Louisville Decimated by Miami in ACC Opener
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Taking a brief break in non-conference play for their Atlantic Coast Conference opener, victory continued to elude the Louisville men's basketball program, as they were blasted by Miami to the tune of 80-53 on Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center.
The Cardinals continue to extend their worst start in the modern era, moving to 0-8 for the year and still winless in the Kenny Payne era. The worst start in program history came during the 1940-41 season, when Louisville lost their first eleven games of the year.
It also marked the first time in program history that Louisville has lost back-to-back home games by 25 points of more, and they join 1960-61 Virginia and this season's Cal as the third team from the Power Five or Big East to start 0-8.
In a season where Louisville's energy and effort to start the year has been a major concern, it showed up once again against Miami, and the stat sheet was a clear reflection of it. The Cardinals shot just 29.8 percent of their field goal attempts and were only 3-for-20 on three-point attempts, while the Caned connected on 50.0 percent of their attempts despite being 6-of-22 on their threes.
Despite being a guard-heavy team, Miami dominated Louisville down low, out-rebounding them 39-34 and out-scoring them 44-26 in points in the paint. Combine the Cardinals' shooting woes with 19 turnovers, and they averaged only 0.726 point per possession.
Jae'Lyn Withers led Louisville in scoring with a 12 point performance, with Brandon Huntley-Hatfield being the lone other Cardinal to finish in double figures with 10 points. Miami had three players reach double figures, led Jordan Miller's 14 points.
Like in most of Louisville's games up to this point of the season, the opposition wasted little time setting the tone, as Miami opened up the game on a 17-7 run. In fact, the Canes connected on 14 of their first 19 shots, while the Cardinals committed five turnovers in the first five minutes.
However, there was a brief five-minute segment in the middle of the first half where Louisville did kick up their energy and effort. They were even able to trim the deficit down to single digits with just under nine minutes left in the half.
That being said, the fight didn't last long. Over the final nine minutes of the first half, Miami out-scored Louisville 18-7, and led by as much as 21 before heading into the locker room with a 42-23 advantage. Despite missing eight of their final 12 shots of the half, the Canes still shot 58.1 percent during this time, whereas the Cardinals were just 37.5 percent from the field with 11 turnovers at halftime.
Miami left little room for doubt once the game resumed. The Canes opened up the second half on a 21-8 run, including a 12-0 stretch, to lead by as much as 32 at the 10-minute mark of the period.
While The U shot only 42.4 percent from the field and was 2-13 on threes during the second half, Louisville shot it at a much worse clip, connecting on just 24.2 percent of their second half shots and hitting just one of their 10 three-point attempts.
Next up, Louisville will play their first ACC road game, traveling down to Tallahassee for a matchup with Florida State. Tip-off against the Seminoles is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 10 at 1:00 p.m. EST.
(Photo of Mike James: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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