Louisville Races Past Syracuse in Home Finale

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program might be in a bit of a lull at the wrong time, but they at least were able to deliver in their home floor curtain call.

Welcoming Syracuse to the KFC Yum! Center for their final home game of the regular season, the Cardinals were able to bounce back and squeeze the Orange, winning 77-62 on Tuesday night.

Previously, Louisville (21-9, 10-7 ACC) had entered their matchup with Syracuse (15-15, 6-11 ACC) having lost three of their last four, and recently fell completely out of the AP Top 25. The Cardinals wrap up the home portion of their 2025-26 schedule with a 15-2 record, losing only to Duke and Virginia during the month of January.

Louisville struggled to penetrate Syracuse's interior defense, going just 5-of-17 on layups and getting blocked seven times, but they made up for it with a 14-of-35 showing on three-point attempts to finish shooting 42.9 percent overall. They had eight more assists (17) than turnovers (9), their most since being plus-11 here vs. NC State back on Feb. 9.

The Cardinals didn't sport the interior defense that their visitors did, allowing the Orange to shooting 40.4 percent overall. But they did force 11 SU turnovers for 12 points the other way, and held them to just eight assists.

Ryan Conwell led the way with 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists, all of which were team-bests. J'Vonne Hadley added 19 points, while Isaac McKneely collected 16 points. Nait George led Cuse in scoring with 16 points.

It was a clunky start to the evening, with Louisville making just three of their first 11 attempts and Syracuse connect on only three of their first 10 to be tied at 10 a piece through the first seven-plus minutes. But after that, the Cardinals started to find a groove on offense, while maintaining their desperate edge on defense.

Following that offensive lull, UofL made 10 of their remaining 21 attempts in the period. On top of holding SU to 7-of-25 shooting for the entire half, which included an 0-11 mark on three-point tries, Louisville out-scored Syracuse 29-11 following the 10-all tie to hold a 39-21 lead at the break.

After halftime, while their effort was still high level, the Cardinals' efficiency on defense took a step backwards. On top of that, they got a lot more trigger happy from deep in the second half after placing an emphasis in and around the paint in the first.

The Orange out-shot their hosts in the second half (16-of-32 to 14-of-31), but could trim UofL's advantage to as little as 11 points. Louisville made seven of their final 12 attempts of the game, ensuring that their lead would never dwindle back to single digits.

Next up, Louisville will head back on the road, and take on Miami for their final game of the regular season. Tip-off against the Hurricanes is scheduled for Saturday, Mar. 7 at 2:00 p.m. EST.

More Cardinals Stories