 9 Duke on Sunday evening at the KFC Yum! Center.

After going a combined 5-35 in conference play the past two seasons under former head coach Kenny Payne, the Cardinals (5-4, 0-1 ACC) are ditching the doormat shtick in Year 1 of the Pat Kelsey era.

“That wasn’t the same team,” said Maliq Brown, who, before joining the Blue Devils (7-2, 1-0) through the NCAA transfer portal this offseason went 3-0 against U of L in two years at Syracuse. “You could tell by the pace and just the experience on the court that they knew what they were doing.”

What Louisville almost did was snap a five-game losing streak to Duke with its first win over a top-10 opponent since it beat the Blue Devils when they were No. 3 in the country on Jan. 18, 2020, at Cameron Indoor Stadium with only eight healthy scholarship players. After looking out of sorts from start to finish in front of rowdy home crowds during lopsided losses to Tennessee and Ole Miss, the Cards led the overwhelming ACC preseason favorite for nearly 30 minutes and by as many as 14 points — only to slip up down the stretch.

U of L held a 55-50 advantage entering the final 10:36 of regulation. Then, it allowed Duke to go on an 18-2 run that put the Blue Devils in the driver’s seat, 68-57, with 5:42 remaining.

After starting 10 for 14 from the field and 8 for 11 from 3-point range to take a 30-16 lead at the 8:36 mark of the first half, the Cards went 8 for 26 (3 for 15 from 3) during the second half and scored only 10 points over the final 10 minutes and change.

“Part of our goal was just to wear on them,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said, noting the season-ending injuries to Louisville’s Kasean Pryor (knee) and Koren Johnson (shoulder) and Aboubacar Traore’s extended absence due to a broken left arm. “They don’t have the benefit of playing as deep as probably they would like to. That was a goal for us, and I thought down the stretch we…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/louisville-basketball-shows-play-accs-010816005.html

Author : The Courier Journal

Publish date : 2024-12-09 01:08:00

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