Louisville Blows Early Lead, Falls at Boston College to Remain Winless in ACC Play

The Cardinals led by as much as 12 against the Eagles, who raced past them in the second half.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Traveling up north after a week off to face Boston College, the Louisville men's basketball program was unable to take advantage of a golden opportunity to capture their first win in ACC play, falling 75-65 Wednesday night at the Silvio O. Conte Forum.

The Cardinals fall to 2-18 overall and 0-9 in the ACC to continue their winless start to league play. Their overall losing streak now sits at nine games, last winning on Dec. 17 against Florida A&M. Meanwhile, the Eagles - who are in the bottom half of the ACC standings - improve to 10-11 and 4-6 in in league play.

Louisville shot marginally better than Boston College at 53.1 percent to 49.0 percent, as well as 9-of-18 on three-point attempts to 8-of-22. However, like all season long, the difference in the game was due to turnovers. The Cardinals committed 19 turnovers to the Eagles' 10, and also allowed BC to go 17-of-21 at the free throw line while only going 4-of-6 themselves. They also lost the rebounding battle, 27-25.

Four Cardinals broke double figures, led by El Ellis' 17 points. Jae'Lyn Withers finished with 16, Mike James tallied 15 and Sydney Curry had 10. The only bench production came in the form of five points from J.J. Traynor. As for Boston College, three Eagles notched double figures in points, with Quinten Post reaching 22 and Makai Ashton-Langford tallying 21.

Louisville set the tone almost right out of the gates thanks to sharp execution from Ellis and James. The Cardinals used an early 16-3 run to lead 19-7 in the first nine-plus minutes of the game, which marked their largest lead in ACC play. During this opening stretch, Ellis and James combined for Louisville's first 15 points and 17 of their first 19.

While Boston College struggled to hit threes in the first half, shooting 1-for-11 to Louisville's 5-of-9, they did just enough to keep themselves in the game and looked better down the stretch after a slow start. The Cardinals did shoot a blazing 60.0 percent from the field before halftime, but that also came with nine turnovers for nine BC points. Combined with minimal first half production outside of Ellis and James, and UofL only took a 35-29 advantage into halftime.

What little momentum Louisville had at halftime didn't last long once the second half started. They kept BC at bay for the first five minutes of the half, but then then Eagles proceeded to fire off an 18-5 run - which consisted of nothing but threes and free throws - midway through the half to take control of the game.

Withers and his 12 second half points gave Louisville a fighting chance to rally back, even helping them get to within three points with 3:10 left in the game, but the Eagles ended the game on an 11-4 run to put the game to bed. BC shot a red-hot 7-of-11 on three-point attempts in the second half, and forced 10 more Louisville turnovers in the process.

Next up, Louisville will stay on the road and travel to Notre Dame. Tip-off against the Fighting Irish is set for Saturday, Jan. 28 at 12:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Mike James, Devin McGlockton: Greg M. Cooper: Associated Press)

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