Louisville Pushes Duke, Can't Overcome Second Half Hump to Suffer Fourth-Straight Loss

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Returning home to play their second top-15 opponent in just seven days, the Louisville men's basketball program gave Duke their best shot, but it proved to not be enough and resulted in a 83-69 loss Tuesday at the KFC Yum! Center.

The Cardinals (6-13, 1-7 ACC) have now lost four consecutive games for their longest losing streak of the season, and have dropped ten of their last 12 contests since opening up the season at 4-3.

The shooting splits were almost dead even between the two, with Louisville connecting on 46.2 percent of their field goal attempts and Duke shooting 46.0 percent, but the efforts on the backboards proven to be the major difference in the final outcome.

The Blue Devils used their size and length advantage to out-rebound the Cardinals 43-28 and 15-7 on the offensive boards, leading to a 21-11 discrepancy in second chance points. Duke also shot 9-of-25 on three-point attempts to Louisville's 5-of-17.

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield put together a 20-point/11-rebound double-double, Skyy Clark and Mike James each had 13 points, while Ty-Laur Johnson finished with ten points for Louisville. Five Duke players finished in double figures scoring, led by a game-high 24-points from Tyrese Proctor.

Unlike many of their recent games, Louisville actually got off to a solid start against Duke, leading by as much as four in the opening segment of the game. However, it didn't take long for the Blue Devils to take advantage of their size advantage and the Cardinals' suspect defense.

After Louisville went up 8-4 early, Duke then went on a 34-12 run over the next twelve-plus minutes to lead by as much as 18 in the first half. However, the Cardinals did score 14 of the half's final 21 points to head into halftime down just 45-34.

That end of first half momentum carried into the start of the second half, as Louisville fired off a 10-2 run right out of the locker room to get within three points of Duke. In fact, the Cardinals held the Blue Devils to just one for their first nine second half shots while hitting seven of their first 13 shots.

However, despite the improved defense in the second half and a consistant offensive attack, three points would be as close as Louisville would get to Duke. While it remained a competitive two-possession game for most of the second half, the Cardinals just simply could not get over the hump to match and get past the Blue Devils.

Any chance of a thrilling last minute come-from-behind win from Louisville was quickly snuffed out by Duke. In the final five minutes, the Blue Devils went 4-for-6 from the field while the Cardinals went 2-for-7, ballooning UofL's deficit to double figures.

Next up, Louisville will stay home at KFC Yum! Center and host Virginia. Tip-off against the Cavaliers is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 27 at 12:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Mike James: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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