RAPID REACTION | Brown, Rooths come off bench, propel Louisville to 88-74 win over SMU

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – There were some basketball pundits (and by “some,” I mean me) who said before this season that Louisville was likely to go as far as freshman Mikel Brown and sophomore Khani Rooths would take them.

Both have been slowed in the past month with injuries and illness. And neither started Saturday’s pivotal Atlantic Coast Conference home game against SMU.

Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford

But both came off the bench, and — spoiler alert — that turned out to be a good thing. Rooths, returning after missing four games with an illness, brought rebounding, energy and an emphatic put-back dunk that practically shook the Yum! Center out of its first-half slumber.

Brown brought, well, everything else. After five turnovers in the first nine minutes (five!), he played like the guy this team thought it was building around, finishing with 20 points and a handful of “everybody just calm down” moments in an 88-74 Louisville win.

“I’m not used to the weather,” said Brown, an Orlando native. “In Florida, it’s warm right now. I’m hurting.”

The Cards looked hung over early, coming off a 31-point loss to Duke. It allowed 55 percent shooting to SMU and trailed by 12 early. For a minute, it was headed for another therapy session. But by halftime they had cut their deficit to three, adjusted the thermostat at intermission, and showed up with a second-half defense that looked ready to mix it up.

SMU shot 37 percent after the break. Made just three threes. Looked as surprised as anyone to find itself stuck at 74 while Louisville hit cruise control.

Three straight threes — one by Brown, two by Isaac McKneely from the same spot on the wing like he was on a loop — pushed the lead to 15 with 4:22 to play. Game. Set. Rooths.

Louisville’s bench outscored SMU’s 47 to 5, thanks to Brown and Rooths, who finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Louisville also won in the paint, 42-32. Turned the turnover deficit into an 18-13 edge in points off miscues. And out-rebounded the bigger team 35-34. Not by much, but enough for the coaching staff to at least exhale.

McKneely finished with 14. Ryan Conwell added 12. J’Vonne Hadley scored 10. Vangelis Zougris provided a defensive lift. Aly Khalifa hit a couple threes just to remind you he can.

The 1986 national championship team was honored at halftime. A team that opened the season at 15-7 but ran the table the rest of the way has to provide some inspiration to a Louisville team that improved to 15-6, 5-4 in the ACC.

Next up for the Cards is a visit from Notre Dame on Wednesday.