The worst season in Louisville’s modern men’s basketball history has mercilessly come to an end.
The Cardinals led by three at halftime, but a flat second half resulted in an 80-62 loss to Boston College in the first round of the ACC Tournament on Tuesday in Greensboro. The loss was Louisville’s first in the first round of a conference tournament since 2006.
As was the case far too many times over the past four months, a second chance and a seemingly invisible defense doomed any chance U of L had for an upset. The Cardinals allowed BC to grab 15 offensive rebounds, 11 of which came in the second half. The Eagles turned those second-chance opportunities into 17 whopping points.
Louisville was led by El Ellis, who ended his season and potentially his Cardinal career with a 16-point performance on 5-of-16 shooting. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield chipped in 13 points and JJ Traynor added 11.
Boston College was without the services of leading scorer and rebounder Quinten Post, who suffered an ankle injury early in the first half of the team’s regular season-ending loss to Georgia Tech. Post scored 22 points in the first meeting against Louisville back in January. Despite foul trouble, Makai Ashton-Langford led four BC players in double figures with 16 points.
Louisville finishes the 2022-23 season with an overall record of 4-28. The 28 losses are the most in the program’s 109-year history, shattering the previous record of 20 set in 1997-98.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to wrap my mind around what just happened.
In four seasons from 2012-2016, we saw Louisville lose a total of 28 games. We just saw a Cardinal team lose that many in four months.
I don’t care what the extenuating circumstances are – postseason ban, death penalty, only allowed to field a number of players shorter than 5’7 – I never, ever thought I’d witness Louisville basketball reach so low.
The climb out of this hole must begin immediately, and the steps in the right direction must be enormous.
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