No. 6 Cards Prevail Over Cincinnati 74-64

Friday, November 21

Cincinnati, Ohio | Heritage Bank Center

6:30 p.m.

University of Louisville

5-0,0-0ACC

Cincinnati

4-1,0-0Big 12

Louisville

Cincinnati

Photo by: Mallory Peak | Louisville Athletics

November 21, 2025 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Postgame Notes Box Score (PDF)Pat Kelsey and Ryan Conwell postgame press conference

Ryan Conwell and Mikel Brown Jr. combine for 47 points as Cards overcome slow start to beat Cincinnati 74-64

CINCINNATI, OHIO – Ryan Conwell and Mikel Brown Jr. helped lead the sixth-ranked University of Louisville men's basketball team to a 74-64 win over Cincinnati in The Hoops Classic in Partnership with Caresource at the Heritage Bank Center on Friday night.

With the win, Louisville improves to 5-0 for the first time since the 2019-20 season. The Cards now own a 57-44 record over the Bearcats in the longtime rivalry between the two teams.

"It's hard playing friends, and Wes (Miller) is a friend, I've known him for a long, long time," said UofL head coach Pat Kelsey. "The first half, they were the aggressor, they were the more physical team. It was battle of two teams that really thrive in transition and I thought they got the better of us in the first half. We talk so much about transition, rebounding, physicality and toughness those four things we harped on a lot and I thought we were 0-for-4 on those in the first half, but I thought our guys responded. We came out in the second half and I'd like to think we were 4-for-4 in the second half. Cincinnati is an extremely physical team. We like to play in rhythm, we're a very talented offensive team and they really disrupted us. They just weren't letting us go where we wanted to go, they were blowing up every screen. They were just muddying up the game. I thought they were the aggressor on the offensive glass, but we ended up winning the rebounding battle. I liked how our guys responded."

Conwell led all scorers, logging a season-high 25 points with 17 of those coming in the second half. The senior guard went 8-for-15 from the field and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Brown poured in 22 points, including a 10-for-12 performance from the charity stripe, and dished out six assists with three steals. Sananda Fru added 11 points, four rebounds, two steals and two blocks in his fifth straight start.

Day Day Thomas and Shon Abaev paced the Bearcats with 12 points apiece while Thiam Moustaph finished with 10 points and nine rebounds as Cincinnati drops to 4-1 on the season.

In a battle that featured four ties and four lead changes, both teams led by as many as 11 points in the contest. Louisville shot 37.5 percent (21-for-56) while Cincinnati shot 37.1% (23-for-62). Each team connected on eight 3-pointers and committed 13 turnovers. Louisville owned a 41-38 edge in rebounds, registered 17 points off of the Bearcats' turnovers and went 24-of-28 (85.7%) from the free throw line.

The Cards got off to a slow start offensively. After free throws by Isaac McKneeley and Brown gave Louisville an early 4-2 lead, the Bearcats went on a 13-0 run over the next 7:33 minutes. Louisville missed its first 10 shots from the field before Brown connected on the Cards' first field goal of the game to make the score 15-6.

After another UC bucket, Louisville answered with a 13-0 run, ignited by Conwell's first 3-pointer of the game. Brown and Kobe Rodgers followed with back-to-back threes and Adrian Wooley's layup tied the score at 17-17 entering the under-eight media timeout.

Louisville regained the lead at 19-17 when Conwell drained a pair of free throws, but UC countered with a 6-0 run. The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half and Cincinnati entered the break with a 32-28 lead marking the first time Louisville trailed at halftime this season. In the first half, the Cards were 7-of-27 from the field (25.9%) including 4-of-17 from deep (23.5%) and 10-11 from the free throw line.

Conwell opened the second half scoring to pull the Cards within two, but a three-point play extended the Bearcats' lead back to five. A jumper by Fru and a 3-pointer by Conwell evened the score at 35-35. Baba Miller's dunk gave Cincinnati its final lead of the game with 17:15 left to play before the Cardinals went on a 5-0 run to pull away for good.

Louisville pushed its lead to as many as 11 points, but a 7-2 Cincinnati run pulled the Bearcats within six with 4:35 left to play. Brown went on his own 5-0 run, draining a 3-pointer, followed with a steal on the other end of the court and finished with a dunk to make the score 66-55.

The Bearcats cut the lead to eight with 1:05 left to play, but Cards maintained control with free throws by Brown and Conwell sealing the 74-64 victory. In the final 20 minutes of play, Louisville shot 48.3 percent (14-for-29) including 36.4 percent from beyond the arc (4-for-11) and went 14-for-17 from the charity stripe.

"Ryan (Conwell) was phenomenal today," said Kelsey. "I challenged Sananda (Fru) and Mikel (Brown Jr.) at halftime and I thought they really responded. Adrian Wooley, although he only scored six points in 20 minutes, I thought he was huge and made huge hustle plays late in the game. I thought it was awesome for Kobe Rodgers to come back to his hometown and get a win. Kobe was elected by his peers one of the captains of our team as is Ryan (Conwell) – he's just the Energizer Bunny off the bench. He always raises the level of play when he comes in the game. He's so selfless and he's such a great teammate. He came in to give Mikel a quick spell with about 1:50 left, because [Mikel] was just spent – then when got back in, he hugged him and told him to go finish the game for us. That's what leaders do."

The Cardinals return to the KFC Yum! Center for a two-game home stretch, starting with Eastern Michigan on Monday evening. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. ET on ACC Network.