Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Louisville rolls past Jacksonville St in return to tourney

INDIANAPOLIS — Mangok Mathiang scored 18 points and Deng Adel added 16 Friday to help second-seeded Louisville pull away from Jacksonville State 78-63 in the first round of the Midwest Regional.

The Cardinals (25-8) have won five straight opening round games. Louisville was making its first postseason appearance since 2015 after sitting out last year because of a one-year, school-imposed postseason ban for alleged recruiting violations.

Norbertas Giga scored 30 points for 15th-seeded Jacksonville State (20-15), which was one of a record five teams making their first tourney appearance.

And it was a bigger challenge than most expected.

But after trailing for the first 13 minutes, the Cardinals finally took the lead with an 8-2 late in the first half. They closed the half on a 9-4 spurt then opened the second half on 10-2 run to make it 48-33. Louisville led by double digits most of the rest of the game.

The Cardinals made it clear Thursday they had no intention of going home early after losing in the ACC Tournament opener last week.

And once Louisville seized control, they made sure they would be back in Indianapolis on Sunday.

Jacksonville State committed 14 turnovers but looked out of sync most of the second half.

Still, the Gamecocks refused to let Louisville completely run away. A 7-0 run cut the deficit to 10 midway through the second half and a banked 3-pointer from Malcolm Drumwright made it 61-52 before Louisville finally put it away. Drumwright finished with 12 points.

Quentin Snider had 16 points for Louisville. Ray Spalding added 11 points for the Cardinals and Donovan Mitchell had nine points and 10 rebounds.

BIG PICTURE

Louisville: The Cardinals are seeded second for the third time in tourney history and won national titles each of the two previous times. It's too early to start contemplating how far this run could go. But Louisville has won by 15-point margins in each of its two games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse this season.

Jacksonville State: After going from last in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason picks to conference tourney champs, the Gamecocks' magical run came to an end. But the future still looks bright. Three starters will return next season as coach Ray Harper begins his second season with the Gamecocks.

UP NEXT

Louisville faces seventh-seeded Michigan on Sunday for a ticket to the Sweet 16. The Cardinals have won all three meetings in the series, including the 2013 national championship game.