Cards Battle in NCAA Tournament Loss to Michigan State

Saturday, March 21

Buffalo, N.Y. | KeyBank Center

2:45 p.m. ET

University of Louisville

24-11,11-7ACC

Michigan State

27-7,15-5Big Ten

Louisville

Michigan St.

Cards Battle in NCAA Tournament Loss to Michigan State

March 21, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Michigan State 77 - Louisville 69 (PDF Box Score)35 Louisville vs. Michigan State NCAA Tournament Postgame Notes Postgame Press Conference

Sixth-seeded Cards fall 77-69 to third seeded Michigan State

By: Lori Harmon

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The sixth-seeded University of Louisville men's basketball team fell 77-69 to third-seeded Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 Saturday afternoon at the KeyBank Center.

Louisville closes the season with a 24-11 overall record and its second straight NCAA tournament appearance, advancing to the round of 32 for the first time since 2017.
Michigan State (27-7) advances to the Sweet 16.

"I want to congratulate Michigan State," said UofL head coach Pat Kelsey. "A really good team, as always. Every one of Coach Izzo's teams, tough, physical, disciplined. They played a really good game tonight."

Ryan Conwell led the Cards with 21 points behind 7-of-15 shooting and going 5-of-11 from 3-point range with four assists and four rebounds. Adrian Wooley finished with 17 points, with a 7-of-10 performance from the floor and going 3-of-6 from beyond the arc while contributing three assists and four rebounds. Sananda Fru led Louisville on the glass with six boards.

Vangelis Zougris opened the game with back-to-back buckets as the Cards took a 4-0 lead in the first two minutes. The Spartans went on 14-3 run over a three minute span to take a 14-7 lead, but an Isaac McKneely 3-pointer and a pair of free throws by Kobe Rodgers trimmed the margin to two. Michigan State rattled off eight unanswered points to pull ahead 22-12, their largest of the half before the Cards punched back with a 7-0 run to pull within three. The Spartans went on to lead by as many as eight with 2:17 left, but didn't score for the remainder of the half as a Wooley jumper and Conwell free throw made the score 36-31 entering halftime.

Wooley and Conwell paced both teams with nine points apiece in the first half with Conwell connecting on a pair of threes while delivering two assists and pulling down four boards. In the first 20 minutes, Michigan State shot 46% (13-of-28) from the field and 50% (7-of-14) from deep compared to 36% (12-of-33) from the field and 22% (4-of-18) from 3-point range for Louisville. The Spartans also held a 20-17 edge in rebounds.

After Michigan State took a 42-33 lead in the first two minutes of the second half, Louisville outscored the Spartans 14-8 over the next six minutes with Aly Khalifa's 3-pointer pulling the Cards within three at 50-47 with 12:04 left to play. A 13-3 run stretched Michigan State's lead to 13, before Conwell drained a triple. The teams exchanged 3-pointers with Conwell and Wooley connecting to keep the Cards within 10. After the Spartans pushed back for a 12 point lead, but Khalifa's second 3-pointer of the game pulled Louisville within nine. The Spartans pushed the margin back to 11 at 75-64 with 35 seconds on the clock, but the Cards continued to battle back with a 3-pointer by Conwell and a layup by Hadley to make the score 75-69. A dunk by Carson Cooper on the other end brought the final score to 77-69.

In the game, Michigan State shot 47% (26-of-55) from the field and 42% (11-of-26) from deep while Louisville shot 41% (26-of-63) and 35% (13-of-37) from 3-point range. The Spartans went 14-of-19 from the charity stripe compared to the Cardinals' 4-of-6 total. MSU held a 39-32 margin in rebounds and 14-10 edge in second chance points while Louisville led 26-24 in points in the paint. Michigan State was led by Coen Carr's 21 points and Jere Fears Jr. who dished out 16 assists.

"I'm very, very proud of our guys," said Kelsey. "We're well aware at the University of Louisville what the standard is in our city for our program. Losing at this round in this game is not the standard, and we understand that. But these guys have a whole bunch to be proud of. We haven't advanced in the tournament in this tradition rich, one of the best brands in college basketball, in eight or nine years, and this team did this over this weekend, and that's something that they should be very, very proud of."