The Louisville Men’s Basketball team dropped its second straight game on Monday night, falling to 9-3 on the season and 4-2 in the ACC with a 78-65 loss against Florida State at home. Florida State improved to 8-2 and 4-1. The Seminoles have now won four straight games against the Cards dating back to 2018.
Carlik Jones led Louisville with 17 points and 3 assists. David Johnson had 15 points and 8 rebounds for the Cards. Jae’Lyn Withers added 14 points and 9 boards. Louisville shot 43.9 percent from the field and made just 4 of its 16 attempts from three-point range.
For Florida State, Raiquan Gray led the way with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Wyatt Wilkes had 13 points and 3 rebounds. Malik Osborne, Rayquan Evans, and Scottie Barnes each scored in double figures as well. The Seminoles shot 50.0 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three.
Louisville has struggled immensely against long teams like Florida State all season. Offensively, the Cards were completely overmatched, unable to get anything going and the defense was not good enough to keep them competitive. Aside from an 8-10 minute stretch in the middle of the game, Florida State absolutely dominated from start to finish.
It will be easy to chalk this up to the matchup. Florida State has owned Louisville for years now. Louisville continues to be exposed, though, against teams with good interior defense. Unless the three-point shooting dramatically improves, it is hard to see things changing any time soon. There will still be a ton of wins left on the schedule for this Cardinal team, but they will continue to struggle against some of the better teams in the nation with elite size.
At 9-3 it is hardly time to panic, but Louisville’s resume is lacking a signature win, and there are only a couple opportunities left. The game this upcoming weekend just got much more important as a struggling Duke side comes to town looking to bounce back against a Louisville team that has looked equally as beatable of late.
Up Next:
Louisville is at home on Saturday for a matchup with the Duke Blue Devils at 4:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.
