How it happened: No. 21 Louisville carved up by SMU
Entering Tuesday night’s game at SMU, the second of a five-day road trip to the Lone Star state for the Cardinals, it was clear the Mustangs’ effort would be one of their best of the season.
Then Andy Enfield’s team looked the part enroute to a 95-85 win over No. 21 Louisville, a game that slowly slipped through the Cards’ fingers. Having won five consecutive games, Pat Kelsey’s Louisville team had its best stretch of the season kick-started by a 14-point home win over SMU on Jan 31 — one of the more physical and rugged wins of the season. That couldn’t have been farther than how the Cards played in Tuesday’s rematch.
Louisville gave up a season-high 95 points to SMU, which averaged 1.301 points per possession. The Mustangs consistently got into the lane off the dribble and attacked mismatches in the midrange. Boopie Miller and Jaron Pierre led SMU in scoring with 23 and 25 points, respectively. Pierre was 10-of-19 from the floor and grabbed seven rebounds. Miller, the 5-foot-11 point guard, dished out nine assists and worked his way into the paint for eight 2-point field goals.
By game’s end, SMU had shot 58.5 percent from the field, 47.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 83.3 percent from the foul line.
Louisville was within striking distance for much of the contest and trailed at halftime by three behind a strong offensive performance, but didn’t make the plays necessary down the stretch. After halftime, the Cardinals turned it over 12 times and assisted on five field goals. Those numbers mark well below Kelsey’s standards. Only three Louisville players made a field goal in the final stanza, and senior guards Ryan Conwell and Isaac McKneely were not among them. Both struggled with foul trouble and had inefficient shooting nights. Conwell gave Louisville 12 points, and McKneely provided six.
J’Vonne Hadley continues to have one of the best stretches of his entire collegiate career. The sixth-year senior was second on the team in scoring on Tuesday with 14 and led the Cardinals with nine rebounds in 31 minutes. He and freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. became Louisville’s offense in the second half as Brown’s recent surge boosts him into the conversation as one of the best in the ACC. He worked his way to the rim with ease and scored a game-high 29 points, but turned it over seven times.
Louisville drops to 19-7 overall, 8-5 in the ACC, and will host the league’s worst team, Georgia Tech, next Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center.
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