Reeling Louisville Blown Out by Notre Dame
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Returning to the KFC Yum! Center for a matchup with Notre Dame, the Louisville men's basketball program was unable to capitalize on a golden opportunity to get back in the win column, instead getting run off the floor for a 72-50 loss on Wednesday night.
Since taking down Georgia Tech on Feb. 10, the Cardinals (8-19, 3-13 ACC) have dropped their last three games against Boston College, Pitt and the Fighting Irish (10-16, 5-10 ACC) by an average margin of 20.3 points.
Despite getting both Skyy Clark (rib) and Ty-Laur Johnson (concussion) back from injury and facing one of the worst offenses in high-major basketball to enter the game as 3.5-point favorites, Louisville's season-long defensive woes once again came back to bite them.
Notre Dame - who entered the matchup with the No. 297 offense in college basketball according to KenPom - shot 41.5 percent from the field and 12-for-27 on three-point attempts.
In this matchup, it was the UofL who struggled more on the offensive end, shooting just 33.9 percent overall and 4-for-17 on threes. They were also out-rebounded 42-to-37, and were 8-of-16 at the free throw line to ND's 6-of-8.
Clark led Louisville in scoring with 18 points, while Brandon Huntley-Hatfield also broke double figures in scoring with 16 points. The duo combined to shoot 14-of-24 from the field, while the rest of the Cardinals were a combined 5-of-32. The Irish were led by Braeden Shrewsberry, the son of head coach Micah, with 23 points.
Throughout most of the first half, Louisville looked extremely disjointed on defense. In the first 13 minutes of the games, Notre Dame got almost anything they wanted, sinking 10 of their first 18 shot attempts including a 5-of-7 mark beyond the arc. Combined with a 6-of-19 shooting mark by the Cardinals to open the game, they trailed by as much as 13 at the 7:27 mark.
But down the stretch of the opening half, the Cardinals were able to tighten up on both ends of the floor. They held the Fighting Irish to just two for their final 15 shots of the period, including a stretch of 10 straight misses, while also hitting four of their final seven shots to trim their deficit to just 31-25 at the half.
Louisville was able to get to within as little as four points of Notre Dame, but they were unable to string together consistent offensive and defensive possessions in the early goings of the second half.
In the final eight minutes of the game with the Cardinals only down eight and still within striking distance, the Fighting Irish put the nail in the coffin. Thanks to a stretch where Notre Dame made six straight shots and Louisville missed nine straight, ND put together a 16-2 stretch to put the game on ice.
Next up, Louisville will head to Duke for their final true road game of the 2023-24 season. Tip-off against the Blue Devils is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 7:00 p.m. EST.
(Photo of Kaleb Glenn, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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