Balanced Scoring and Rebounding Leads to Louisville Win Over Irish

Wednesday, February 4

LOUISVILLE, KY

7 p.m.

University of Louisville

16-6,6-4ACC

Notre Dame

11-12,2-8ACC

Notre Dame

Louisville

Balanced Scoring and Rebounding Leads to Louisville Win Over Irish

February 04, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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The Cardinals had four double-figure scorers and four players with at least five rebounds in their 76-65 victory over Notre Dame

By: Sara Miller

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 24/23 University of Louisville men's basketball team produced a balanced effort to overcome Notre Dame 76-65 Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center.

UofL (16-6, 6-4 ACC) used the starting lineup of Ryan Conwell, Isaac McKneely, Mikel Brown Jr., J'Vonne Hadley and Sananda Fru who improved to 9-2 on the season as a group.

"I am proud of our guys tonight," said head coach Pat Kelsey. "It wasn't the prettiest game in the world. In the game, we shot 7 of 31 from three for 22%. They shot 11 of 27 for 41%. You have to overcome that by winning in the margins. I think we did that on the backboards first and foremost. That was a huge difference in the game. Adrian Wooley had four offensive rebounds and was fighting his butt off. Khani Rooths continues to do what he does, which is fighting his butt off. I thought Zou (Vangelis Zougris) gave us big rebounding minutes off the bench. Kasean Pryor played with that reckless abandon that I love to see out of him. He has had a tough run of it coming off a tough injury. The way the chips have fallen this season, the type of season J'Vonne Hadley is having, who as you know is such a glue piece and the backbone and Khani Rooths is blossoming before our eyes, it made it tough for Kasean to crack the lineup. He has always had a great attitude. Always. He is just a joy to be around. He always has a smile on his face and hugs me when he sees me. He has never pouted. But there has been a change in him the last couple weeks – like his process is different, he is practicing angry and desperate. He stacked some days together but didn't get to play. But he didn't pout or sulk but just continued to do it. Sure enough, the way a season goes -- which is why we call it '25 Strong' -- J'vonne goes down in practice and has a really tough fall and tried to get ready to play today. He warmed up and started the game but just couldn't play. We called Kasean's number and he went in and plays a phenomenal game for us despite giving up two wide-open threes to a green, green guy late in the game. But he played his butt off and was really good tonight."

Notre Dame opened the match with a spark by going on a 10-2 run in the first five minutes. Louisville spent the next few minutes chipping away at the Irish's lead and later tied the game at 16-16 with 10:11 remaining.

The Cards' first lead of the game came a few possessions later after Isaac McKneely drained a three. The two teams traded leads back and forth until Louisville surged with three minutes left in the half and took a 38-32 lead into the locker room.

Although Notre Dame cut its deficit down to three early on in the half, Louisville maintained control of the game and led by as much as 19 thanks to a 14-0 run. Kasean Pryor scored all 10 of his points in the second half to help propel the Cards to a 76-65 victory.

Louisville finished the game shooting 43.1% from the field (28 of 65), 22.6% from deep (7 of 31) and making 72.2% of its free throws (13 of 18).

McKneely led the team in scoring with 13 points with all four of his field goals coming from behind the arc. One point shy of the team lead, Fru, Conwell and Khani Rooths all tallied 12 points. The only other Card to score in doubles figures was Pryor with 10 off the bench.

In addition to his 12 points, Rooths pulled down 12 rebounds to earn his second straight double-double and third overall in his career. The sophomore helped spark Louisville's bench, who outscored Notre Dame 33-14.

Notre Dame (11-12, 2-8 ACC) was paced by junior Cole Certa who totaled 18 points including five made three pointers. The only other Fighting Irish to reach double figures was Brady Koehler who tallied 11 points, four steals, four rebounds and 2 blocks.

Louisville will hit the road to Winston-Salem, taking on Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon at noon. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.