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Louisville Tops Duke in Physical ACC Showdown

Cardinals build 15-point first half lead, hold on to win

Duke lost its second straight game, 79-73, to No. 11 Louisville at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday night.

The showdown between two of the three teams that started the day atop the ACC, at 5-1, attracted the attention of ESPN’s College Gameday, which set up shop at Cameron for its Saturday morning live broadcast.

Louisville jumped out to an early lead, forcing seven turnovers before the under-12 minute timeout in the first half. By 10:22 in the first, Louisville led by 15, 25-10.

“We were knocked back,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “The physicality of the game was amazing. We could’ve been blown out by 30 or 40 points.”

Instead, Duke mounted a comeback, shades of last season’s matchup at Louisville, when the Blue Devils stormed back from a 23-point deficit to win.

“It was the hardest defeat I’ve ever had,” Louisville coach Chris Mack said, looking back a year after Saturday’s game.

This time, the Blue Devils cut the lead to five late in the first half, but each time Duke made a run, Louisville responded. The Cardinals had a three pointer by Malik Williams at the buzzer to go into the half up 10.

Duke scored the first six points of the second half and eventually tied the score at 58 and again at 63, with 8:51 and 6:29 to go, respectively. Each time, Louisville went on a run of its own to reassert control.

While Duke was able to limit Louisville’s leading scorer, Jordan Nwora, holding the 20-plus ppg scorer to six points on 3-of-12 shooting, that opened things for David Johnson, who hit 7-of-8 in the first half for 17 points after coming into the game with a 9 ppg average.

Duke was led by Cassius Stanley, who scored 24 with 11 rebounds. Matthew Hurt added 16, and Vernon Carey and Tre Jones each had 12.