Louisville 83-79 South Florida (Mar 19, 2026) Game Recap
BUFFALO, NY — — Isaac McKneely scored 23 factors, and Louisville held on to beat South Florida 83-79 on Thursday to win its first NCAA Tournament recreation since Rick Pitino’s closing season as coach.
Ryan Conwell scored 11 of his 18 factors within the second half and backup ahead Sananda Fru he had 10 factors and 10 rebounds for the Cardinals.
Louisville (24-10) confirmed indicators of struggling with out starting point guard Mikel Brown Jr.., who missed his fifth straight recreation with again points. It was evident within the Cardinals’ points towards South Florida’s press in practically squandering a 23-point lead over the ultimate 12:50.
“It was the longest 10 minutes of my life, there’s no question about it,” Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey stated. “We haven’t played against a team like that, that has pressed us like that. So it was a heck of a test on a really, really big stage.”
Brown just isn’t anticipated to return for the second spherical on Saturday. That’s when the East Region’s sixth seed Louisville performs third-seeded Michigan State (26-7), a 92-67 first-round winner over North Dakota State.
Louisville had misplaced three straight match video games since an 89-75 first-round win over Jacksonville State in 2017.
Joseph Pinion scored 27 factors for South Florida (25-9) in a recreation by which the Bulls missed 20 of their first 21 3-point makes an attempt. The AAC-champion Bulls had an 11-game profitable streak snapped, and had been making simply their fourth match look, and first since reaching the Sweet 16 in 2012.
“Obviously we put ourselves in a hole, but I thought we battled back really hard on that run,” stated Pinion, who went 8 of 17 within the second half after opening 2 for 8. “I definitely thought we were going to win the ballgame, but we came up short.”
McKneely hit 7 of 10 3-point makes an attempt, and credited the efficiency for being somewhat, properly, lightheaded.
“It’s because I got my staples out yesterday,” the senior guard stated, earlier than including, “no, I’m kidding.”
McKneely wasn’t kidding concerning the staples being eliminated. He had 4 positioned in his head after taking an errant elbow from a teammate in a 78-73 loss to Miami in the ACC quarterfinals last week.
South Florida coach Bryan Hodgson wasn’t going to remorse his offense’s first-half struggles.
“I know the critics will say we took too many 3s. I think we missed some really good ones. Did we take some bad ones? Sure,” he stated. “But we’ve had our identity offensively all year. It’s been very successful, most efficient offense in the history of the program.”
The Bulls entered the sport with the nation’s eighth-best offense in averaging 87.7 factors per outing, and topped 100 factors six occasions, together with a program document in a 109-88 win over UTSA in February.
Kelsey refused guilty the Cardinals’ points towards the press for not having Brown out there. He as an alternative credited his backups who stepped up.
“Injuries happen in basketball,” Kelsey stated in crediting McKneely and backup guard Kobe Rodgers. “I’m really, really proud amidst the adversity that we have a bunch of guys that had the resolve and the wherewithal and the toughness to figure out a way to advance in this tournament.”
What’s worse is the Cardinals committing a season-high 22 turnovers. Their earlier excessive was 18 in an 87-70 win over Georgia Tech on Feb. 21.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and protection: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
