By Harry Barsan

Louisville fell to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in gut-wrenching fashion, blowing an 11-point halftime lead.

This game snapped Louisville’s 10-game winning streak, which spanned all the way back to December. Almost poetically, the last time the Cards had a win streak of 10, they also lost at Georgia Tech.

The bigger they are

The game got going pretty darn quick, with Tech scoring on their first two possessions before Terrence Edwards Jr. sank a three-pointer to get Louisville on the board.

Tech answered back with a solid run, capitalizing on a string of possessions. Despite Baye Ndongo airballing a three, he got his own rebound and kicked it out to Naithan George who sank a three of his own.

The Yellow Jackets would shoot 5-of-5 on five straight possessions, claiming an early 9-14 lead.

The Cards kept pace, however, thanks to some great three-point shooting from J’Vonne Hadley and Edwards. Edwards, specifically, was the one to thank for keeping Louisville in the game, scoring 10 of the Cards’ first 15 points.

Right out of the first break, Chucky Hepburn nailed a three to give the Cards the lead. He followed that up by drawing a foul and collecting a steal, effectively taking two straight possessions from the Yellow Jackets.

After a rough patch from both teams, Hepburn and Edwards each buried triples.

After a bucket from Tech’s Ndongo, a lid magically appeared on the Yellow Jacket’s rim, as they would go 0-of-10 from the field, even going 0-of-2 on free throws until finally making a bucket. However, in all that lost time the Cards only managed two field goals.

Soon after on a loose ball, a whole slew of players were tangled up at half court before Aboubacar Traore found it on a deflection, dishing it to a wide open Hadley who put it down for a dunk.

The Cards kept finding their shots, as Hepburn assisted to Reyne Smith on his first three of the half before Hepburn found a bucket himself on the very next possession.

At the half, the Cards stood on top 38-27.

The harder they fall

The Yellow Jackets came out of the locker rooms a whole different team.

After only a 38.7% field goal rate in the first, Tech made three of their first four field goals. Still, the lead stood at 10 as a Hepburn got a shot to count after a goaltending call.

The Yellow Jackets would then enter the run of their lives, outsourcing Louisville 21-3 over the next six minutes.

The Cards missed their next seven of eight shots and went a slight 1-of-4 from the free throw line. This rough spot would give the Yellow Jackets a surprising and commanding 52-60 lead.

The Cards had a huge chance to capitalize after an errant Tech pass soared into hands of Hadley, but he could only score one of two free throws.

With some ground to make up and a chance to pull within four, the Cards continued to struggle at the line with Hadley going 1-of-2 again. Still, Hepburn found a loose rebound before giving Traore a good look for an easy bucket to bring the score within three, forcing Tech to call a timeout.

However, the Cards left Tech’s Lance Terry scored on a wide open three for his third of the half, giving Tech a 57-63 lead.

With only a scarce five minutes remaining, the Cards continued to flub away possessions, missing free throws and giving Tech open looks.

Hadley responded to the deeper hole with a nice and-1 conversion, causing Ndongo to foul out with a double-double. Unfortunately Hadley fouled out only a few moments later, shortening an already tight Cardinals bench.

After both squads exchanged free throws, the Cards deficit was merely four points with only a minute to play.

With possession and a chance to push the lead, Tech killed the clock before Duncan Powell drove to the bucket, drawing a foul with just a second left on the shot clock. After sinking the first, the Cards rebounded the miss and called a timeout.

Down five, The Cards tried to force a look to Smith out of the break. He was finally found in the corner, but threw up a contested shot that missed and fell into the hands of the Yellow Jackets.

The Cards got another chance after Tech missed the front end of the 1-and-1, but lost possession after an effort from Edwards had the ball slip away from his hands. With a quick foul from Smith, Tech sunk both free throws effectively ending the game. 

By a score of 70-77, Louisville suffered their first defeat since 2024.

Breakdown of a breakdown

The Cards haven’t quite had a collapse of this proportion all season long. They met their fate with a really poor second half performance in most facets of the game.

Louisville shot 9-of-17 on free throws in the second half, missing most of them while the outcome was still up for grabs. Make free throws at a modest rate would have put the Cards in a position to take the lead late, not try and force a play that hadn’t worked all night.

After a loud first half from Edwards and Hepburn, they combined for only 13 points on 4-of-14 from the field after halftime. Edwards would end the game as Louisville’s leading scorer with 22 points, and Hepburn had his first game without seven-plus assists since the Kentucky game.

Most notably, however, was Smith’s dip in production. Smith tied his season low of points today with only three points on 1-of-5 from three, his lowest since the Clemson game. The Yellow Jackets were one of the only teams to take away his outside presence, turning the half court into a four-on-four.

Maybe the biggest factor of the game was that Louisville was simply out-hustled. Georgia Tech wanted the win more, and their energy was the reason they came up with most of the 50/50 balls.

After a harrowing loss, the winning streak ends at 10 as Louisville falls to 16-6 on the season and 9-2 in the ACC.

The Cards will look to bounce back at Boston College on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Conte Forum.

Photo Courtesy // Mallory Peak, Louisville Athletics