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BUFFALO, NY — Louisville basketball is moving on to the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32 for the first time since 2017.
Pat Kelsey picked up his first March Madness win as a head coach with the sixth-seeded Cardinals’ 83-79 victory over No. 11 South Florida on Thursday at KeyBank Center.
So much for Bryan Hodgson’s Bulls being a trendy upset pick. They suffered their first loss since Jan. 31.
UofL will next play Saturday, against either No. 3 Michigan State or No. 14 North Dakota State. A tipoff time will be announced later Thursday.
Here are three takeaways from Louisville’s win over USF.
After their first warmup period Thursday afternoon, the Cards huddled together and broke it down on, “Defense!” Kelsey has said it from Day 1: That end of the court will determine their destiny.
And without starting point guard Mikel Brown Jr., who has been ruled out for the entirety of this week due to a reaggravated back injury, UofL needed to be especially stingy against a South Florida team that arrived in Buffalo with the eighth-best scoring offense (87.7 points per game on 43.9% shooting, 33.2% from 3-point range) and the seventh-best offensive rebounding rate (38.2%) in the country.
Louisville delivered out of the gate, jumping out to a 30-16 lead during the opening 14:58, by holding the Bulls to 6-for-26 shooting. That was huge, because the Cards netted only seven points the rest of the first half.
USF cut the deficit to 37-27 going into the locker room despite making only one of its 17 attempts from beyond the arc during the period. UofL needed to keep their foot on the gas, because Hodgson’s team also ranked 24th nationally in second-half scoring (44.1 points).
Sure enough, South Florida scored 49during the final 20 minutes — turning what was at its largest a 62-39 Louisville lead at the 12:50 mark of the second half into a single-digit game for the final 5:24. The Cards’ early stand loomed large.
Isaac McKneely was especially bummed after Louisville’s quarterfinal loss to Miami in last week’s ACC Tournament. The senior guard finished with six points on 2-for-8 shooting (1 for 6 from 3), two assists vs. three turnovers and four staples in his head after colliding with Ryan Conwell while pursuing an offensive rebound early in the first half.
"The only thing we can do is learn from this, get better from it and be a completely different team in March Madness," McKneely told The Courier Journal afterward.
A week later, he was a completely different version of himself – the version that kept Kelsey up at night when he was scouting Virginia last season.
McKneely powered the Cards’ strong start with a game-high 11 points at halftime Thursday on 4-for-5 shooting (3 for 4 from 3). And he finished with a team-high 23 on a 7-for-10 clip from deep — tying a career high set March 12, 2025, vs. Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament.
Five other Cards connected from deep en route to a 13-for-25 clip (52%). That’s how you bounce back from a 12-for-50 showing from 3 across two games in Charlotte.
With Brown on the bench, the Cards committed a season-high 22 turnovers leading to 24 points for South Florida on Thursday.
Ten of those led to eight points during the first half. The other 12 led to 16 points after halftime, which is how the Bulls were able to pull within single digits down the stretch.
Simply put: That can’t happen again Saturday.
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville vs USF March Madness score, Louisville basketball advances
Continue reading...
Pat Kelsey picked up his first March Madness win as a head coach with the sixth-seeded Cardinals’ 83-79 victory over No. 11 South Florida on Thursday at KeyBank Center.
So much for Bryan Hodgson’s Bulls being a trendy upset pick. They suffered their first loss since Jan. 31.
UofL will next play Saturday, against either No. 3 Michigan State or No. 14 North Dakota State. A tipoff time will be announced later Thursday.
Here are three takeaways from Louisville’s win over USF.
Louisville delivered defensively vs. red-hot South Florida
After their first warmup period Thursday afternoon, the Cards huddled together and broke it down on, “Defense!” Kelsey has said it from Day 1: That end of the court will determine their destiny.
And without starting point guard Mikel Brown Jr., who has been ruled out for the entirety of this week due to a reaggravated back injury, UofL needed to be especially stingy against a South Florida team that arrived in Buffalo with the eighth-best scoring offense (87.7 points per game on 43.9% shooting, 33.2% from 3-point range) and the seventh-best offensive rebounding rate (38.2%) in the country.
Louisville delivered out of the gate, jumping out to a 30-16 lead during the opening 14:58, by holding the Bulls to 6-for-26 shooting. That was huge, because the Cards netted only seven points the rest of the first half.
USF cut the deficit to 37-27 going into the locker room despite making only one of its 17 attempts from beyond the arc during the period. UofL needed to keep their foot on the gas, because Hodgson’s team also ranked 24th nationally in second-half scoring (44.1 points).
Sure enough, South Florida scored 49during the final 20 minutes — turning what was at its largest a 62-39 Louisville lead at the 12:50 mark of the second half into a single-digit game for the final 5:24. The Cards’ early stand loomed large.
Isaac McKneely sparks Louisville’s bounce-back barrage from 3
Isaac McKneely was especially bummed after Louisville’s quarterfinal loss to Miami in last week’s ACC Tournament. The senior guard finished with six points on 2-for-8 shooting (1 for 6 from 3), two assists vs. three turnovers and four staples in his head after colliding with Ryan Conwell while pursuing an offensive rebound early in the first half.
"The only thing we can do is learn from this, get better from it and be a completely different team in March Madness," McKneely told The Courier Journal afterward.
A week later, he was a completely different version of himself – the version that kept Kelsey up at night when he was scouting Virginia last season.
McKneely powered the Cards’ strong start with a game-high 11 points at halftime Thursday on 4-for-5 shooting (3 for 4 from 3). And he finished with a team-high 23 on a 7-for-10 clip from deep — tying a career high set March 12, 2025, vs. Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament.
Five other Cards connected from deep en route to a 13-for-25 clip (52%). That’s how you bounce back from a 12-for-50 showing from 3 across two games in Charlotte.
Louisville must protect the basketball in Round 2 of March Madness
With Brown on the bench, the Cards committed a season-high 22 turnovers leading to 24 points for South Florida on Thursday.
Ten of those led to eight points during the first half. The other 12 led to 16 points after halftime, which is how the Bulls were able to pull within single digits down the stretch.
Simply put: That can’t happen again Saturday.
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville vs USF March Madness score, Louisville basketball advances
Continue reading...
