By Harrison Plank

No. 16 Louisville began conference play with a dominant road win against the California Golden Bears.

Mikel Brown Jr. missed his third straight game, with Kasean Pryor joining him on the injury report.

Keep them on the Ropes

Louisville got the scoring started for the night, with Sananda Fru scoring off an alley-oop from Ryan Conwell.

This kicked off a 10-0 run for the Cards, shooting 4-for-4 from the field, forcing Cal to call a timeout.

After the timeout, Cal would get on the scoreboard, but the Cardinals kept their foot on the gas.

On three separate possessions, Louisville’s defense held the Golden Bears till the end of the shot clock, forcing them into either a violation or a messy shot.

Cal couldn’t seem to knock down anything.

At the other end of the court, Louisville seemed to be scoring at will.

Aly Khalifa would find Isaac McNeeley with a feed in the paint, where Louisville would continue to dominate the rest of the half.

Both teams continued to share buckets, but Cal pushed to cut the lead before the half.

A pair of threes from Justin Pippin and Chris Bell would cap off a scoring run that would make the game more manageable for the Golden Bears.

Fouls by the Cards kept the Golden Bears alive in a scoring drought late in the first half. Louisville committed 16 personal fouls at the half, and 6 Louisville players would go into the locker room with multiple fouls.

Louisville would go into the half up 48-34.

Keep it rolling

Fru would get the scoring started in the second half as well, getting fouled on a layup and hitting one of his two free throws. Louisville’s first field goal of the half would come from a J’Vonne Hadley lay up.

Cal would respond with a slam by big man Lee Dort. But other than that Cal couldn’t seem to get anything going offensively.

With Cal’s offense stagnating, Louisville took the game back in their hands. Khalifa was able to facilitate the ball and find Khnai Rooths for the slam.

The Cards continued to roll, eventually building to a 66-41 lead.

Cal had a nice scoring stretch, going on a 9-0 run when it was needed most. Louisville’s Vangelis Zougris would commit a late foul which would get upgraded to a technical foul and got the Cal crowd active and on their feet.

The two shots at the line put the Cal run at 11-0, then a triple from Bell took the Louisville lead down to just 11 points.

But Louisville would have a strong response to this surge of energy, attacking the paint and keeping the win well out of reach of the Golden Bears.

Louisville would win 90-70.

Any coast, any time

Despite traveling across the country and missing their star guard, the Cards got off to a blazing start in ACC play.

Incredible defensive stops limited the Golden Bears offense, with Cal only shooting 34% from the field.

The cards dominated the paint, outscoring the Golden Bears 36 to 16 and out-rebounding them 50 to 31.

Conwell was the leading scorer, notching 26 points on 6-for-13 from deep with four assists and four boards.

Fru had his first double-double of the season, logging 13 points and 14 rebounds.

The cards pick up their first road win of the year, and end Cal’s nine-game win streak.

Pat Kelsey also picked up his sixth road-win of 20-plus points at Louisville, more than the previous five coaches combined.

Louisville is now 11-2 on the year, and 1-0 in ACC play.

Photo Courtesy / Nicole Finch / Louisville Athletics