Duke Dominates Louisville With Relentless Second-Half Surge

For the Louisville Cardinals, Monday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium was a harsh reminder of just how quickly fortunes can turn in college basketball. Coming off a confidence-boosting win over Virginia Tech, the No. 20 Cardinals ran headlong into the buzzsaw that is the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils, ultimately falling 83-52 in what became the most lopsided defeat of Pat Kelsey’s tenure as head coach.

It was a night that started with travel headaches and ended in a humbling lesson. Due to the aftermath of Winter Storm Fern, Louisville’s travel plans were thrown into disarray. Instead of arriving in Durham the day before, the Cardinals touched down just after 10 a.m. on game day, giving them barely enough time to stretch their legs before heading straight to Cameron for a quick shootaround. “We got 4½ hours off our feet. (It had) nothing to do with it. We got our butt kicked,” Kelsey said postgame, refusing to use the travel disruption as an excuse.

From the opening tip, Duke looked every bit the powerhouse their record suggests. The Blue Devils entered the contest 19-1 overall and 8-0 in ACC play, boasting a perfect 9-0 mark at home. Louisville, meanwhile, sat at 14-6 (4-4 ACC), eager but ultimately unable to match Duke’s intensity and execution.

Louisville’s lineup featured the recently returned Mikel Brown Jr., who had been sensational in his comeback against Virginia Tech, dropping 20 points and six assists. But against Duke, Brown struggled mightily, finishing with just seven points on 1-for-13 shooting, four assists, and three turnovers across 34 minutes. The Blue Devils’ defense swarmed him at every turn. “They were locked in; they were like (in) two places at once. (It) felt like there were six of them out there at certain times,” Kelsey observed, marveling at Duke’s defensive effort.

The Cardinals’ offense sputtered all night. They shot just 29.6% from the field and 32.4% from beyond the arc, with more turnovers (12) than assists (11). Ryan Conwell led the scoring with 18 points, while J’Vonne Hadley added 11. But aside from those two, only Isaac McKneely managed more than one field goal, and Louisville’s big men were nearly invisible, combining for just 10 points and six rebounds while battling foul trouble.

Early on, Louisville showed flashes of resilience. After a sluggish 8-for-20 shooting start, they clawed their way to a brief 25-24 lead with 4:30 left in the first half. It lasted just 36 seconds. Duke responded with a 14-3 run to close the half, forcing Louisville into eight consecutive missed shots and taking a 38-28 lead into the locker room. For Duke head coach Jon Scheyer, the halftime advantage was almost a guarantee—he improved to 52-0 at Cameron Indoor when leading at the break.

Coming out of halftime, Duke wasted no time putting the game out of reach. Sophomore center Patrick Ngongba scored all 10 points in a 10-5 run to open the second half, finishing the night with 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Star freshman Cameron Boozer was equally dominant, posting a double-double with 19 points (8-for-16) and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes. The Blue Devils punished Louisville in the paint, outscoring them 42-10 and dominating the glass with a 47-26 rebounding advantage. “They attacked us from everywhere,” Kelsey admitted. “I've got nothing else to say other than they were the aggressor in every facet.”

One of the most telling sequences came with 12:36 left in regulation. After Louisville failed to secure two defensive rebounds, Duke’s Nikolas Khamenia made them pay, knocking down a wide-open three to push the lead to 60-41. From there, the rout was on. The Blue Devils outscored the Cardinals 45-24 in the second half, and by the final buzzer, the stat sheet told a story of total domination: Duke shot 60.5% from inside the arc and scored 16 second-chance points off 15 offensive rebounds.

For Louisville, this defeat marked their third consecutive road game against a ranked opponent in which they fell behind by 20 or more points. The physicality and synergy that had sparked their recent win over Virginia Tech were nowhere to be found. “We just had to come in and be ready,” Conwell said. “And we just didn't get the job done.”

Kelsey, to his credit, accepted full responsibility for his team’s performance. “I'm the coach; I'm in charge of all that. I accept full responsibility for that and will do everything in my power to make sure they respond the right way and that doesn’t happen the next time.” He added, “Sometimes, failure (is) good for us to grow.”

The Cardinals’ schedule doesn’t get any easier. Up next is a home date with SMU (15-5, 4-3 ACC) at the KFC Yum! Center on January 31, giving Louisville a few days to regroup and take a long, hard look in the mirror. “We all can be so much better in so many different areas,” Conwell reflected postgame, echoing the team’s need for improvement.

Duke, meanwhile, continues to roll through the ACC, extending their winning streak and further solidifying their status as one of the nation’s elite squads. With performances like these from Boozer and Ngongba, and a defense that can smother even the most dynamic guards, the Blue Devils look poised for a deep postseason run.

As for Louisville, Monday night in Durham was a cold reality check—one that stings, but perhaps one that can spark growth as the calendar turns to February. “All we can do is dust ourselves off and run back to work,” Kelsey said. “We've all got our freaking butts whupped before, and that's how I feel right now.”

The Cardinals will be looking to bounce back in front of their home fans, hoping that the lessons learned from this bruising defeat can fuel a stronger finish to the season. The echoes of Cameron Indoor may linger for a while, but the road to redemption starts now.