How it happened: No. 24 Louisville stuffs Baylor in final non-conference battle
Pat Kelsey and 24th-ranked Louisville closed out the non-conference schedule with an impressive defensive performance and 82-71 win over Baylor in Fort Worth, Texas.
Louisville’s first free throw attempt didn’t come until there were under three minutes to play in the first half, where Baylor shot 15 in the same span. The two were in a steady battle before going into halftime tied at 34. It was shortly before then when Louisville turned it up defensively. The Cardinals ended up holding the Bears to 36.7 percent shooting overall and 9.1 percent (2-of-22) shooting from beyond the arc.
Scott Drew’s team wound up outshooting the Cardinals at the charity stripe by 10 attempts, but Louisville was able to earn more trips after halftime.
Senior forward Kasean Pryor saw a brief stint on the floor in the first half but was quickly pulled after receiving a technical for making remarks to the Baylor bench. However, Pryor eventually ended up rewarding Kelsey for sticking with him with some productive second-half minutes. He made his only field goal attempt, made some nice defensive plays, and grabbed a rebound.
Mikel Brown Jr. continued to impress, which feels impossible after his record-setting 45-point performance against NC State, and made four first-half 3s en route to 29 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and a perfect percentage at the line. The freshman point guard also added six assists and a season-best five steals. Brown is now the first Louisville freshman to score 25-plus points three times in a single season.
J’Vonne Hadley is quietly having the best offensive month of his career and went for 20 points, missing just three shots, and recorded five rebounds and three assists. Aside from when he played just three minutes against Notre Dame due to injury, Hadley has scored double-figures in eight of his last nine games.
For the second game in a row, Louisville did a good job of bottling up and defending the opposition’s stronger and more physical guards, who can attack and create for themselves. Entering the contest, Baylor’s two NBA Draft prospects, Tounde Yessoufou and Cameron Carr, were both averaging over 18 points, but failed to get there on Saturday. Yessoufou had 16 points on an inefficient 5-of-16 from the field, and Carr shot a poor 1-of-11.
Baylor was led by 6-foot-1 guard Isaac Williams, who scored a career-high against a high-major opponent with his 20.
The Cards will stay in the Dallas area and play SMU for the second time this season on Tuesday.
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