2nd Half , Different team.

The vibes were high, and all the moods were right as the blue devils of Duke came into town. The blue devils were ranked 6th in the nation, and the Cardinals were ranked 20th in the nation prior to tip-off.

The game started off with a bang as guard Ryan Conwell caught fire, hitting three straight 3-pointers, and of course, not long after, the blue devils would come back. The Cardinals, up to this point, were making crisp passes and battling on the inside of the paint, which they really hadn’t in past games.

Then the unthinkable happened: the Egyptian Magician Aly Khalifa would make three straight 3-pointers himself, setting the place ablaze! At the 11:31 mark, a tv timeout was called with the Cardinals up 10.

After the timeout, Kasean Pryor would check into the game, and before the ball could be inbounded, a foul was called, resulting in both players receiving off-setting techs. Pryor walked up to the Duke player, touching his chest with his head, resulting in the Duke player swatting at him.

Not long after this interaction, Ngongba of Duke would pick up his third foul of the game in the first half, which would put Duke in a tough spot early. McKneely of Louisville would join the deep-range party as he would make his first three of the game.

After a couple of missed shots by the Cardinals and makes by the blue devils, Ryan Conwell would drive down and drain his fourth deep-range shot of the game (4-4 at this point).

Just before the final TV timeout of the first half, Rooths would put forth an amazing effort in a crazy chase-down, resulting in a great block giving the Cardinals the lead at 39-29.

A few plays later, Aly Khalifa would make his fourth three-pointer of the game, and at the end of the first half, the Cardinals would go into halftime up 9 points (47-39). Ryan Conwell & Aly Khalifa would lead the way in the first half for the Cardinals scoring a combined 28 points, and going 8-11 from deep range.

Things didn’t start off on the right foot for the Cardinals as the blue devils would close the scoring gap to four points within the first four minutes of the second half. After the first media timeout, the Cardinals were up 53-49, having gone just 2-5 from the field at this point.

Flash forward to the 11:46 mark of the game, and a double-digit lead is gone, eight second-half fouls committed, and six missed shots in a row during a 9-0 run by Duke.

It had been a struggle up to this point for the Cardinals, having only scored 15 points, going 1-10 from deep, on a 6-18 shooting count. At 7:29 to go in the game, Louisville would be down 71-62,  looking for any sign of life.

🤦 And sadly, to be honest, nothing really changed from then on. At the 2:52 mark, Louisville was down 79-68, having outscored Louisville 41-21. They hadn’t been able to buy a bucket after the hot first half they had.

The game would end in a fashion no team would like as the cardinals would fall by a score of 84-71. Louisville is now 11-3 on the season, and more then likely could fall out of the top 25 when next weeks rankings come out.

Up next , Boston College 1/10/26