Louisville Defeats Boston College as Four Cards Finish in Double Figures
(Photo of David Johnson: John Quackenbos via the Atlantic Coast Conference)
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Heading back on the road to begin the remainder of their ACC schedule after having a week off, the Louisville men's basketball program began the new year on a positive note, as their first game of the calendar year resulted in a 76-64 victory at Boston College.
The Cardinals improve to 7-1 on the season and 2-0 in conference play, and have now won seven of their eight matchups against the Eagles since joining the ACC for the 2014-15 season. Boston College drops to 2-7 overall and winless in three ACC games, with the two programs primed for a rematch in Louisville on Saturday, Jan. 30
Four of Louisville's five starters finished in double figures, led by guard David Johnson's career-high 20 points on 7-16 shooting, eight rebounds and three assists. Guard Carlik Jones might have shot just 3-13 from the field, but his 9-11 performance at the line gave him 15 points on the day, along with a game-high nine rebounds and six assists.
Forwards Samuell Williamson & Dre Davis finsihed with 12 & 11 points, respectively. BC guard Jay Heath led all scorers with 20 on 5-10 shooting.
The Cardinals didn't have a great start to the game, as both sophomore forward Samuell Williamson & redshirt freshman forward Jae'Lyn Withers both picked up two fouls in the first few minutes. Combining that with Louisville shooting just 1-6 and BC going 5-7 to start out, and the Eagles jumped out to an early 10-3 lead.
Then from there, Louisville kicked their defense into high gear, and used it to put distance between them and Boston College. The Eagles hit just two of their final 17 shot attempts of the first half, including ending the half having not made a field goal in over seven minutes.
Louisville led by as much as 17 in the opening minute of the second half, but then hot shooting primarily from BC's Heath gave the Eagles an 18-8 run to trim Louisville's lead back to single digits.
But like in the end of the first half, Louisville's defense came back around to save the day down the stretch. Boston College made 3 of their final 11 shot attempts, including a 7:29 stretch without making a field goal and a 4:27 stretch without even attempting one.
Louisville shot 26-60 (43.3%) from the field, while holding Boston College to 17-51 (33.3%). Both teams made eight threes, but Louisville attempted just 17 three-pointers to BC's 33. The Cardinals also out-rebounded (43-30) and out-assisted (13-6) the Eagles.
Next up for Louisville, they will return home to host the Virginia Tech Hokies. Tipoff is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 6 at 6:30 p.m. EST on the ACC Network
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