Louisville Holds Off Georgia Tech in Atlanta
ATLANTA - Heading down south for their first game of the new year, the Louisville men’s basketball program followed the footsteps of their women's counterparts, taking down Georgia Tech 67-64 Sunday at McCamish Pavilion.
Leading by eight in the final few minutes of the game, the Cardinals' lead was cut to just one with under a minute to go. The Jackets had a chance to take the late lead, but Matt Cross intercepted a pass by Jordan Usher with 28 seconds to go. Noah Locke and Malik Williams each hit a free throw in the final seconds, with Tech missing two three-pointers on their last two possessions.
Louisville (9-4, 3-0 ACC) dominated down low, out-rebounding Georgia Tech (6-6, 0-2 ACC) 34-25 and tallying 36 points in the paint to Tech's 22. The Cards shot 48.0 percent for the game and held the Jackets to 41.1 percent.
Four Cardinals finished in double figured, led by a 20-point/10-rebound effort from Malik Williams. Matt Cross had 13 points and nine boards, Dre Davis had 13 points - all coming in the second half - and Noah Locke had 10. GT's Michael Devoe had a game-high 23 points.
This was also a game where Louisville was shorthanded once again due to COVID. Not only was reserve guard Mason Faulkner unavailable, but assistant coaches Mike Pegues and Ross McMains did not make the trip to Atlanta as well.
Louisville had a hot start in the game, extending out to a 13-6 lead in the first five minutes. But like so many times this season, the offensive inexplicably went cold. After opening up the game shooting 5-7 from the field, they followed that up with a 2-11 shooting stretch that included a 5:51 scoring drought, paving the way for an 11-0 Georgia Tech run.
The Cardinals' defense also had trouble getting things going for much of the opening half, as the Yellow Jackets opened the game shooting 10-16. Eight of these field goals came from Devoe and Jordan Usher, as they combined for 21 first half points.
But in the final six minutes of the first half, both ends of the court starting coming together for Louisville. They closed the half shooting 5-8, held Georgia Tech to 1-10, allowing Louisville to fire off a 12-2 run to end the half and take a 31-28 lead into the locker room.
Georgia Tech was able to jump back in front soon after halftime, and spent most of the period holding off Louisville. During the first ten minutes of the second half, Tech's lead never got beyond four points, and neither team scored more than five consecutive points.
Trailing by four with ten minutes to go, the Cardinals used a 10-0 run to finally get over the hump, but that wasn't enough to put the game away. Tech used a 10-3 run of their own to get the game within a single possession in the final minute of play, before inevitably falling short.
Next up, Louisville will return home to host Pitt for their first home game of the new year. Tip-off against the Panthers is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 7:00 p.m. EST.
(Photo of Noah Locke: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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