In arguably the most anticipated home game in years, the Louisville men’s basketball team fell quite a bit short on Saturday afternoon against 12th ranked Tennessee at the KFC Yum! Center. The Cards fell 77-55 at home to the Vols and never led once in the game.
Box Score:
Louisville found itself down 10-0 early and did not make a shot until more than five minutes into the first half. The Cards shot 5-23 from three in the opening half and needed a closing 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 14 points at the break.
Read more: Gameday Recap: Louisville vs. TennesseeLouisville was able to cut it to nine at one point in the half but any sort of momentum in this game was short lived. The game never felt that close at any point after the Cards dug that hole in the opening minutes.
Credit Tennessee for keeping Louisville’s offense out on the perimeter throughout the entire game on Saturday. The Cards struggled all day to get anything going towards the rim. When the ball did make it into the paint it rarely resulted in a two point attempt for Louisville. It was a similar defensive strategy we saw in the first exhibition game against Young Harris, just executed at an entirely different level. It will be interesting to see if this serves as a blueprint for opposing teams moving forward. Louisville will likely win a few games this year with their three point shooting, but it will need to figure out how to make things work when the shots are not falling like they weren’t on Saturday.
Coach Kelsey said it himself after the game, Tennessee outplayed Louisville in every facet of the game. Kudos to this Louisville staff for their willingness to play such a high profile opponent at home in just the second game of the season. We were never going to learn much against inferior competition other than that this team is a competent one compared to recent years, which is pretty low bar.
If you want one positive to take from Saturday, it is that this Cardinal fan base is ready to start supporting this program again. Much has been made about ticket prices, overall attendance etc. but to get 17,000 fans to show up for a noon game in November is about all you can ask for from fans that went through the unmitigated torture that they did over the past two seasons. Any doubt about these fans was erased on Saturday. The very first sign of optimism resulted in a packed Yum! Center against a ranked team. Louisville played some good opponents at home recently that did not draw a crowd. The energy and effort alone from this team and its staff has already gone a long way and should continue to moving forward.
Press Conference
🏀Louisville Men's Basketball Post-Game Presser: Tennessee🏀 https://t.co/ieiJiIWiSB@LouisvilleMBB @patkelsey @ChuckyHepburn @reynesmith #LsUp #GoCards #GetBuckets #OntoTheNext
— CSZ (@CardSportZone) November 9, 2024
Up Next:
Louisville is back at home on Tuesday night for a 7:00 p.m. tip against Bellarmine.
