Louisville Comeback Falls Short, Cards Drop Season-Opener vs. Bellarmine

The Cardinals dug themselves an early hole, and Kenny Payne's debut is spoiled by the Knights.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Taking the court for the first time under new head coach Kenny Payne, the Louisville men's basketball program tipped off the 2022-23 regular season on the wrong side of the win/loss column, with their furious comeback attempt against Bellarmine falling short, 67-66, Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center.

Trailing by 12 with just under five minutes to go, the Cardinals (0-1, 0-0 ACC) fired off an 11-0 run to pull within a point with 1:04 left in the game. Louisville had two chances to take the lead in the final ten seconds, but Kamari Lands' midrange jumper and Roosevelt Wheeler's put back, each fell short.

The loss not only marked Louisville's first ever regular season defeat at the hands of the Knights (1-0, 0-0 ASUN), dropping to 12-1 in the all-time series, but it broke an 18-game season-opener winning streak and 21-game home-opener winning streak.

Louisville shot 39.3 percent on three-point attempts, but just 42.3 percent from the floor overall. On the other end of the floor, Bellarmine connected on 48.8 percent of their shots and 46.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Despite being much bigger than Bellarmine, aggression and production down in the post was an issue for Louisville. The Cardinals shot just 11-24 on two point attempts, were out-scored 24-22 in the paint, and barely won the rebounding battle at 32-26.

Jae'Lyn Withers led Louisville with a team-high 17 points, while Mike James poured in 16 points and El Ellis had 14 points and five assists. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield barely missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. Bellarmine's Garrett Tipton led all scorers with 21 points.

Louisville looked efficient in the opening segment, showing much more energy and effort than they had in the entire preseason. They showed hustle on defense and got the outside shot going early, resulting in a 13-5 run in the first four minutes of the game.

But after the first media timeout, Bellarmine countered the Cardinals' early jabs with haymakers. The Knights capitalized on dissipating Louisville energy to respond with authority on both ends of the court, firing off a 25-5 run to flip an eight-point Louisville lead into a 14-point deficit in roughly ten minutes.

The Cardinals were able to start getting their outside shot going again in the final six minutes of the first half, but the Knights' ability to get to the free throw line during this time still resulted in a 41-30 deficit at halftime.

Coming out of halftime, Louisville was able tighten up their defense and deny Bellarmine the ball with consistency, forcing the Knights to go just 5-13 to open up the second half after a torrid first half.

Conversely, Louisville did a much better job penetrating the lane offensively for paint touches, and were able to trim the deficit to as little as four points on three separate occasions in the middle portion of the second half.

Louisville had trouble getting past this mark, and it looked like the Knights might capitalize on this run away with the game. With under seven minutes left, Tipton went on an 8-0 run by himself, setting up the 12-point advantage that the Cardinals nearly rallied from. 

Next up, Louisville will continue on their three-game home stand to open the 2022-23 season, and host Wright State. Tip-off against the Raiders is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 12 at 1:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Curt Hopf, Sydney Curry: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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