Cards Drop Game at SMU

Tuesday, February 17

Dallas, Texas

7 p.m.

University of Louisville

19-7,8-5ACC

SMU

18-8,7-6ACC

Louisville

SMU

Mikel Brown Jr. calls out a play at SMU on February 17, 2026

February 17, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Postgame Notes Box Score (PDF)Pat Kelsey Press Conference

Louisville falls to the Mustangs 95-85 on Tuesday evening

By: CT Trodglen

DALLAS - The No. 21/21 University of Louisville men's basketball team came up short against SMU on the road inside Moody Coliseum, 95-85.

It was an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup that featured 17 lead changes and 16 ties. After tonight's loss the Cards move to 10-3 all-time against SMU.

"Give a lot of credit to SMU, I thought they played great tonight," said UofL head coach Pat Kelsey. "We talked about [Jaron Pierre Jr] and [Boopie Miller] being huge keys – one guy had 23, one guy had 25. I think they had 16 assists, three turnovers between the two of them, something like that. [Corey Washington] we knew was a big X-factor, he hurt us in game one. He was 7-for-9, 3-for-3 from 3-point range. I thought our guys competed. I don't think we played with a lot of poise. Defensively, you can't go on the road and allow a team to shoot 58% from the field, 60-something% from two and 47% from three and win a tough road game. They made a lot of tough shots, I think they were 21-for-33 from midrange, which is a very, very, very high percentage – some of them were tip-your-cap type shots, but when you let good scorers get in a rhythm like that, they see it go in and it becomes easy for them. Like I said, I thought we competed and played hard. Our rebounding numbers were very good, but at the offensive end we didn't play very efficient. We had 17 turnovers which is uncharacteristic of our team, but you can't defend like that, turn the ball over like that, it's a recipe for losing a conference game on the road."

The Cardinals (19-8, 8-4 ACC) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead to start the game, but the Mustangs quickly responded by knotting the game back at 5-5. It remained a back-and-forth affair for most of the first period.

SMU (18-8, 7-6 ACC) was able to make some distance for itself, creating a 38-30 advantage with 06:05 left in the half. UofL responded by going on an 8-0 run, capped off by a Conwell 3-pointer, tying the game at 38-38.

SMU held a slight 52-49 edge heading into intermission. In the first half the Cards shot 18-of-34 (52.9%) from the field, including nine makes from behind-the-arc. SMU went 21-for-35 (60.0%) from the floor in the opening half.

Twelve points by Mikel Brown Jr. paced all Louisville scorers in the opening half. The duo of Jaron Pierre Jr. and Corey Washington had 12 points each to lead the SMU scoring effort in the first period.

Out of the break, UofL went on an 11-7 scoring run to recapture the lead at 60-59. The two teams spent the majority of the second half exchanging baskets following that Louisville run, creating a 76-76 deadlock with 06:33 left in the second half.

A pair of makes at the charity stripe by Boopie Miller helped the Mustangs finish the final stretch of the game with a 19-9 run to knock off the Cards. The 95-85 loss ends the Cardinals five-game winning streak.

Brown recorded 29 points, his third consecutive game of 29 or more, shooting an efficient 11-for-18 from the floor to lead all scorers in the game. J'Vonne Hadley just missed a double-double, picking up 14 points and hauling in a game-high nine boards. Ryan Conwell added 12 points to the UofL offensive effort. The trio of Brown, Hadley and Conwell combined for 55 of the Cardinals' 85 points.

Louisville finished the game 30-of-67 (45.0%) from the field, while adding on 13 makes from deep. UofL also held a 38-30 rebounding advantage and outscored SMU 22-2 in second-chance points.

The Mustangs rode a combined 66-point scoring effort from Pierre Jr. (25), Miller (23) and Washington (18). SMU shot 38-for-65 (58.0%) from the floor Tuesday night.

The Cards return home to take on Georgia Tech, Saturday for a 2:15 p.m. ET tip inside the KFC Yum! Center. Fans can watch the game on The CW Network.