By Harry Barsan and Derek DeBurger

Louisville got a desperately needed win over the Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee.

This is the Cards’ first win in Tallahassee since 2018 when David Padgett was the interim head coach.

Early and often

FSU his a quick three-pointer to take the lead, but the Cards quickly responded to tie the game up at five points a piece.

Louisville then surged to an early 11-0 run with five-straight buckets including back-to-back dishes from Chucky Hepburn and a jumper and a three by Terrence Edwards Jr. Hepburn would record five of the Cardinal’s eight first half assists.

After the run the Cardinals offense entered a lull of four scoreless minutes where the Seminoles drew back within one point.

Louisville responded with consecutive baskets and continued to push the lead to eight points, but Florida State wouldn’t go away.

The Cards kept the Noles at arm’s length, but three-and-a-half minutes to end the half without a field goal let FSU creep back into the game.

By the half, the Cards led by a score of 36-34 after a steal and a break-away dunk by the Seminoles.

Bombs away

After a free throw from Noah Waterman, Malique Ewin hit a shot to bring the lead back down to one point. The Cards pushed the lead back up to six with a layup and a three from Waterman, but FSU matched it to take the score down to 42-41.

Louisville then made six of their next seven shots, including two threes, to take a 56-45 lead.

After the Seminoles made it a two-possession game, the Cards once again made five of their next six threes to make it 70-58. Reyne Smith hit five shots in a row from deep during the Cards’ run, drawing the attention away from Hepburn and toward him.

From that point on, it was mostly smooth sailing. The Cards held a double-digit lead for much of the remaining time and hit clutch free throws to ice the game.

Louisville left with a 90-76 victory.

Hope

While the Cards shot well all around today, 50.9% from the field and 51.7% from three, it was the second half where they really shined.

Louisville made 10-of-15 from deep in the second, including a phenomenal 5-of-5 from Smith.

Smith scored a game-high 27 points going 6-of-9 from three.

Hepburn and Edwards both dished eight dimes each, adding to their 19 and 16 points, respectively. Their eight assists each is the first time two Cards players have had eight or more assists in a game since Peyton Siva and Gorgui Dieng did so in the 2013 Big East Championship game.

Waterman had a solid performance as well, making 4-of-7 from deep for 15 points to get out of his slump.

Louisville kept good control of the rebounds this game, out-rebounding the Seminoles on both sides, highlighted by J’vonne Hadley’s eight boards. No FSU player gathered more than three rebounds.

Against a very handsy Seminole defense, Louisville held great ball control. While their seven turnovers was the lowest since the opener against Morehead, their 18 assist is the third-highest on the year.

Louisville picks up what is currently a quadrant-1 victory, their second of the season. The win will likely downgrade to quadrant-2 by the thick of conference play, avoiding the loss was the important thing as the Cards already had their backs against the wall.

Louisville has also now won two games in a row against FSU after losing their previous seven and nine out of 11 against the Seminoles.

The Cards improve to 7-5 on the season and 1-1 in conference play.

Photo Courtesy // Taris Smith, Louisville Athletics