LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Another night, another blowout for the Louisville basketball team.
In its second regular-season outing, the No. 11-ranked Cardinals welcomed back Kasean Pryor, seeing his first action in just under a year, and played without J’Vonne Hadley, its ironman and two-way metronome, who sat out in concussion protocol. Hadley is the glue, the guy who’s always in the right place while your eyes are on someone else.
And yes, you could feel his absence in Louisville's 106-70 rout.
The gears still turned, but without him, they made a little more noise. The Cardinals allowed too many clean drives and a few open looks they wouldn’t have dreamed of offering South Carolina State in Monday’s opener.
Still, they led by 17 before Jackson State unpacked its warmups. Pryor checked in less than four minutes into the game to a healthy ovation and contributed six points and three rebounds while clearly playing his way back into rhythm.
The real exclamation point came early in the second half, when a 20-point halftime lead ballooned to 36 in eight minutes of full-court theater. Jackson State made just two field goals during that stretch, and if you’d gotten up for popcorn, you came back and it was over, if it wasn't before.
Louisville wasn’t quite the three-point wrecking crew it was in Game 1, but the Cards still dropped 10 triples and took up permanent residence in the paint, outscoring the visitors 50-26 at the rim.
Jackson State had lost by 58 at Illinois on Tuesday. So yes, the expectation was a rout. And Louisville delivered it with seasoning.
Ryan Conwell led all scorers with 19 points. Mikel Brown Jr. added 18 along with nine assists, six rebounds — and six turnovers, a reminder that even Ferraris fishtail sometimes. Khani Rooths brought 16 points and nine boards, moving with the confidence of a guy who’s not waiting to be told what he can do.
For Jackson State, former McDonald’s All-American Daeshun Ruffin scored 18. Jayme Mitchell led with 20. Devin Ree, once a Cardinal, returned to the Yum! Center and left the scoring column blank.
Louisville shot 52 percent overall, but let Jackson State hit 11 threes — a defensive leak Coach Pat Kelsey won’t likely ignore on the film.
The game ended with the crowd chanting “Beat UK.” Because next up is Kentucky. And everything up to now was just preamble.
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
