Louisville Stunned at Georgia Tech to Snap 10-Game Winning Streak

The Cardinals suffer their first loss in over a month.

Feb 1, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Terrence Edwards Jr. (5) drives on Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets guard Lance Terry (0) in the first half at McCamish Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

ATLANTA - All good things must come to an end, and for the Louisville men's basketball program, their midseason surge has come to a screeching halt.

Making the trip down to Georgia Tech to kick off the month of February, the Cardinals suffered their first loss in over a month, getting upset by the Yellow Jackets 77-70 at McCamish Pavilion on Saturday.

Louisville (16-6, 9-2 ACC) sees their 10-game winning streak, which had been their longest in five years, come to an end despite entering as 7.5-point favorites over Georgia Tech (10-12, 4-7, ACC). They also suffer their first loss of the season to a team outside of Quadrant 1 and 2 in the NET rating.

From an offensive standpoint, it was one of Louisville's most disjointed performances of the season. They shot 45.5 percent from the floor and were 9-of-25 on three-point tries, but were just 11-of-19 on free throws.

The Cardinals also assisted on just 12 of their 25 made shots, and turned over 14 times for 20 GT points. It was Louisville's most turnovers and first time with a negative assist-to-turnover ratio since the narrow 78-76 win over Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 28.

Defensively, they weren't that much better. The Yellow Jackets shot 47.6 percent overall, were 8-of-24 on threes, and had 16 assists to just nine turnovers. It was the most assists by a Louisville opponent since Kentucky had 23 on Dec. 14 in the 93-85 loss right before the 10-game winning streak.

It was also a tale of two halves. Louisville shot 14-of-27 from the field and 8-of-16 from downtown in the first half, but were just 11-of-28 and 1-for-9 after halftime. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech started 12-of-31 overall and 2-of-13 on threes, but was 18-of-32 and 6-of-11, respectively, after halftime.

Terrence Edwards Jr. led the way offensively with 22 points, while Chucky Hepburn has 17 and J'Vonne Hadley added 16. For Georgia Tech, five players cracked double figures scoring, led by a 23-point outing by Lance Terry.

Both sides got off to blazing fast starts. Before the game's first TV timeout, Edwards poured in 10 points to help Louisville post a 6-of-8 shooting start, while Georgia Tech conversely opened up the contest with a 7-of-10 showing from the floor.

Then for the next several minutes, Georgia Tech couldn't hit the ocean if they fell out of a boat. Despite some relatively lax defense by the Cardinals, the Yellow Jackets hit just one of their next 14 shots over a seven minute span - including a stretch of 11 straight misses.

Louisville was able to extend their hot shooting start to 11 of their first 15, going on a 19-2 run and leading by as much as 13 with under eight minutes to go, but they too ran into some shooting troubles. UofL then missed seven straight shots as part of a 1-for-10 stretch, while Georgia Tech ended the half shooting 4-of-7 to get within six points.

But thanks to a pair of Louisville baskets in the final 90 seconds of the half, they were still able to push their halftime advantage to double digits at 38-27. 26 of the Cardinals' first half points came from Edwards and Hepburn.

On the other side of the break, Louisville had a chance to keep extending their lead, but Georgia Tech kept hanging around. While the Cards went 5-of-9 in the first five minutes of the half, the Jackets were 4-of-9 to stay within striking distance.

And strike they did. Over the next seven minutes, GT went 9-of-12 while UofL was 1-for-8 with three turnovers, allowing the host team to go on a 21-3 run and take an eight point lead with just over eight minutes to go.

Louisville was able to chip their deficit to as little as three, but simply couldn't get over the hump. They shot just 5-for-11 in the final eight minutes, but so did Georgia Tech to hold them off.

Next up, Louisville stays on the road and heads to the northeast for a matchup at Boston College. Tip-off against the Eagles is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Terrence Edwards Jr.: Brett Davis - Imagn Images)

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