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 the Fighting Irish on Wednesday.

Louisville (16-6, 6-4) 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 lay-up 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 lay-up 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 Cardinal 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 added 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 Irish season has been a struggle since the loss of Markus Burton to injury in early December.

Guard Cole Certa paced the Irish with 18 points, including 5-for-14 3-point shooting. 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

Kingston Flemings scored 18 points as No. 8 Houston cruised to a 79-55 home win over UCF in a Big 12 Conference tilt Wednesday.

Chris Cenac Jr. tallied a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Milos Uzan added 12 points for Houston (20-2, 8-1 Big 12), which won its third straight game.

Riley Kugel led UCF (14-5, 6-4) with nine points. Themus Fulks, John Bol, Jamicheal Stillwell and Jordan Burks all added eight points for UCF, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.

A Flemings layup initiated a 12-0, first-half Houston run that broke open a closely contested game. The Cougars’ lead swelled to 27-13 on a jumper from Cenac. Houston’s stifling defense held the Knights to just six points over the last 8:16 of the first half. Fulks snapped the rally with a jumper at the 2:37 mark.

UCF shot 28% in the first half (7 of 25) and only hit 1-of-6 3-point attempts. The Cougars shot 44% in the first half and didn’t make a three in the opening 20 minutes but held a 20-6 edge on points in the paint, had six steals and forced seven UCF turnovers while maintaining a 23-15 rebounding advantage.

The Cougars only had three turnovers and took a 33-19 halftime lead.

In the early going, Houston reeled off a 6-0 run and took a 15-8 lead on Uzan’s alley-oop pass to Kalifa Sakho for a dunk. The Knights answered with a three by Kugel and a Bol dunk as UCF closed within 15-13 at the 8:16 mark.

In the second half, Burks hit a three to cut the Cougars’ lead to 37-27, the closest the Knights would get the rest of the way. Houston was red-hot in the second half as the team shot 66% from the field (20 of 30) and took control of the game with a 12-4 scoring spree as Uzan’s jumper led to a 51-31 lead with 13:27 to play.

For the game, UCF inched up to 30% shooting from the field and 28% (6 of 21) from distance. The Cougars shot 54% for the game, which made up for them only connecting on 3 of their 19 3-point attempts.

–Field Level Media

The drive for an exceptional 2026 season is off to a rousing start for Scottie Scheffler, who began his year with a championship at the American Express a week ago Sunday in La Quinta, Calif.

That title was the 20th of Scheffler’s career, which earned him lifetime status on the PGA Tour. Nonetheless, the 29-year-old is wasting no time chasing No. 21 as the Phoenix Open tees off Thursday.

The Scottsdale, Ariz. event is famous for its crowd involvement, and Scheffler welcomes the big stage.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing this type of test,” he said. “I think this golf course plays really well when it comes tournament time. It plays firm and fast and you got to hit a lot of different shots and you got to be very precise with your ball, but then there is also a big crowd that comes with it as well.

“I think it’s always a lot of fun to play in front of a group this size. It can be a bit hectic out there sometimes, but it really is a lot of fun.”

Scheffler is certainly familiar with the setup as a two-time winner at this event (2022, 2023), though he’ll also be hoping to improve on last year’s respectable showing, a 9-under performance that left him in a tie for 25th.

The first of his Phoenix championships was the first of his PGA career.

“Yeah, it doesn’t feel all that long ago, but at the same time, it feels like quite a bit of time has passed since then,” Scheffler acknowledged. “Yeah, lots of good memories. It’s nice to come back to this tournament. This tournament is a lot of fun for me to play in and it’s fun to be able to play in front of this crowd.”

His competition will naturally be a bigger concern than the crowd or his history on the course, and Brooks Koepka is once again a part of that field, continuing his return from LIV Golf.

Scheffler expressed appreciation for having Koepka and Patrick Reed back on the Tour.

“Having those guys competing out here is great for the Tour, great for the fans, and great for our sponsors,” Scheffler said. “I think the last few years — there has just been a lot of the noise, and so I think getting those guys back is another step towards us just being able to play golf again. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most.”

Part of embracing the challenge of winning another championship, Scheffler explained, is leaning into the razor-thin margin between delight and disaster on the finishing holes.

A course like TPC Scottsdale demands excellence late and, for Scheffler, that’s all part of the fun.

“You have to play well at the end. I think this golf course is one of those — one of the best ones we see all year in terms of an exciting finish,” Scheffler said. “There is opportunity, but also a lot of danger. You look at even the second shot on 15. If you hit a really good shot there, you can get a really good look for eagle, but if you hit a poor shot you’re going to be in the water staring bogey in the face.

“So there is a lot of variety, and I think it’s a fantastic finish that provides a great amount of opportunity — but also can be pretty severe penalties as well.”

–Field Level Media