By Harry Barsan

Louisville went on the road and scrapped their way to a victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

This is only the third win at the Joyce Center since Louisville and Notre Dame have been conference opponents, and it also snaps a four-game skid against the Irish.

Feelers

Notre Dame got out to the better start, taking a five-point lead and shutting down the Cardinals offense.

Reyne Smith finally kicked off scoring after almost two-and-a-half minutes on back-to-back three-pointers.

Louisville struggled, however, to keep up against Notre Dame’ fast start. The Irish shot 4-of-6 on three’s, giving them an early 12-18 lead.

The Cardinals had seemingly had enough of that, as they locked in with a 13-0 run. Noah Waterman and Khani Rooths each cashed a three, but it was Chucky Hepburn who highlighted the run.

Hepburn blocked just his second shot all year, then sank a three for his second score of the game. And on the very next possession, he deflected an Irish dribble to Rooths, who returned it to a charging Hepburn wide-open for an easy lay-in.

After the dust was settled, Louisville was up 25-18.

The Irish cut the lead back down to just three, but Louisville’s defense held strong by holding them scoreless for four minutes.

The refs had been fairly conservative with their whistles to that point. The still-masked James Scott shot the game’s first free throws with just four minutes to spare in the first half.

On the Cards’ last possession of the half, Waterman found Smith on a simple-yet-slick pass as he got a shooter’s roll through the rim.

The shot sent the Cards into the half up 35-28.

Routine

The second half started similar to the first, with the Cards unable to score while the Irish inch their way into the scorers column.

Yet again, Smith broke the Cards’ early-second-half-blues with his 100th three of the season.

Tae Davis then got going after fouling out of the first, cutting the lead to just three points.

Terrence Edwards Jr. then opened it back up with a three off a Hepburn dime.

After a slow stall on both ends with a plethora of free throw shooting, Edwards found Scott on a funky missed-lob-turned-tip-in to connect for Louisville’s first double-digit lead of the night.

The ally-oop marked the 16th consecutive conference game where Louisville has led by 10-plus points.

Despite pulling within nine with a quick bucket, the game would never get any closer for the Fighting Irish.

Aboubacar Traore neutralized The Irish comeback with a tough and-one to set the stage for the end-game run the Cards.

J’Vonne Hadley outdid him right after with back-to-back triples to put the Cards up by 18, both on assists from Hepburn.

Notre Dame gave one last push with a full-court press, but the Cards broke it more often than not.

Louisville eased into a 75-60 victory.

Shared the sugar

The scoring for Louisville was about as balanced as it could get. Each starter scored at least 10 but none more than 16.

Hepburn was the leader with 16 points and six assists on 7-of-10 shooting. He also recorded his 10th game this season with three-plus steals.

Smith put up his very reliable four threes, which he has done in over half of his games this year, to notch a dozen while Edwards had a less efficient but equally productive 14 points, scoring two threes to match his 4-of-5 from the free throw line.

Louisville did a great job holding Notre Dame’s star, Markus Burton, to a less than ideal night. While he score 22 points, he turned the ball over six times and often led directly to points in transition.

Louisville now surges behind one game of first in the ACC

The Cards are now 20-6 on the season and 13-2 in the ACC, the best conference record through 15 games in program history.

Louisville will head home for a match against a Florida State team whom they already beat by 14 earlier this season.

Photo Courtesy // Mallory Peak, Louisville Athletics