Louisville Mounts Comeback to Take Down Georgia Tech

Returning home to the KFC Yum! Center for a showdown with Georgia Tech, the Louisville men's basketball program was able to take advantage of a golden opportunity to jump out of the ACC basement, earning a 79-67 comeback victory on Saturday night.

Trailing by nine with just over eight minutes to go, the Cardinals (8-16, 3-10 ACC) fired off an 18-2 run to take control late, and ended the game on a 28-7 stretch. Unlike their last two games, defense was key to their late game execution, as they held the Yellow Jackets (10-14, 3-10 ACC) to just 2-of-11 in the final five-and-a-half minutes.

Louisville didn't have their best offensive showing, shooting only 38.6 from the field and just 4-of-18 on three-point attempts, but they in turn held Georgia Tech to just 34.9 percent. This came in spite of the Cardinals struggling to contain Yellow Jackets guard Miles Kelly, who finished with an astounding 36 points.

Kelly's outing and GT's hot three-point shooting (9-of-25) was countered primarily by good execution down low and at the free throw line by UofL. The Cardinals finished with 30 points in the paint, and shot 31-of-34 at the charity stripe compared to 14-of-18 by their visitors.

Six Cardinals wound up finishing in double figures, led by team-high 15 points and 13 rebounds from Kaleb Glenn, who logged his first career double-double.

Tre White had 14 points and six rebounds, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield had 12 points and was one rebound away from a double-double, Ty-Laur Johnson had 12 points and five assists, then Mike James and Skyy Clark each had 11 points.

Right out of the gates, both teams really struggled to generate anything close to resembling offense. Louisville went just 3-of-14 from the field over the first 12 minutes of the game, while Georgia Tech could only muster a 4-of-19 showing in the first ten-plus minutes.

Despite not shooting it well in the first half, the Cardinals did a good job at getting to the free throw line during this half. They went 11-of-12 at the charity stripe during this period, using it to fire off a 10-0 run and lead by as much as six with just over eight minutes until halftime.

But Georgia Tech, and specifically Kelly, exploded from beyond the arc. After going just 1-of-7 on three-point attempts to start the game, the Jackets connected on six of their final nine attempts from long range, including four from Kelly. Meanwhile, Louisville went just 1-of-10 on threes during the first half, and went into halftime trailing 32-30.

Louisville took a brief lead just a few minutes into the second half, but that period was largely dominated by Georgia Tech. They hit eight of their first 19 shots after halftime while the Cardinals hit just six of their first 15 shots, with UofL trending towards potentially falling by double figured before the final sequence.

Next up, Louisville has a short turnaround and will hit the road to face Boston College. Tip-off against the Eagles is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 9:00 p.m. EST.