By Hannah Walker —
Men’s basketball entered the ACC tournament on Mar. 10 to play against Duke’s Blue Devils at the Greensboro Coliseum. Louisville ultimately lost to Duke’s successful offense and defense with a final score of 56-70.
During the first half of the game, U of L was left hanging on by a thread. Duke was looking for a win after losing two games against Louisville previously this season.
With the help of Duke’s sophomore forward Mathew Hurt, the Blue Devils were able to tread a 10-point lead against Louisville during most of the first half.
Nonetheless, after a timeout made by the Cardinal’s head coach Chris Mack, Louisville came out during the bottom of the first half with much more energy.
Graduate guard Carlik Jones scored 9 points and 2 rebounds for the Cards. Sophomore guard David Johnson also scored points for Louisville, making 7 points and 5 rebounds.
After a turnaround for U of L, the Cardinals went into halftime with a score of 29-30.
Going into the second half, the fans were sure that Louisville would be able to keep up their performance for the rest of the game. However, Duke held an extensive lead for the majority of the second half.
Johnson continued to be the star player for the Cardinals after scoring 7 points and making 6 rebounds during the second half. But it wasn’t enough to counter the points made by Blue Devil freshman center Mark Williams, who scored 15 points and 10 rebounds by the end of the second half.
“I give credit to Duke,” Mack said in a post-game interview. “They played extremely well and they made some well adjustments from the first couple of games.”
Duke’s ability to play on Mar. 11 against Florida State will be determined after a positive COVID case was detected after the game. Louisville’s position for the NCAA tournament will be determined in later days.
File Photo // The Louisville Cardinal
