How it happened: No. 6 Louisville blitzes No. 22 Indiana, 87-78
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Following its first loss of the season, No. 6 Louisville entered and started Saturday’s matchup against No. 22 Indiana with something to prove. The result? A rather dominant, 87-78 victory over the Hoosiers.
It was the 23rd all-time meeting between the two historic programs, with IU entering Saturday’s matchup holding the advantage. The two had played on a neutral floor each of the last two years and split.
Louisville started just about as well as you could against a top-25 team. The Cardinals had a 16-0 lead just six minutes in. In that span, Indiana turned it over four times and hit three triples. By the final buzzer, Louisville had scored 11 points off 13 Indiana turnovers. Coming in, the Hoosiers were 13th in the nation in offensive turnover percentage and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1).
The Indianapolis native, Ryan Conwell, was playing in front of friends and family. The guard led the Cards with a team-high 21 points on three 3s and was a near-perfect 10-of-11 from the foul line in 31 minutes.
Senior sharpshooter Isaac McKneely hit five long balls for his 15 points, and in the front court, J’Vonne Hadley and Sananda Fru both had two of their better games of the season. The sixth-year, Hadley posted a season-best 15 points and six rebounds, while the German Fru was perfect from the floor, hitting a triple and finishing with 12 points and a season-best seven rebounds.
It wasn’t until there were 5:45 left in the contest that star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. hit his first field goal. He finished with nine points, just his second single-digit contest, and three assists.
Off the bench, Kobe Rodgers had a season-best 12 points, tallying a block and a steal. He was the fifth Cardinal to finish in double-figures.
Indiana’s Tucker DeVries had three fouls in the first half, but still made four 3-pointers and finished with 26 points, while Nick Dorn hit five shots from behind the arc. The Hoosiers cut the lead to as many as eight down the stretch, but in the end, a fast Louisville start was too much for the Hoosiers and their first-year head coach, Darian DeVries.
The Cardinals, now 8-1, will have a week off to focus on exams before hosting another local rival, Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers, next Saturday.
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