Louisville Overcomes Another Slow Start to Handle Notre Dame

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Kicking off the month of February with a home matchup against Notre Dame, the Louisville men's basketball program was able to dig themselves out of another early hole, mounting a comeback to earn a 76-65 victory on Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center.

The No. 24 Cardinals (16-6, 6-4 ACC) have won back-to-back games, also beating SMU this past Saturday, starting to generate momentum back in the right direction after getting stomped by 31 at Duke back on Jan. 26. They have also won four of their last five games following a stretch where they dropped three of four, while the Fighting Irish (11-12, 2-8 ACC) have now lost nine of their last 11 after starting the season 9-3.

Despite shooting just 7-of-31 on three-point tries, Louisville made up for it with their play inside the arc and feeds down low. They were 21-of-34 on two-point attempts to give them a 43.1 shooting percentage, and notched 40 points in the paint.

Defensively, the Cardinals thrived on the interior. While Notre Dame was 11-of-27 on threes, they were held to just 13-of-35 on two-pointers plus 8-of-17 on layups, and UofL also out-rebounded the Irish 46-35. ND also went just 6-of-14 at the free throw line (compared to 13-of-18 from Louisville).

Five Cardinals cracked double figures scoring by the end of the night. Isaac McKneely collected a team-high 13 points, while Khani Rooths logged his second straight double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Ryan Conwell and Sananda Fru also finished with 12 points, while Kasean Pryor - who hadn't played in the past three games and had been openly questioned by head coach Pat Kelsey earlier in the week - finished with 10 points.

Slow starts to games have been customary for Louisville this season, and that trend was no different against Notre Dame. The Cardinals hit just one of their first nine attempts of the game, allowing the Fighting Irish to take a 16-7 lead roughly seven minutes into the game.

But like in the previous game against SMU, UofL didn't hang their heads after finding themselves trailing early.

While ND still found some success in limiting what Louisville wanted to do offensively, they still shot 13-for-26 in the remainder of the second half. Throw in a defensive effort the improved as the half went on, with the Irish starting the game shooting 6-of-10 but going 7-of-22 after that opening salvo, and the Cards took a 38-32 lead into halftime.

For most of the second half, Louisville let Notre Dame hang around and threaten to make a comeback themselves. While they held the Fighting to just 8-of-19 to start the period, the Cardinals themselves began the period shooting just 8-of-22 - including at one point missing ten straight.

With roughly eight minutes left and clinging to a five-point lead, Louisville finally delivered the kill shot.

They made six of their final eight attempts, while holding the Irish to three for their final 11 tries, out-scoring their visitors 17-11 during the last eight minutes. This included a stretch of six straight misses by ND, which gave the Cardinals a 14-0 run to give them a 19-point lead with 3:30 left to effectively ice the game.

Next up, Louisville will head back on the road, traveling to Winston-Salem for a matchup with Wake Forest. Tip-off against the Demon Deacons is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7 at 12:00 p.m. EST.

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