Louisville snaps multiple historic streaks with Saturday loss vs. Miami

The Louisville Cardinals played one of their best games of the season against the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday night, and unfortunately it still wasn’t good enough to come away with a victory. The Cardinals scored 85 points and they still somehow lost to Miami 93-85. The loss snapped a historic streak for the program–the team had a 158-game winning streak when scoring at least 85 points in regulation. Not only that, Louisville had also won 42 straight games over the past 28 years when shooting at least 57.5% from the field.

The Cardinals were torching the nets, shooting 57.9% from the field, 43.5% from three-point range, and still came up short. El Ellis led Louisville with 33 points and five assists. The loss also mathematically eliminates the Cardinals from a winning season, which means the basketball program will endure back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1942.

While Louisville played well, the Hurricanes had three players pump in over 20 points apiece–Isaiah Wong (21 points), Norchad Omier (21 points), and Nijel Pack (22 points).

Louisville’s Jae’Lyn Withers also stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points, five rebounds, and one assist in the losing effort. While the Cardinals did lose, it’s hard to be disappointed with the effort if you’re a Louisville fan, because they did play exceptionally well. Sure, it wasn’t enough on Saturday night, but it’s pretty rare for a team to shoot as well as they did and lose.

That’s why the Miami Hurricanes are one of the most balanced teams in the ACC. They’ve got a number of weapons that can pour in over 20 points on a given night, and they got that on Saturday from Wong, Omier, and Pack. Pack was one of the most coveted prospects in the transfer portal this offseason and he’s been showing why. He’s been averaging 12.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game for the ‘Canes this year.