Louisville Falls to Florida State for First ACC Loss

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Heading back on the road for a crucial Atlantic Coast Conference matchup against Florida State, the Louisville men's basketball program saw all their recent momentum come to a halt, falling 79-70 at the Donald L. Tucker Center Saturday night.

The Cardinals (10-5) not only see their win streak snapped at three, but suffer their first conference loss of the year, dropping to 4-1 in the ACC and falling from atop the league standings. Meanwhile, the Seminoles (8-5) extend their win streak over UofL to five straight - all coming under head coach Chris Mack - and improve to 2-2 in league play in the process.

Florida State edged Louisville in the shooting department, with the 'Noles going 45.8 percent from the floor and 34.8 percent on three point attempts to 40.7 and 29.6 percent for the visiting Cards.

Three Cardinals finished in double figures, led by 14 points from El Ellis off the bench. Samuell Williamson had 13 as well as seven rebounds, and Mason Faulkner also came off the bench for 12. FSU's Caleb Mills led the game with 27 points.

In a battle of two of the top defensive teams in the ACC, the first half was a barnburner. The Cardinals had one of their more efficient offensive halves of basketball all season, scoring 40 points on 13-29 shooting and 5-11 on three-pointers while limited themselves to five turnover.

Unfortunately, Florida State had an even more impressive offensive showing out of the gates. Just four days removed from putting up 54 against Wake Forest, the Seminoles put up 50 in the first half alone, with 23 of those points coming from Mills alone.

The game was relatively even keel through most of the first half, until Florida State started to put some distance between them and Louisville. In the final seven minutes with Louisville up by one, the Noles out-scored the Cards 22-11 to take a ten-point lead into the locker room.

After the offensive showcase that was the first half, defense took back over when the teams reconvened, as a combined 59 points were scored after halftime compared to 90 beforehand.

FSU got their lead up to as much as 14 in the opening minutes, but Louisville showed some fight. After not scoring in the first 5:21 of the half, the Cardinals then went on a 14 -3 run to make it a three-point game and get them within striking distance of the 'Noles.

Louisville was able to trim the deficit to as much as two, but their defense eventually gave out on them. After shooting just 3-17 in the first 13 minutes of the half, Florida State then proceed to go 5-6 to end the game. It also didn't help that the Cardinals allowed the Seminoles to go 12-21 at the free throw line in the second half, on top of shooting 11-30 from the field and 3-16 on three-pointers themselves.

Next up, Louisville will return home for a rematch against NC State. Tip-off against the Wolfpack is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 12 at 9:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Matthew Cleveland, Noah Locke: Melina Myers - USA TODAY Sports)

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