Bench strength helps No. 24 Louisville get past Notre Dame

The evening didn’t start well for Louisville, but a late first-half run and solid bench play led the No. 24 Cardinals to a 76-65 home win over Notre Dame on Wednesday.

Louisville (16-6, 6-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) fell behind 10-2 to open the game and saw starting guard J’Vonne Hadley exit due to an apparent aggravation of a back injury after playing just three minutes.

Louisville led 30-28 with two minutes to go in the first half but an 8-0 run over the next minute opened up a margin the Cardinals wouldn’t relinquish. A dunk from Sananda Fru, a layup from Adrian Wooley and then a 3-pointer and a free throw from Isaac McKneely gave Louisville a 38-28 edge with 1:01 before halftime.

Notre Dame pulled within three points on a couple occasions early in the second half, the last coming at 45-42 on a Carson Towt layup with 15:33 to play.

The Irish were still within five points at the eight-minute mark, but a late Louisville run finished the matter.

McKneely led the Cardinals’ attack with 13 points, including 4-for-8 3-point shooting. Fru added 12 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots. Ryan Conwell also scored 12 points but shot just 4-for-14. Khani Rooths produced a second consecutive double-double off the bench with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Louisville’s bench tallied 33 points in all. Kasean Pryor notched 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting and grabbed five rebounds in the most playing time he’d seen since before Christmas (15 minutes).

Notre Dame (11-12, 2-8) lost for the eighth time in nine games. The Fighting Irish’s season has been a struggle since the loss of Markus Burton to injury in early December.

Cole Certa paced the Fighting Irish with 18 points, going 5-for-14 from 3-point range. Brady Koehler tallied 11 points and four steals. Jalen Haralson added eight points, seven rebounds and five assists.

The Irish shot just 38.7% for the game (24-for-62) and connected on just 6 of 14 free throw attempts (42.9%).

–Field Level Media