No. 11 Louisville defeated the Syracuse Orange 90-66 Feb. 19 at the KFC Yum! Center, putting their two-game losing streak behind them.
The Cards immediately showed their dominance from behind the arc when senior Dwayne Sutton drained a three-pointer assisted by freshman David Johnson on the first play of the game. Senior Ryan McMahon matched the energy with a couple of three-pointers to a quick 11-5 lead to begin the game.
Freshman Quincy Guerrier helped keep Syracuse in the game early on with his ability to grab rebounds and make shots.
McMahon finished the half with two more three-pointers which ended up being the last shots he made from the field. This help allowed the Cards to take a 41-34 lead into half-time.
To begin the second half, junior Malik Williams fired on all cylinders, scoring eight points and grabbing four rebounds in the first five minutes of play. This momentum allowed the Cards to develop a double digit lead.
The Orange found difficulty scoring in the second half. Two minutes of scoreless basketball from Syracuse allowed the Cards to go on a 13-0 run and brought their lead to 25 points with nine minutes left in the game.
The Cardinals ability to move the ball helped them tremendously in this game as they racked up 23 assists as a team, the most they accumulated for a game this year. Their ability to grab offensive rebounds greatly helped them as they had four more than Syracuse and outrebounded them 45-36 as a team.
Sophomore Buddy Boeheim had 15 points and Guerrier had 14 for Syracuse in their loss.
Williams matched his career high in rebounds with 13 in his first start of the year while scoring 14 points as well. Sutton helped the team with 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Nwora only shot 5-18 but still put together 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists to end the game.
Photo by Anna Claire Will // The Louisville Cardinal
