LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Sportswriters once built entire football games from telegrams. Broadcasters turned box scores into drama. Walter Cronkite learned the craft that way. Ronald Reagan did, too.
So perhaps Louisville's exhibition game Tuesday against Bahamas Raw Talent isn't journalism's greatest step backward.
Oh, who are we kidding?
Tuesday's game will reach the mainland one rebound, turnover and made free throw at a time, leaving the rest of us to assemble a basketball game from statistical breadcrumbs.
No TV. No streaming. No radio. Just a live stat feed available by clicking here.
Regardless, we are all here for it. Well, most of us. Who plays at 2 o'clock on a Tuesday, by the way? This running game column/commentary/recap will be updated every five minutes of game time.
It can't beat seeing the game live. But it does beat the Pony Express, or drawing on cave walls. I guess. We'll see ...
Starting lineups
Interesting starting lineup for Louisville. Instead of going with Adrian Wooley, the team's lone returning player with experience, at a starting guard spot, Pat Kelsey will bring him off the bench. The Cards will start Jackson Shelstad and London Johnson at guard, Flory Bidunga in the middle and De'Shayne Montgomery and Alvaro Folguerias at forward.
Wooley does give Kelsey a trusted bench option here, should he need a spark. And he'll get a good look right away at London Johnson.
The Bahamas will start Derek Francis, Sammy Hunter, Tayshaun Wallace, Jabez Coleby and CJ Brown (no, not CL Brown).
15:00 remaining (first half): Louisville 12, Bahamas 6
The first confirmed basket of Louisville's 2026-27 exhibition season belongs to Kansas transfer Flory Bidunga, who, according to the only evidence available, dunked the ball with 19:30 remaining. We cannot tell you whether he glided through the air, shook the rim or merely placed it politely through the cylinder. The live stats simply read: "GOOD! DUNK by BIDUNGA, FLORY." History will have to fill in the rest.
From there, the Cardinals and Bahamas Raw Talent spent the next few minutes introducing themselves to one another and to the concept of exhibition basketball. The game was tied three different times — 2-2, 4-4 and 6-6 — before Louisville finally remembered it had Adrian Wooley.
Wooley checked in less than two minutes into the game, scored on a layup assisted by Bidunga, then buried a three. The freshmen made a quick mark: Boyuan Zhang followed with a transition three after an Isaac Ellis steal, and suddenly the Cardinals had closed the opening five minute segment with a 12-6 lead.
Early stats show Bidunga involved in just about everything. Two points, two rebounds, an assist and, because no exhibition is complete without reminding everyone basketball remains an imperfect science, one turnover. Wooley came off the bench to score five points. Zhang needed only one shot to announce his arrival, and it landed behind the arc.
Meanwhile, Jackson Shelstad apparently volunteered to absorb all the preseason rust. He opened 0-for-4 from the field, including 0-for-2 from three.
That's about all we know. Somewhere in Nassau, there may have been ball movement, defensive intensity and impressive athleticism. Here on the mainland, we have a box score, a play-by-play log and our dignity, though one of those three is already in short supply.
Why the media timeouts?
They keep calling timeouts for television. Somebody needs to tell them television has declined the invitation.
I would like the record to reflect that I am covering this basketball game under protest.
Stopping a game for a media timeout in the absence of any in-game sponsorship is the height of absurdity.
10:00 -- Louisville 24, Bahamas 23
For a while, Louisville looked ready to create some separation. Then the live stats started to look crooked.
The Cardinals pushed the lead to six behind another three-pointer from Boyuan Zhang, a couple more strong moments from Flory Bidunga and a layup from De'Shayne Montgomery. Then Bahamas Raw Talent answered with a flurry of its own, trimming the margin back to one by the 10-minute mark.
The box score has also revealed the game's first confirmed star. Dominick Bridgewater has 12 points, three steals and the sort of stat line that suggests he has been everywhere at once. At this point, he's scored half of Bahamas' points and appears to know where the ball is headed before the rest of us know where it is. Which isn’t hard.
Meanwhile, Bidunga continues to leave fingerprints all over the game. Through the first 10 minutes, the Louisville big man has six points, five rebounds, three assists and three blocks. We can't tell you whether any of those blocks ended up in the third row. We can only confirm they disappeared from the play-by-play and reappeared in the box score a few seconds later.
The latest Louisville burst came courtesy of Adrian Wooley, who recorded back-to-back steals that turned into a Bidunga layup and an Álvaro Folgueiras three-pointer.
5:00 -- Louisville 34, Bahamas 26
The last made field goal occurred with 8:42 remaining. You know what, maybe this not being streamed or on TV isn't such a bad thing, after all..
The Cardinals have somehow stretched the lead from three points to eight without the inconvenience of making another basket. Free throws have done the heavy lifting. Gabe Dynes split a pair. De'Shayne Montgomery made four straight. Adrian Wooley added two more. Louisville has scored five consecutive points from the stripe while the rims have enjoyed an extended vacation.
