Cardinals Outpaced by Fighting Irish in Hard-Fought Conference Game
The Louisville Cardinals faced a challenging contest at the KFC Yum! Center, ending with a score of 72-50 in favor of the visiting Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Cardinals now hold a record of 0-0, while the Fighting Irish also stand at 0-0 after this conference game.
In front of an attendance of 11,342 fans, the home team struggled to find their rhythm against a determined Notre Dame squad. The Cardinals put up a consistent effort in both halves with 25 points each but were unable to match Notre Dame's offensive surge which tallied 31 and then an impressive 41 points in the subsequent half.
Louisville's defense managed to block six shots and steal twice from their opponents. Despite these efforts, they could not contain Notre Dame's offense which boasted a solid field goal percentage at 42 percent and was particularly effective from beyond the arc with a three-point shooting percentage at 44 percent. The Fighting Irish capitalized on turnovers as well, scoring 11 points off turnovers compared to just one by Louisville.
The Cardinals' offensive stats reflected their struggles; they shot only 34 percent from the field and were less successful from three-point range with just four made threes out of seventeen attempts for a lowly shooting percentage of only twenty-four percent. At the free-throw line, Louisville made eight out of sixteen attempts resulting in fifty percent accuracy.
Notre Dame excelled on rebounds grabbing forty-two compared to Louisville's thirty-seven. This included eight offensive boards for both teams but resulted in ten second-chance points for Notre Dame versus five for Louisville. Assists also told part of today’s story: twelve for Notre Dame while Louisville managed ten assists coupled with eleven turnovers leading to an assists turnover ratio below one (0.91).
Looking ahead, fans can catch the next game featuring the Louisville Cardinals as they visit Cameron Indoor Stadium to face off against Duke Blue Devils on February 28th at seven o'clock PM Eastern Time. This matchup will be broadcast nationally on ACC Network channel six hundred twelve for those who wish to follow along as these two teams battle it out on court.