Indiana entered Saturday's game as one of the best offenses in the country. Louisville came in as one of top defenses.
Defense won.
The Cardinals — No. 8 in the nation in field-goal percentage defense — shut down the Hoosiers, who shot just 32.2 percent in a 77-62 loss in Indianapolis.
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Indiana had a miserable first half offensively, shooting just 24.1 percent from the field over the game's opening 20 minutes. The deficit didn't grow until half's end, when Louisville caught fire shooting the ball and broke away from a 20-19 Indiana lead with a 20-7 run to close the half. The Hoosiers made just one basket during that stretch, an OG Anunoby dunk. The Cardinals, meanwhile, shot a scorching 53.3 percent from the field in the first half.
Indiana couldn't cut into that lead too much after halftime. It grew as big as 15 not four minutes out of halftime, and from there a 13-4 run by the Hoosiers sliced things to six, though that was as close as it got. Louisville's Donovan Mitchell scored eight points in a minute to stretch the gap back out to 12, and the Cardinals led by 16 with under six minutes to play, holding a double-digit lead for the final seven-plus minutes of the contest.
Indiana made just 19 baskets on the game, going 4-for-21 from 3-point range. The Hoosiers turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 19 points for the Cardinals. Despite a big rebounding advantage, Louisville's new-look starting lineup allowed Rick Pitino to bring a bevy of talented players off the bench, and the reserves accounted for 39 points, compared to just 21 for Indiana's bench.
Anunoby led the way for the Hoosiers with 14 points, and James Blackmon Jr. had 10 points.
Big Ten
Indiana is now 10-4 on the season and could see its top-25 ranking disappear after losing twice this week, first at home to Nebraska and then at Bankers Life Fieldhouse to Louisville, a top-10 team. The Hoosiers' roller-coaster season continues on a downward slope at the moment. Two top-10 wins from the non-conference season over Kansas and North Carolina seem like a long time ago after losses in three of their last five games to really good Butler and Louisville teams and a not-so-good Nebraska team.
The schedule doesn't let up, as Indiana returns to conference play against Wisconsin on Tuesday.