If this game has a defensive MVP through 15 minutes, the box score insists it's Flory Bidunga. He now has four blocks, eight rebounds and five assists, a stat line that suggests he's spending equal time protecting the rim, cleaning the glass and distributing the ball -- justifying Pat Kelsey's preseason praise of his passing.
Halftime: Louisville 46, Bahamas 30
The big development in the last few minutes is that I had to leave home otherwise drive to work. So this halftime update is coming from the parking lot of Fitness Market on Plantside Drive.
Anyway, Louisville closed the half exactly the way you'd want after a sluggish opening 10 minutes. The Cardinals outscored the Bahamas 17-4 over the final 5:44, and they did it even after enduring that 4-minute stretch without a made field goal. During that drought, Louisville simply lived at the foul line, making free throws to gradually stretch the lead before finally finding a few baskets late.
The biggest first-half takeaway is probably the defense.
The Bahamas are shooting just 32.4% (11-of-34), and Louisville already has seven steals and seven blocked shots. Flory Bidunga has been the anchor of all of it. He has 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and an eye-popping six blocks in just 17 first-half minutes, looking every bit like the defensive force Louisville hoped it was getting. Gabe Dynes added a block of his own off the bench.
Offensively, it wasn't always pretty. Louisville shot just 37.8% from the floor and 29.4% from three (5-of-17), but compensated by attacking the offensive glass (10 offensive rebounds), getting to the foul line (13-of-16) and forcing 12 Bahamas turnovers that turned into 16 points.
De'Shayne Montgomery has been Louisville's most consistent scorer with nine points, while Bidunga has 10. Adrian Wooley has seven points and three assists, London Johnson has six, Jackson Shelstad five and Alvaro Folgueiras five.
For the Bahamas, Dominick Bridgewater has kept his team afloat with 17 of their 30 points, while no other player has more than four.
If there's one thing Pat Kelsey is likely emphasizing in the locker room, it's finishing possessions a little more cleanly. Louisville has six first-half turnovers of its own and missed enough open shots that this game probably could have been put away earlier. Still, after an uneven start, the Cardinals finished the half a bit more comfortably carrying a 16-point lead into the break.
15:00 (second half) -- Louisville 57, Bahamas 35
The Cards came out of halftime and quickly removed most of the remaining suspense, opening the second half on an 11-5 run and pushing the lead past 20.
They made four of their first seven shots after halftime, including two threes, while forcing three more Bahamas turnovers. Alvaro Folgueiras hit from deep, De’Shayne Montgomery added a three of his own, and Jackson Shelstad scored on a layup as Louisville briefly stretched the margin to 24.
Montgomery has moved into the team scoring lead with 12 points. Bidunga also has 12, along with eight rebounds, four assists and six blocks. He entered the half with three fouls, which ordinarily would make every defensive challenge a small act of suspense. But players are not being disqualified for fouls in this exhibition, so Bidunga has been granted the basketball equivalent of diplomatic immunity. Hack away.
The defensive numbers remain the clearest story. Bahamas is shooting 31.6% overall and 3-of-14 from three. Louisville has nine steals and eight blocks, has forced 15 turnovers and owns a 19-8 advantage in points off them. The Cardinals also have widened their rebounding edge to 29-22.
Louisville is up to 40.9% shooting after the quick second-half start and has made seven threes. An area still lagging is the starting line from the presumptive starting backcourt. Adrian Wooley is 2-of-8 overall and 1-of-5 from three—but he remains a plus-21 with three assists, two steals and no turnovers. Jackson Shelstad is 1-of-7 from deep and 3 of 11 overall.
The lead is 22. The foul limit is apparently only a suggestion. The afternoon continues.
8:00 -- Louisville 79, Bahamas 48
A brief interruption in our box score-assisted broadcast: I had another television duty and returned to discover Louisville had turned a comfortable game into a 31-point runaway.
I'm not going to say Bahamas Raw Talent has given up, but the box score has started to look less like a rotation and more like open auditions.
The Cardinals scored 22 points in a little less than seven minutes, making seven of their next 11 shots and six of their first 10 three-pointers of the second half. Adrian Wooley finally found his range, Boyuan Zhang knocked down another three, Isaac Ellis contributed points and steals, and Gabe Dynes joined the scoring as Louisville's offense shifted into another gear.
The defensive numbers remain lopsided. Louisville has forced 20 turnovers, collected 12 steals and blocked eight shots. Those turnovers have turned into 29 points, while the Cardinals' bench owns a 26-10 scoring advantage.
Flory Bidunga continues to fill every available column in the stat sheet with 15 points, nine rebounds, four assists and six blocked shots. De'Shayne Montgomery also has 15 points, Wooley has reached double figures despite a slow shooting start, and all but one Cardinal who has entered the game has scored.
About all we can responsibly conclude: Louisville has done what it should do against a team like this. Whether it looked crisp, sloppy or somewhere in between remains a mystery reserved for the few people who actually witnessed it.
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