BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) 鈥� Isaac McKneely scored 23 points, and Louisville hung on to beat South Florida 83-79 on Thursday to win its first game since Rick Pitino鈥檚 final season as coach.
Ryan Conwell scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half and backup forward Sananda Fru had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Cardinals.
Louisville (24-10) showed signs of struggling without , who missed his fifth straight game with back issues. It was evident in the Cardinals鈥� issues against South Florida鈥檚 press in nearly squandering a 23-point lead over the final 12:50.
鈥淚t was the longest 10 minutes of my life, there鈥檚 no question about it,鈥� Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey said. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 played against a team like that, that has pressed us like that. So it was a heck of a test on a really, really big stage.鈥�
Brown is not expected to return for the second round on Saturday. That鈥檚 when the East Region鈥檚 sixth seed Louisville plays third-seeded Michigan State (26-7), a 92-67 first-round winner over North Dakota State.
Louisville had lost three straight tournament games since an 89-75 first-round win over Jacksonville State in 2017.
Joseph Pinion scored 27 points for South Florida (25-9) in a game in which the Bulls missed 20 of their first 21 3-point attempts. The AAC-champion Bulls had an 11-game winning streak snapped, and were making just their fourth tournament appearance, and first since reaching the Sweet 16 in 2012.
鈥淥bviously we put ourselves in a hole, but I thought we battled back really hard on that run,鈥� said Pinion, who went 8 of 17 in the second half after opening 2 for 8. 鈥淚 definitely thought we were going to win the ballgame, but we came up short.”
No more staples for McKneely
McKneely hit 7 of 10 3-point attempts, and credited the performance for being a little, well, lightheaded.
鈥淚t鈥檚 because I got my staples out yesterday,鈥� the senior guard said, before adding, 鈥渘o, I鈥檓 kidding.鈥�
McKneely wasn鈥檛 kidding about the staples being removed. He had four placed in his head after taking an errant elbow from a teammate in a .
No second-guessing the 3
South Florida coach Bryan Hodgson wasn鈥檛 going to lament his offense’s first-half struggles.
鈥淚 know the critics will say we took too many 3s. I think we missed some really good ones. Did we take some bad ones? Sure,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檝e had our identity offensively all year. It鈥檚 been very successful, most efficient offense in the history of the program.鈥�
The Bulls entered the game with the nation鈥檚 eighth-best offense in averaging 87.7 points per outing, and topped 100 points six times, including a program record in a 109-88 win over UTSA in February.
Facing the press
Kelsey refused to blame the Cardinals’ issues against the press for not having Brown available. He instead credited his backups who stepped up.
鈥淚njuries happen in basketball,鈥� Kelsey said in crediting McKneely and backup guard Kobe Rodgers. 鈥淚鈥檓 really, really proud amidst the adversity that we have a bunch of guys that had the resolve and the wherewithal and the toughness to figure out a way to advance in this tournament.鈥�
What’s worrisome is the Cardinals committing a season-high 22 turnovers. Their previous high was 18 in an 87-70 win over Georgia Tech on Feb. 21.
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