Louisville Blown Out in Road Rematch vs. Duke

DURHAM, N.C. - The Louisville men's basketball had a chance to get revenge, but could not capitalize on the opportunity.

Braving the winter elements to make their way down to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a rematch with Duke, the Cardinals not only did not emerge victorious in round two, but instead suffered a 83-52 beatdown at the hands of the Blue Devils on Monday night.

The No. 20 Cardinals (14-6, 4-4 ACC) drop both games against the No. 4 Blue Devils (19-1, 8-0 ACC) this season, also falling 84-73 back on Jan. 6 at home. Additionally, it's the largest margin of defeat under second-year head coach Pat Kelsey

Despite having star point guard Mikel Brown Jr. back for the rematch, Louisville's offense was a mess for most of the night. Their shooting was as cold as the air outside, connecting on a season-low 29.6 percent of their field goal tries - including 5-of-20 inside the arc and 4-of-14 on layups.

Making matters worse, Duke got pretty much whatever they wanted whenever they had the ball, especially down low. They shot it 50.8 percent overall, including 23-of-38 on twos, notched 42 points in the paint (to UofL's 10), and won the rebounding battle 47-to-26.

Ryan Conwell and J'Vonne Hadley were the only Cardinals to crack double figures, scoring 18 and 11 points, respectively. Two days removed from dropping 20 points against Virginia Tech in his return from a back injury, Brown shot just 1-of-13 and scored only seven.

Four Blue Devils scored double figures, led by Naismith Player of the Year frontrunner Cameron Boozer's 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Louisville got off to a shaky start defensively, but were able to settle in shortly thereafter. Duke started the game shooting 7-of-9, but connected on just seven of their remaining 25 shot attempts in the first half.

However, the Cardinals' offensive efforts followed a similar pattern. While they started the game 6-of-9, the Blue Devils held them to a paltry 3-of-20 for the remainder of the period, including lengthy cold streaks of eight and nine straight misses.

Louisville led 25-24 with 4:30 left in the first half, but Duke closed with a 14-3 run - including the final nine points - to pull ahead 38-28 at the break.

When the two teams returned, the home squad was quick to set the tone. The Blue Devils scored eight of the half's first 10 points to go up 16, forcing the Cardinals' Pat Kelsey to burn a timeout just 1:47 into the second half.

This segment proved to be a microcosm of how the period as a whole would unfold. Louisville went just 7-of-25 in the second half, while Duke was 17-of-29 - leading by 23 with 10:29 to go and by as much as 31 overall.

Next up, Louisville will return home to the KFC Yum! Center for their first of two matchups against SMU. Tip-off against the Mustangs is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 31 at 2:00 p.m. EST.

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