Florida State overwhelms Louisville on both ends

Louisville men’s basketball was out of sorts offensively and its defense couldn’t get enough stops in a 78-65 loss to Florida State at the KFC Yum! Center Jan. 4. The Cardinals shot 38.7 percent from the field and had 16 turnovers in their second straight loss.

Louisville led for nearly half of the first half, but Florida State carried a three-possession lead into halftime and never relinquished its advantage in the Cardinals' first conference loss of the season.

Jordan Nwora scored a team-high 32 points and 10 rebounds for Louisville. Steven Enoch added 10 points.

M.J. Walker finished with 23 points while Trent Forrest had 20 points for Florida State.

In his first career start for Louisville, Lamarr Kimble made an instant impact, finding Jordan Nwora for a 3-pointer as the Cardinals scored on their first two possessions.

The Cardinals went on a three-minute scoring drought and didn’t make a field goal for five minutes as Florida State took an 11-7 lead early in the first half. Nwora ended the run with a layup and was fouled after the Cardinals made just 2 of their first 12 shots.

After struggling against Kentucky last Saturday, shooting 2 of 10 from the field, Nwora returned to form. The junior’s 3-pointer from the wing with 8:17 left in the first half tied the score at 22-22. Nwora was 5 of 7 from the field with 16 points through the opening 12 minutes.

While Nwora carried Louisville’s offense early on, the rest of the team struggled, making just 3 of their first 16 shots. Nwora made another shot from behind the arc to return the lead to Louisville with 7:36 left in the first half.

Polite ended an 8-0 Louisville run with a corner 3-pointer.

Florida State went on a 9-0 run late in the first half as Louisville went on a scoring drought that lasted nearly four minutes. The Cardinals didn’t make a field goal in the final five minutes of the first half.

Nwora ended the first half with 21 points, but the Cardinals didn’t get much offense from anyone else as the rest of the team shot 14.2 percent from the field.

After Florida State led by seven points at halftime, Trent Forrest extend the visitors’ advantage to double digits four minutes into the second half.

Louisville was plagued by turnovers, committing seven in the opening nine minutes of the second half. Ryan McMahon had a behind the back pass to Darius Perry for a corner 3-pointer to cut Florida State’s lead to 52-47 with 11:27 left.

Nwora had consecutive possessions with offensive rebounds and put backs. He scored after missing a pair of free throws and scored on Louisville’s next possession to bring the Cardinals within 54-51 with 10 minutes left.

After a Florida State timeout, Vassell answered with a corner 3-pointer, but Nwora made a shot from behind the arc at the other end. The Cardinals pulled with three points twice, but Florida State had no problem scoring.

M.J. Walker made a 3-pointer to give Florida State a 62-53 lead with 8:01 left.

Sutton made a shot from behind the arc with 4:18 left to cut Louisville’s deficit to eight points, but Florida State scored on consecutive possessions. Malik Osborne threw down an alley-oop and Walker made a 3-pointer to give Florida State a 72-59 advantage with just over three minutes left.