By Justin Taylor

The No. 24 Louisville Cardinals defeated the Baylor Bears Saturday evening to extend their win streak to five in a row.

Back and Forth

Baylor started the game by knocking down their shots, but Ryan Conwell gave the Cards an early 5-4 lead with a second-chance triple.

The Bears were ice cold after that. They missed their first seven threes from beyond the arc. Louisville’s transition defense made them play solely in the half-court, and it was clearly messing with their game plan. Baylor’s Michael Rataj broke the scoring drought for the Bears with a hookshot, and Tounde Yessoufouv inched the Bears closer, the score 15-14.

J’Vonne Hadley hit a corner three on the fast break, which briefly held Baylor at bay. Sanada Fru followed him up by throwing down an effortless dunk to widen the gap to 23-16.

Cameron Carr scored the first three of the night for Baylor. He ignited a 7-0 run that tied the game at 23. James Nnaji increased the run to 12-0 with free throws and a layup, giving them their biggest lead of the night at 28-23.

Isaac McKneely ended their run with a cut to the basket for a bucket. In the midst of a 16-2 run, Louisville finished strong as Hadley continued to score in the paint.

Just before the half, Mikel Brown Jr. tied the game with a deep logo three to make the score 34-34.

Finishing touches

The cards came out of the break pushing the pace to get ahead. Brown Jr., Hadley and Fru all scored in transition off Baylor turnovers during a 10-2 run.

Brown puts the moves on Yessoufou to get to the cup for his seventh 20 point game of the season. Both teams attacked the basket aggressively, with Conwell widening the gap 57-44.

Baylor’s Issac Williams never gave up though, making savvy cuts to the rim off of an Yessoufou steal and feeding him on the fast break for a quick four point swing. The Cards remained in front 59-48. Brown continued getting to the rim at ease, making plays and getting to the free throw line if his shot couldn’t fall.

J’vonne Hadley hit a three point jumper and Louisville pushed ahead to their largest lead of the night, sitting on top 73-60. The Cards continued to hold onto their double digit lead throughout much of the second half. No matter how many James Nanji dunks Baylor had in store Louisville responded.

Louisville won 82-71.

Send Off

The Cardinals continue to improve each game since an embarrassing 83-54 blowout to Duke.

Brown is back in form, having now scored 74 points on 59% from the field in his last two outings. Conwell also seems to have been brought back to life. The effort and intensity has been taken to a whole new level on both ends of the ball.

In each of their last two games the cards have entered the second half with more energy than their opposition. Louisville is getting to the paint at ease and finding a balance between driving and shooting the three with wondrous results.

Two important dates Louisville fans should mark on their calendar’s will be Feb. 23 and 28. These days are when Pat Kelsey’s boys will face off against their last ranked opponents of the regular season, North Carolina and Clemson respectively. While it is unlikely freshman phenom Caleb Wilson will be available for the former, both games will be a test to see just how far the cards have come, as they are 2-5 so far against ranked teams.

Louisville is now 19-6 on the season, and will travel to face SMU on Tuesday, Feb. 17.

Photo by Nolton Alfred / The Louisville Cardinal