Louisville Falters Late, Falls to Indiana in Empire Classic Third Place Game

NEW YORK - One day removed from getting heartbroken by No. 17/19 Texas in their Empire Classic opener, the Louisville men's basketball program put themselves in position to leave the Big Apple with a win, but faltered down the stretch against Indiana for a 74-66 defeat at Madison Square Garden in the event's third place game.

The Cardinals (2-3, 0-0 ACC) led by seven with just under eight minutes to go, but the Hoosiers (4-1, 0-0 Big Ten) ended the matchup with a 21-6 run, including a 13-0 stretch with under four minutes to go and Louisville up by three. During the final nine minutes, UofL shot just 2-of-10 and committed four turnovers, as they struggled to crack Indiana's late switch to the zone defense.

Making their 54th and 55th all-time appearance in the Garden, Louisville heads back home with an 0-2 mark in the Empire Classic.

Unlike the previous game against Texas, there were large segments where Louisville had very little offensive flow, due in part to both streaky shooting and an apparent lack of coaching adjustments. The Cardinals shot just 35.7 percent for the game, were 5-of-19 on three point attempts and 7-of-20 on layups.

Defensively, while Louisville did hold Indiana to 1-of-11 from beyond the arc, the Hoosiers counted with a 54.8 percent shooting clip on two-point shots, and 14-of-19 on layups. IU also assisted on a whopping 18 of their 24 made field goals.

Louisville also narrowly lost the rebounding battle, 39-35, while committing 11 turnovers.

The Cardinals were led by a 19-point outing from Tre White, with Skyy Clark also putting forth a 10-point and five-rebound effort. Mike James had eight points and seven boards, while Brandon Huntley-Hatfield had six and nine.

For a large chunk of the first half, Louisville struggled mightily to get anything going on offense, mainly due to their offensive flow going out the window when shot started to not fall. They made four of their first eight and three of their last four, but that also came with a 2-for-18 stretch in the middle, where the Cardinals chose a plethora of low percentage shot attempts while also failing to sink shots that were actually open.

However, Indiana's own poor decision making on offense, as well as Louisville's efforts at the free throw line, kept it from being a blowout at the half. The Hoosiers shot 12-for-28 from the field and 1-for-7 on three-point attempts, while an IU 9-for-11 mark at the free throw line was countered by an 8-for-13 effort at the charity stripe from Louisville. Put it all together, and the Cardinals found themselves trailing only 34-29 at the half.

Prior to running into IU's zone defense late, Louisville actually hot a hot shooting stretch in the middle of the half, directly correlating with Ty-Laur Johnson getting meaningful minutes. While the Cardinals missed their first six shots of the half, that was followed up with a 9-for-10 segment shooting the basketball.

However, even with Indiana missing all four of their three-point attempts in the second half, the Hoosiers took advantage of some still suspect defense inside the arc, shooting 12-of-21 on two-point tries. Add in lineup changes from Louisville head coach Kenny Payne that shifted momentum, and that was enough for IU to stage a comeback.

Next up, Louisville has a few days off before they return home for a matchup with New Mexico State. Tip-off against the Aggies is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 26 at 1:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Tre White: Vincent Carchietta - USA TODAY Sports)

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