Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey wants his team's trademarks to be defense, toughness and rebounding, but the No. 6 Cardinals came up short in all three areas Wednesday night as Arkansas dominated in all three of those areas to hand the visitors their first defeat of the season, 89-80, in Bud Walton Arena in Fayatteville, Ark.
Failing their first true road test, the Cards fell to 7-1, while the No. 25 Razorbacks improved to 6-2 in the ACC/SEC Challenge contest as former UK coach John Calipari extended his mastery over Louisville to 14-3.
U of L never led, trailed 47-29 at halftime and fell behind by 20 points, 54-34, 2 1/2 minutes into the second half before finally getting untracked offensively and turning up its defensive effort.
The Cards got back in it with a 12-2 run that narrowed the gap to 62-53 midway through the second half but couldn't overcome the hole they dug in the first half when the tone of the game was set.
Louisville cut its deficit to five points three times in the final 8 1/2 minutes, the last time at 81-76 with 2:47 remaining on a 3-pointer by Isaac McKneely. But the Cards missed seven of their last eight shots and Arkansas put the game away with a 6-0 spurt to increase the lead to 87-76 at the 1:18 mark.
"Hat's off to Arkansas," Kelsey said. "They outplayed us and were the better team tonight. They were aggressor, jumped on us, we fouled too much and they got a ton of offensive rebounds. The bad part of it is offensive rebounding, they got 43 percent of their misses with the physicality and toughness they played with."
Arkansas won the rebounding battle solidly, 46-36, including 18-12 on the offensive board and outscoring U of L 27-9 on second-chance points. The Hogs also drew 25 fouls against the slow-reacting Cardinal defense and turned them into 27 free throws in 35 attempts. The losers, meanwhile, were 14-of-18 from the foul line.
As usual, the Cards relied heavily on the 3-point line but made just 8-of-37 (21.6%), including 3-for-20 in the first half when Mikel Brown Jr., Ryan Conwell and McKneely went 6-of-22. Brown finished with a game-high 22 points, 16 of them coming in the second half, but he shot just 7-of-19. Conwell had 15 points on 4-of-16 and McKneely wound up with 11. Sananda Fru scored 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds.
Arkansas' freshman backcourt of Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas combined for 34 points, with each getting 17, and Acuff dished 10 assists. Missouri transfer Trevon Brazile scored 17 of his team-high 21 points in the first half and finished 8-of-11 from the field. Malique Ewin had 12 points and nine boards. Six other Razorbacks corralled four or more rebounds.
"They have a lot of length and athleticism," Kelsey said. "They pressured us, did a lot of switching and messed up our rhythm. In the first half, especially, we were very discombobulated. We didn't play a disciplined style of basketball. We played better in the second half, but when it got to a five-point lead late we rushed. I thought we really hurried.
"It was a great college basketball atmosphere tonight. The crowd had a big impact on the game, and I just don't think we responded the way we need to. but we will. We'll dust off, get back to work and we'll be better in two days."
Kelsey said the players had addressed a lot of their shortcomings before he got into the locker room after the game, and they'll need to regroup quickly because they'll meet No. 22 Indiana on Saturday in Indianapolis.
"We have a very quick turnaround, so we've got to get home, have two great days of preparation," Kelsey said. "Luckily, we'll get back out there quickly and have a chance to redeem ourselves."
PRYOR RETURNS--Senior forward Kasean Pryor returned to action after missing two games due to concussion protocol. He played five minutes, scoring four points.
Arkansas guard Karter Knox (11) and Louisville guard Isaac McKneely (10) fight for a rebound during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, in Fayetteville, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)
