By Harrison Plank

No. 20 Louisville fell apart in the second half and was not able to overcome No. 6 Duke, as they dropped their second game in a row.

Mikel Brown Jr. remained the only Cardinal listed out, his fifth straight absence due to injury.

Get the umbrellas

The Cards won the tip and started the game with a hot hand. Ryan Conwell made three straight three-pointers for Louisville, giving them the lead early and forcing the Blue Devils out of their zone defense.

Conwell wasn’t the only card shooting well from beyond the arc. After being left wide open from deep, Aly Khalifa proceeded to drain his next four shots.

The home crowd erupted for the big man, and an Adrian Wooley dunk ended a 12-2 run to put the Cards up 24-14.

Duke star Cameron Boozer wasn’t having any of it and decided to go to work. He scored three straight field goals for the Blue Devils, laying down a monster slam to cut the Duke deficit to eight.

Continued triples by the Cardinals kept them in the lead, and a last-second tip by J’Vonne Hadley would put the Cards up nine going into the break.

The Cards led at halftime 47-38.

Conwell and Khalifa were on fire in the first half. Conwell went into the break with 16 points, shooting 4-for-7 from deep. Khalifa had his best shooting half of the season, scoring 12 while going 4-for-4 from deep.

Missing more than shots

Louisville cooled off after halftime while Duke ramped up their intensity.

The Devils stuck Dame Sarr on Conwell and didn’t let him out of their site. Outside of the senior guard, they seemed twice as physical on the defensive end and drew countless fouls on offense.

Louisville was called for seven fouls in less than seven minutes, putting Duke into the bonus at the 13-minute mark.

The Cards started half 0-for-6 from three, allowing Duke the opportunity to go on a 10-0 run. The Blue Devils run was capped off by a tough Caleb Foster finish at the rim, giving Duke a 56-53 lead.

After a timeout from Pat Kelsey, the Cards were able to steady themselves for just a bit and reclaim the lead at 60-59 off a layup from Conwell.

However, that’s where the second half success would stop. Louisville had multiple stretches where they got nothing to fall, while Duke was able to grow their lead.

During one of these stretches, Boozer was able to extend his range to beyond the arc. A three from the big gave Duke a nine-point lead, their largest of the night up to that point.

Louisville seemed out of gas, unable to keep up with Duke in the homestretch. A late alley-oop Slam from Boozer to Maliq Brown would be the final nail in the coffin for the Cards.

Louisville lost 84-73.

So far from victory, so close to Duke

Louisville came into the game without their best player and were still able to put up a good fight, but the over reliance on the deep shot would ultimately cause their downfall.

After shooting nearly 50% from beyond the arc in the first, the Cards struggled to find continued success. The team only shot a staggering 11.8% from deep in the second half and failed to cut bait and hit shots in the paint.

Boozer was a dominant force all game, but he really took over in the second half. He ended the game with a remarkable 27 points on 10-for-12 shooting. Boozer was a work horse, playing a staggering 39 minutes in the Blue Devils late game comeback.

Conwell started the game on fire, but overall still had a good performance. After starting the game 3-for-3 from three-point range, he hit only one of his next eight. Despite his lackluster second half he led the team in points and rebounds, scoring 24 and grabbing seven boards.

In three matchups against the Blue Devils, Kelsey has led at halftime in every contest but is now 0-3.

Louisville is now 11-4 on the season and 1-2 in conference play.

Photo by Jai’Michael Anderson / The Louisville Cardinal