By John McCarthy —
The No. 11 Louisville Cardinals men’s basketball team lost 82-67 to the No. 6 Florida State Seminoles Feb. 24 at the Donald L. Tucker Center.
The Cardinals (24-6. 14-4) played in front of an unwelcoming crowd, as the arena was at 100% capacity. With this loss, Louisville now sits a game half back from Florida State in the current ACC standings.
The Cardinals were strong defensively in the first half and held the Seminoles (24-4, 14-3) at 15 points through the first ten minutes of the game.
Louisville’s old-school scoring style to get to the rim proved effective. The Cardinals produced only two-point buckets and free-throws through the first 13 minutes of the game until senior Ryan McMahon bottomed a three-pointer from the left wing to put the Cardinals up 24-17.
The Cardinals kept their space from Florida State on the scoreboard during the first half, matching every jumper the Seminoles hit from the field. Headed into the locker room for halftime, Louisville led Florida State 40-32.
Early in the second half, the Cardinals sat comfortably in the driver’s seat with a ten-point lead and looked to have the obvious momentum. Louisville soon went through a nine-minute scoring drought.
Seminoles senior Trent Forrest scored 14 of his 16 total points in the second half during Louisville’s stretch without a basket. Florida State ended up rallying back for the home victory due to the Cardinals scoring drought, defeating Louisville 82-67.
McMahon finished with 14 points. Junior Jordan Nwora had 13 points and eight rebounds. Freshman David Johnson totaled 13 points, four points and four assists. Senior Dywane Sutton finished with eight points and five rebounds.
The Seminoles’ field goal percentage propelled them to victory, they shot 51% from the field and 31% from the three-point line.
“We battled. I thought their pressure, although it might have not turned us over, kept us on our heels. We handled it the first 20 minutes. Just didn’t keep up the pace in the second half,” said Head coach Chris Mack.
Louisville will host Virginia Tech next at the KFC Yum! Center Mar. 1 at 6 p.m. on the ACC Network.
Photo by Anna Claire Will // The Louisville Cardinal
