SMU travelled to Kentucky to face off against the Louisville Cardinals in the KFC Yum! Center, but were unable to leave feeling “finger lickin’ good,” taking a brutal loss to Louisville 88-74.
Boopie Miller led SMU with a game-high 20, while Samet Yiğitoğlu provided his best shooting game with a 7-8, 14-point performance. Jaron Pierre Jr., coming off a 28-point game, could only put 9-points up, leaving him ice cold like campus was this week.
The ‘Stangs jumped out to a fast start with three-pointers raining down from Pierre Jr., Miller and Corey Washington, leading to a 14-4 lead. SMU continued to pressure the Cardinals, turning into a string of runs from both teams, with SMU doing just enough to keep the lead. This came with a slew of turnovers from the Cardinals, leading to 11 points of turnovers for the Mustangs in the first half to give SMU a 47-44 lead at halftime.
The game was expected to be a shootout, with the two teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in points per game in the ACC. Louisville came out of the break on fire, beginning an intense comeback.
Coming off a 20-point loss to Duke, Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey called this week of practice a “rockfight,” and that’s what the second half looked like, with neither team really pulling away with it.
SMU maintained the lead all through the first five minutes of the second half before Louisville’s Kobe Rodgers broke away with a layup to give them their first lead 55-53. SMU took it back at 62-61, but that wouldn’t last long as BYU transfer Aly Khalifa got five of his eight in a pivotal momentum shift in favor of the Cardinals.
That shift was all that Louisville needed in order to stretch their lead and go on to get a bounce back win after their loss in Durham. The game was truly a tale of two halves for the Mustangs, where they went from dominating the turnover game in the first half; the same could not be said in the second. Sloppy play on both sides of the court led to SMU’s demise. Even with Louisville’s top scorer, Ryan Conwell, struggling to score, the bench from the Cardinals might as well have been the starters, outscoring the SMU bench 47-5.
Both teams are poised to make a run in March and fight for the double bye in the ACC conference tournament.
The loss drops SMU to 15-6 overall (4-4 ACC) while Louisville rises to 15-6 overall (5-4 ACC).
The two will meet again in Dallas at Moody Coliseum on Tuesday, Feb. 17th, but before then, the Mustangs look to bounce back against the Wolfpack of North Carolina State on Feb. 3rd at home. Wear white, be loud and bring that Moody Magic!
