Louisville Rallies, Falls Short at Notre Dame
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Taking on the team that started their current losing streak, the Louisville men's basketball program nearly was able to snap their current skid, but faltered down the stretch against Notre Dame 63-57 at the Purcell Pavilion Wednesday.
After going up by one with 6:14 left to go following a 12-2 run, the Cardinals (11-13, 5-9 ACC) then proceeded to go scoreless over the next 5:52, making way for an 8-0 run by the Irish (17-7, 10-3 ACC) to ice the game.
Not only did the loss give Notre Dame their first ever regular season sweep over Louisville, but the Cardinals have now dropped six games in a row for the first time since the 1990-91 season. They've dropped nine of their last ten after starting 10-4 and 4-0 in ACC play.
Louisville's shooting woes, like all season long, were very much present against the Irish. They shot just 38.5 percent from the field, and were an abysmal 5-30 on three-point attempts. On the other end, Notre Dame shot 45.5 percent and was 5-20 on threes.
Jae'Lyn Withers led all scorers with a 20-point effort, matching his career high. El Ellis and Dre Davis also finished in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Notre Dame's Paul Atkinson poured in a 17-point/15-rebound double-double.
From the jump, while both teams struggled to connect on the three ball in the first half, there was a very clear difference in how both teams looked. Notre Dame was going through the motions of their offense, whereas Louisville seemed to jack up three-pointers any chance they got, and just looked listless as a whole on both sides of the court.
In fact, the only semi-productive players for Louisville in the first half were Ellis and Withers. They combined to go 7-13 from the field - including 3-6 on threes from Ellis - while the rest of the Cardinals combined for 3-17 and 0-10 from long range, heading into the locker room trailing 35-23.
But, unlike the previous game against Syracuse, Louisville did not quit. Not only did they stop shooting the three ball at an unnecessary rate after halftime, they started to tighten up on defense, and put forth a much more noticeable effort.
However, once they took the lead, the fell back into old habits. After attempting just six three-point attempts in the first 14 minutes of the second half, Louisville proceeded to put up five - all misses - in the next four minutes as part of an 0-7 stretch after pulling ahead.
Next up, Louisville will take some extra time off before coming back home to the KFC Yum! Center to host Miami. Tip-off against the Canes is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 7:00 p.m. EST.
(Photo of Dre Davis: Matt Cashore - USA TODAY Sports)
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