How it happened: Far from perfect, Louisville handles Georgia Tech on Senior Day
It wasn’t as pleasing a victory as the Cardinals’ 2025 Senior Day win over Stanford. However, Louisville still got it done in the penultimate home game of the season, 87-70 over Georgia Tech.
Last year’s red out is most remembered for Chucky Hepburn‘s Cardinal-bird logo kiss as he walked off the floor, while this year’s was a rather imperfect performance against a Yellow Jackets team that has now lost nine games in a row.
Georgia Tech started 5-of-7 from the floor before going cold in the first half as Louisville entered the locker room with an 11-point lead.
The second half was more of the same. The Cards shot it well, and the lead was as many as 25 with 10:56 to go before several Yellow Jacket runs eventually cut the Louisville lead back to 11. Pat Kelsey’s team came out of the locker room into the second period by holding Georgia Tech to a 2-of-10 start.
Mikel Brown Jr. led the Cardinals with 19 points, hitting three triples and snatching four rebounds. Despite shooting the ball just about as well as anyone in the nation, the turnover bug has hit Brown and the Cards hard over the last few games. The freshman turned it over for four of the Cardinals’ 18 total and has had more turnovers than assists in each of the last three games.
Senior forward J’Vonne Hadley continues to be Louisville’s most consistent contributor and scored nine first-half points before eventually finishing above his average at 17, also grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists. He was an efficient shooting 6-of-11.
Isaac McKneely hit three triples for Louisville enroute to 14 points in 23 minutes. The senior sharpshooter also had what appeared to be one of his better defensive performances of the season, using his strength and physicality. The last Cardinal to hit double-figures was another senior guard, Ryan Conwell, who seemed to pick up confidence late, scoring 10 of his 15 in the second half.
Georgia Tech’s Baye Ndongo and Akai Fleming tallied 17 and 15, respectively, as the Yellow Jackets dropped their 13th ACC game of the season.
After the conclusion of Saturday’s win, seniors Cole Sherman, Spencer Legg, Isaac McKneely, Kasean Pryor, Kobe Rogers, Aly Khalifa, J’Vonne Hadley, and Ryan Conwell were all honored amongst their families.
Louisville, now with 20 wins on the season and nine in conference play, will head to North Carolina and face the top-20 Tar Heels on Monday night.
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