Louisville basketball shows it can play with ACC's best in loss to Duke at KFC Yum! Center

Louisville basketball shows it can play with ACC’s best in loss to Duke at KFC Yum! Center

Posted by Admin December 9, 2024 Basketball

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At the very least, Louisville basketball sent a message to the rest of the ACC with its 76-65 loss to No. 9 Duke on Sunday evening at the KFC Yum! Center.

After going a combined 5-35 in conference play the past two seasons under former head coach Kenny Payne, the Cardinals (5-4, 0-1 ACC) are ditching the doormat shtick in Year 1 of the Pat Kelsey era.

“That wasn’t the same team,” said Maliq Brown, who, before joining the Blue Devils (7-2, 1-0) through the NCAA transfer portal this offseason went 3-0 against U of L in two years at Syracuse. “You could tell by the pace and just the experience on the court that they knew what they were doing.”

What Louisville almost did was snap a five-game losing streak to Duke with its first win over a top-10 opponent since it beat the Blue Devils when they were No. 3 in the country on Jan. 18, 2020, at Cameron Indoor Stadium with only eight healthy scholarship players. After looking out of sorts from start to finish in front of rowdy home crowds during lopsided losses to Tennessee and Ole Miss, the Cards led the overwhelming ACC preseason favorite for nearly 30 minutes and by as many as 14 points — only to slip up down the stretch.

U of L held a 55-50 advantage entering the final 10:36 of regulation. Then, it allowed Duke to go on an 18-2 run that put the Blue Devils in the driver’s seat, 68-57, with 5:42 remaining.

After starting 10 for 14 from the field and 8 for 11 from 3-point range to take a 30-16 lead at the 8:36 mark of the first half, the Cards went 8 for 26 (3 for 15 from 3) during the second half and scored only 10 points over the final 10 minutes and change.

“Part of our goal was just to wear on them,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said, noting the season-ending injuries to Louisville’s Kasean Pryor (knee) and Koren Johnson (shoulder) and Aboubacar Traore‘s extended absence due to a broken left arm. “They don’t have the benefit of playing as deep as probably they would like to. That was a goal for us, and I thought down the stretch we were physically more ready just because of the depth.”

Neither Kelsey nor his players used that as an excuse.

“We’ve been dealt a little bit of a tough hand with some injuries,” Kelsey said. “We’re making some adjustments on the fly and trying to figure out our new identity. I think our guys played their butts off. We didn’t guard to our standard in the second half; and I’m sure as heck not going to sit up here and say, ‘It’s because we were tired.’ We’ve got to be better. We’re not going to make excuses in this uniform.”

“It’s just really (about) staying sound and fighting through fatigue,” added fifth-year guard/forward Terrence Edwards Jr., who scored a game-high 21 points on 6-for-12 shooting. “It’s not an excuse that we’re playing seven people. We’ve just got to do the basics brilliantly.”

The most costly basic Sunday: failing to take care of the ball. Louisville had 15 turnovers leading to 20 points for Duke. Ten of those miscues came in the first half; and the Blue Devils converted them into 14 points — in essence negating the cushion the Cards built with their sharpest shooting out of the gate since they obliterated Indiana in Game 1 of the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis.

Duke, by comparison, committed only seven turnovers; only three of which occurred during the second half. After starting 9 for 25 from the field (3 for 13 from 3), the Blue Devils made 16 of their 29 shots after the break, including a stretch of nine in a row from the 12:25 to the 7:08 mark — seven of which were either a layup or a dunk.

“Against a really, really good team like that,” Kelsey said, “the margin for error is small.”

Senior guard Reyne Smith and freshman forward Khani Rooths were the only other U of L players joining Edwards in double digits. Smith had 13 points on 4-for-11 shooting; while Rooths set career highs with 10 points and six rebounds in 17 minutes, 38 seconds of run. Fifth-year guard J’Vonne Hadley and sophomore forward James Scott tied for the team lead in rebounding with eight apiece.

The projected No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA draft, Cooper Flagg, led Duke with 20 points and a game-high 12 rebounds despite getting into foul trouble and playing only 12 minutes during the second half. He was one of four Blue Devils to break double digits.

Louisville next plays at 7 p.m. Wednesday against UTEP. Then, it’s off to Rupp Arena to face its archrival, No. 6 Kentucky at 5:15 p.m. Saturday.

Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.