Cards bounce the bearcats 74-64.

12:27 is the mark when Louisville hit their first field goal of the game. The Cardinals would start 0-9 from the field, 0-7 from 3pt field, and only converting a handful of free throws in nearly eight minutes.

It was very clear that up to this point the Bearcats of Cincinnati had come to play with their A game at Heritage Bank Arena.

Finally, the Cardinals would convert their first made three-pointer as Ryan Conwell would drain it within the 10-minute mark, and two shots later, star player freshman Mikel Brown would drain it himself.

The Cardinals would go on a hot streak themselves, as they’d go 4 for 5 making three 3pointers pushing their run to 11-0. This is and was an impressive response to the Bearcats 12–0 run.

After the run, the Cardinals had to get back into the game. The game would be a consistent back and forth type of deal the last eight minutes of the first half. The first half would end in a 32-28 lead by the Bearcats.

Below you’ll find your first half stats: ⬇️

Louisville

FG: 7/27

FG %: 25.9

3 %: 4/17

3 %: 23.5

Free throw: 10/11

FT %: 90.5

TRB: 15

Assist: 5

Turnover: 6

*Mikel Brown: 10pts/2ast/2reb

CardNation would get loud and proud at the 18:05 mark of the second half as Ryan Conwell would drain a deep three, this shot would tie the game 35-36.

In the first four minutes of the second half, Louisville would score 12 points, a vastly strong and different start from the first half.

The second half at the 11-minute mark had proven to be the Ryan Conwell show as he would drain another three, putting his total to 20, and the team up 48-43 with 10:59 to play.

Flash forward to the 8:50 mark, Rooths would drive from the top of the key and take it to the hoop, giving the Cardinals their biggest lead of the game up to this point: 52-45.

In the first 11 minutes of the second half, Louisville has scored 24 points, almost as much as they did in the first half, which was 28.

From the 8:50 to the 4:25 mark, Louisville would continue to hit shots, make passes, hit from the stripe, going to a 11, 10, and 8-point lead, 61-53.

And then Mikel Brown shows what and why. In just a span of 15 seconds, he would drain it from 25ft deep. Seconds after that, he would deflect a pass, get the ball passed back out to him for the slam!

In a game that started out about as ugly as anyone could want, the Louisville Cardinals would crawl, punch, kick, their way to victory. The last time the Cardinals faced off against the Bearcats was 3-4 years ago in Maui, where they got absolutely annihilated.

The tides definitely were different this time as the Cardinals proved in this old-school rivalry with the Beavers that they know how to keep pushing and moving forward.

Louisville would end up winning the game by a score of 74-64, improving to 5-0, ranked 6th in the nation. Ryan Conwell and Mikel Brown would score a combined 47 of the team’s 74 points.

Stats ⬇️

R. Conwell : 25pts/2ast/5reb

M. Brown : 22pts/6ast/5reb

S. Fru : 11pts/4reb

A. Wooley : 6pts/4reb