Despite a brutal 31-point loss to Duke, No. 24 Louisville hopes to build on two recent solid wins when they host a downward-spiraling Notre Dame team in an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup Wednesday.
Louisville (15-6, 5-4 ACC) seemingly bounced back from last Monday’s 83-52 loss to the No. 4 Blue Devils with an 88-74 win over SMU on Saturday. Before the Duke loss, the Cardinals had a decisive 85-71 win over Virginia Tech, which marked the return of freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. to the lineup after an eight-game absence due to a back injury.
Louisville overcame a 12-point deficit and trailed by three at halftime before turning up the heat on SMU. Brown shot just 1-for-13 from the field at Duke but scored 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting against SMU. Four other Cardinals reached double figures, with Isaac McKneely (14 points on 4-for-9 3-point shooting), Ryan Conwell (12 points on 4-for-15 shooting), and J’Vonne Hadley (10 points) joining reserve standout Khani Rooths, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds in 20 minutes.
“(The Cardinals) responded exactly how I thought they would,” said Louisville coach Pat Kelsey. “Just didn’t blink, didn’t panic, and just went back to work, dusted themselves off, got up, attacked.”
Louisville also scored 47 points off the bench against SMU as opposed to just six in the Duke game. Brown came off the bench, but the solid game from Rooths and 15 points combined from Aly Khalifa and Kobe Rodgers helped Louisville pull away from the Mustangs.
“Our bench gave us a really, really big boost,” noted Kelsey.
The Cardinals should be in good shape for NCAA Tournament purposes, having just a single loss (at Stanford on Jan. 2) below NET Quad 1 on the season. Louisville is No. 17 in the current NET rankings.
At the other end of the spectrum, Notre Dame (11-11, 2-7) is just 1-7 in January and has likely played its way out of NCAA Tournament consideration. The Irish have been without star guard Markus Burton since a broken ankle on Dec. 5 and were 7-3 with Burton but have gone just 4-8 in his absence.
Notre Dame could use a boost off an 86-72 loss at Syracuse on Saturday that was a second straight loss and seventh in eight games. The Irish pulled even at 12 early but an 11-0 Syracuse run allowed the Orange to pull away. Notre Dame climbed within 66-60 midway through the second half but never got closer.
Freshman guard Jalen Haralson scored a season-best 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting but Notre Dame lacked balance, with the only other double-digit scorer being Braeden Shrewsberry, who tallied 17 points and made 3 of 8 from 3-point range for half of Notre Dame’s long-range baskets. The Irish got only 10 points from their bench.
Meanwhile, Syracuse connected on 57.1% of its shots, including going 10-for-25 on 3-point shooting.
“We have to be better defensively on the road,” said coach Micah Shrewsberry. He later noted, “We’re really try to hone in on… details and just keep getting better at those things to allow us to give ourselves a chance.”
The Irish, No. 85 in the current NET rankings, have just a single Quad 1 win on the season and are facing a monumental uphill climb to reach the NCAA Tournament. Shrewsberry — just 76-80 in his coaching career at Penn State and now in his third season at Notre Dame — could be on the hot seat.
–Field Level Media
