At the Buzzer: Louisville 87, Indiana 78

Tayton Conerway tries to take the ball from Ryan Conwell.

Quick thoughts on an 87-78 loss to Louisville:

How it happened

After Indiana’s nine-point loss at Minnesota on Wednesday night, the expectation was for the Hoosiers to bounce back with a strong performance on Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. But the Hoosiers had no answer for Louisville’s athleticism and aggressiveness on both ends of the court.

By the first media timeout, IU trailed 10-0 and an Issac McKneely 3-pointer made it 13-0 out of the first break. After the Cardinals extended the lead to 16-0 on another McKneely triple, the Hoosiers scored the next eight to make it 16-8. Indiana got within five at 19-14 and six at 22-16, but the Cardinals pushed it back out to 27-16 by the under-eight media timeout and then led 36-23 at the under-four media timeout. At halftime, Louisville led 41-27. The Hoosiers’ offensive numbers in the first half were ugly. They shot 3-for-16 on 3s and just 31.3 percent from the field. The Cardinals, meanwhile, were 8-for-18 on 3s and scored an efficient 1.12 points per possession.

Indiana got within 10 early in the second half on a Tucker DeVries 3-pointer with 15:30 left, but Kobe Rodgers answered with a 3-pointer of his own to make it 52-39 Louisville with 15:30 remaining. Out of the under 16 media timeout, a Lamar Wilkerson bucket and a subsequent Wilkerson 3-point cut the lead to eight at 52-44 with 13:42 left.

The Cardinals responded with a 6-2 run to lead 58-46 at the under-12 media timeout. Out of that timeout, the Cardinals scored the next seven points to stretch the lead to 17. The Hoosiers did make it interesting late with some stellar 3-point shooting from Nick Dorn, but never got closer than seven in the nine-point loss.

Standout performers

Tucker DeVries led Indiana with 26 points and Dorn added 15 points in 16 minutes off the bench.

Statistics that stand out

The Hoosiers simply weren’t up to par defensively. Louisville made 13 3-pointers and scored 1.17 points per possession. And after falling behind 16-0 early, the deficit was simply too much to overcome.

Up next for IU

The Hoosiers return to Bloomington and will play Penn State on Tuesday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

Final IU individual statistics

Louisville final stats.

Final tempo-free statistics

Tempo-free stats Louisville.

Assembly Call postgame show

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