Louisville Succumbs to Syracuse, Remain Winless in ACC Play
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Playing in their first game since the calendar flipped to the new year, the Louisville men's basketball program could not hold off Syracuse long enough, falling 70-69 Tuesday at the KFC Yum! Center.
Despite holding a slim lead for most of the second half, the Cardinals saw that disappear in the final minute thanks to four straight Orange free throws. After El Ellis hit two free throws of his own with 8.2 seconds left to pull within one, they had one more chance.
Syracuse tried to run away from Louisville to drain the clock out, but Judah Mintz turned the ball over directly to Ellis with roughly four seconds left. Unfortunately, Ellis then proceeded to lose the ball on the drive, and no one could recover the ball in time before the clock hit zero.
Louisville moves to 2-13 to start the Kenny Payne era, and remain winless in four conference games to start ACC play. Syracuse moves to 10-5 overall and 3-1 in league games.
The Cardinals shot 42.9 percent from the field and were 11-of-27 on three-point attempts, whereas the Orange were 40.7 percent from the field and 7-of 16 from long range.
Shooting splits were relatively even, but the real discrepancy came at the free throw line and, once again, turnovers. Louisville turned the ball over 21 times to Syracuse's 15, and were just 4-of-10 at the free throw line compared to 19-of-25 from their opposition.
Ellis led the Cardinals with 20 points, with Mike James pouring in a career-high 19 points and Jae'Lyn Withers adding 10. Three Orange players broke double figures, led by Joseph Girard III's 28 points.
Over the first eight minutes of the first half, Louisville played arguably their best stretch of basketball since their mid-December matchup against Western Kentucky. After Syracuse opened up the game with a brief 8-2 run, the Cardinals used their hot shooting to post a 17-2 stretch and go up by nine points, and looked like they were determined to build on that.
However, that momentum was immediately squandered, as the Orange countered that with a 17-2 run of their own that was fueled mainly by Louisville miscues. Over the first 13 minutes of the game, UofL turned the ball over 11 times.
But instead of continuing to dig themselves into a hole, the Cardinals were able to refocus and start chipping into Cuse's slight lead as the half came to a close. They even capped off the first half with an 8-2 run, taking a one-point lead into the locker room thanks to a midrange jumper from Huntley-Hatfield.
Louisville led for almost the entire second half, but struggled to land the kill shot needed to put Syracuse away. While they managed to stop consistently turning the ball over during this time, their shooting also cooled down considerably, shooting 37.1 percent in the second half. Cuse shot only marginally better during this time at 40.0 percent from the field.
Next up, Louisville will welcome Wake Forest to the KFC Yum! Center. Tip-off against the Demon Deacons is set for Saturday, Jan. 7 at 3:00 p.m. EST.
(Photo of Justin Taylor, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield: Matt Stone - Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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