Shorthanded Louisville Starts Slow, Finishes Strong to Bounce Back vs. Boston College

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program has just narrowly avoided suffering a massive setback

Continuing their three-game home stand with a matchup against Boston College, the Cardinals were able to claw back from a slow start and avoid getting upset, mounting a comeback to win 74-60 on Saturday.

No. 20 Louisville (12-4, 2-2 ACC) trailed by as much 10 points in the first half, and were deadlocked with Boston College (7-9, 0-3 ACC) with 8:35 to go. However, the home squad ended the game on a 22-9 run, out-scoring their visitors 45-28 after halftime.

Louisville bounces back after losing their last two games, most recently suffering a demoralizing 84-73 loss to Duke this past Tuesday. Meanwhile, Boston College, who entered the game as the No. 159 team according to KenPom, is now on a three-game losing streak.

The victory came despite star guards Mikel Brown Jr. and Ryan Conwell not being available. Brown missed his sixth game in a row due to a lingering lower back injury, while Conwell was held out due to a minor knee injury suffered in practice earlier in the week.

The Cards made up for it by getting dominating performances from Sananda Fru and Adrian Wooley. Fru collected 19 points and 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the season, while Wooley finished with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Isaac McKneely and J'Vonne Hadley also finished in double figures scoring at 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Louisville shot 49.0 percent from the field despite a 6-of-21 showing on three-point tries, and added a 19-of-25 showing at the free throw line. Despite Fred Payne going off for 22 points, Boston College still shot only 36.5 percent overall, and UofL out-rebounded them 42-to-31.

Thanks to some inauspicious defense, Louisville found themselves behind the eight ball early. Boston College hit eight of their first 14 attempts from the field, taking a 15-8 lead just six-plus minutes into the game. The Cardinals allowed the Eagles to shoot 14-of-32 and 5-of-15 on three-point tries in the first half, trailing by as much as 10 points.

Despite having trouble finding their shooting stroke, going 2-of-11 from deep before halftime, UofL did just enough inside the arc, going 9-of-15 on two-pointers for the half. This helped them not let the game completely get out of control, and even going on a 6-0 run to end the period and trail just 34-30 at the break.

Boston College shot out of a cannon after the break, scoring seven of the first nine points of the second half, but Louisville was able to respond with a 13-2 run - taking their first lead of the game roughly six minutes into the period.

Following some back-and-forth action, the Cardinals were finally able to put the game away in the final eight minutes. They hit 10 of their final 13 attempts after starting the second half only 5-of-12 from the field, while holding the Eagles to only 8-of-30 after halftime.

Next up, Louisville caps off their three-game home stand with a ranked matchup against Virginia. Tip-off against the Cavaliers is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

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