How it happened: No. 11 Louisville dismantles Montana
The University of Louisville men’s basketball program officially closed its home chapter in 2025 with a 94-54 win over Montana.
After surrendering 83 points in Tuesday’s loss to Tennessee, the Cardinals bounced back with one of their more dominant defensive displays.
Louisville was without star freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. and his backup Kobe Rodgers versus the Grizzlies. Brown was sidelined for the second straight game with a lower back injury, and Rodgers was still in concussion protocol after exiting Tuesday’s loss.
Adrian Wooley started his second consecutive game in Brown’s place and didn’t quite match his 19-point performance against the Vols, finishing with just six against the Grizzlies. However, the sophomore guard cleaned up in other areas, tallying six rebounds and four assists.
Montana kept it competitive for the first 15 minutes of the game, battling and being physical in the opening sequences. It started as another rough shooting day for the Cards. They were 5-of-18 (27.8%) from beyond the arc in the first half, but still closed the opening stanza on a dominant 17-0 run and held Montana scoreless for the final four and a half minutes.
J’Vonne Hadley was a facilitator, dishing out three assists and also adding double-figure points with 13. In total, five Cardinals finished in double figures, including Isaac McKneely, who hit four of six 3-pointers.
Aly Khalifa and Sananda Fru both spent some time on the floor together, and this two-big lineup might be something. They had only played three total possessions and two minutes together entering Saturday. Khalifa was used as the pseudo-point guard, dishing out a team-best six assists. He also had three steals.
Fru played his most complete game as a Cardinal, making his first nine shots and scoring 18 points. The 6-foot-10 German was aggressive in getting his shot, while staying efficient and also being a monster on the glass, leading the Cards with eight boards and also making a difference on the interior defensively.
Coming in, Montana’s leading scorer, Money Williams, was averaging over 19 points a game and had the highest assist rate in the nation among individual players. The Cards held him to just four points and zero made field goals. It was just the second time in Williams’s college career that he was held without a field goal.
Louisville will now go on a 10-day break before heading out west to start ACC play against both California and Stanford. No conference team won the trip’s two games a season ago.
