Second-Half Surge Lifts Louisville Over SMU 88-74

Saturday, January 31

LOUISVILLE, KY

2 p.m.

University of Louisville

15-6,5-4ACC

SMU

15-6,4-4ACC

SMU

Louisville

Khani Rooths and Pat Kelsey high five during the SMU game

January 31, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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The Cardinals outscored the Mustangs 44-27 in the second half to earn their 15th win of the season

By: Jack Pilbean

LOUISVILLE, Ky – The No. 20/20 University of Louisville men's basketball team surged past Southern Methodist, winning 88-74 in the KFC Yum! Center Saturday afternoon.

Louisville improves to 15-6 overall and 5-4 in conference play, while SMU falls to 15-6 and 4-4 in ACC play.

"I am proud of our guys and the way they responded to what happened the other night down in Durham," said head coach Pat Kelsey. "We responded exactly how I thought they would. They didn't blink. They didn't panic – nothing. We went back to work and dusted ourselves off, got up, attacked practice and learned the details of the scouting report. We stuck together and didn't blink and played their butts off today. I think the bench was phenomenal. I think our bench outscored them six million to something -- which is a little inflated. Kel (Mikel Brown, Jr.) came off the bench and had 20. We still outscored them by a lot, bench wise. Kobe (Rodgers) was really good, did his job and did what we asked him to. What he does, he did. Khani Rooths was phenomenal. His nickname is K-9 which is apropos because he is a dog, man. He is a dog. He and J'Vonne (Hadley) played together a lot. We knew we had a challenge on the backboard. The big dude on the inside. We knew making them miss was one thing. But we really needed rebounding. We needed guys outside our fives to rebound because they were going to be in a wrestling match inside. "

The Mustangs came out unable to miss, starting the game on a 21-10 run ending with 13:30 to go in the half, with the largest lead of the half being 12. B.J. Edwards and Boopie Miller lead SMU in first half points, with 13 and 11.

"SMU is a good team and very, very difficult to guard," continued Kelsey. "Five (Jaron Pierre) was a big focal point on the scouting report. Khani and J'Vonne guarded him the majority of the time but everybody took a turn. He is a matchup problem one-on-one. I thought we did a good job there. No. 2 (Boopie Miller) is one of the most dynamic go-get-it scoring guards. I thought our post defense got better in the second half after a couple of adjustments. The big kid (Samet Yigitoglu) was really hurting us at halftime, so our guys did a good job adjusting."

The Cardinals clawed their way back with seven unanswered points, starting at the nine-minute mark and ending with seven and a half minutes left in the period. With a layup by Kobe Rodgers near the buzzer, the SMU lead was cut to a single possession at 44-47 by halftime.

Louisville finished the half shooting 47% from the field (17 of 36), 21% from deep (4 of 19), and 86% from the line (6 of 7). Leading the Cards in points after 20 minutes was J'Vonne Hadley with eight, shooting 66% from the field, and Ryan Conwell with seven.

The Cardinals opened the half on a 15-6 run, earning its first lead of the game at 59-53 with 12:29 on the clock. The two teams exchanged points before Louisville took control with 10 unanswered points, including five from Aly Khalifa, resulting in a lead of 71-62 with just under eight minutes remaining. The run ultimately sealed the game as SMU would come within six twice but never closer.

Louisville finished the game shooting 49% from the field (31 of 63), 29 from deep (10 of 35), and making 70% of its free throws (16 of 23). Louisville had five players score at least 10 points: Isaac McKneely (14), Khani Rooths (12), Conwell (12), Hadley (10) and Brown (20).

Brown shot 50% from the field while adding four assists and a steal. Brown now is tied with Labradford Smith with the most 20-point games as a freshman, now with five.

Rooths was an efficient factor off the bench, scoring 12 on 80% shooting and snagging 10 boards in just 20 minutes. This is his second double-double of the year, first since Jackson State.

Conwell scored 12, adding five boards, three assists and two steals in his time on the floor. And McKneely had 12 points, shooting 44 percent from deep and adding 3 rebounds and an assist.

UofL stays undefeated on Saturdays this season, improving to 8-0.

Louisville will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 4 with a conference clash against Notre Dame. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPN2.