Chestnut Hill, MA – No. 6-ranked Louisville came into Wednesday night’s contest at Boston College as winners of six straight games and took an 8-1 ACC record into the game. The Eagles were competitive most of the night but the Cardinals had too much second half offensive firepower as they earned the road win by a score of 86-69 in front of 5,771 fans at the Conte Forum. Jordan Nwora led Louisville with career-highs of 37 points and seven made three-pointers.
Nwora, a likely 2020 NBA draft pick, looked the best that we’ve seen of him this season. The 6-7 wing shooter came into the game averaging 43.1 percent of his shots from distance. Tonight he got off to a hot start, hitting five of his first six three-pointers and seven of his first eight shots from the field as he scored 21 first half points. 6-2 junior Darius Perry had ten first half points, connecting on 2-of-4 3s. Point guard Derryck Thornton and 6-3 freshman Jay Heath led the Eagles with 11 first half points each. Heath hit three 3s and Thornton two while Thornton dished out four assists. Louisville led at the half 45-43 as both teams played effectively on offense.
Nwora added to his career-game in the second half taking the ball to the hoop more and drawing fouls. He got to the line nine times, connecting on eight and added nine rebounds on the night. After Boston College cut the deficit to five points at 67-62 with eight minutes remaining, Louisville went on a 17-2 run to take control of the game. A 10-point run highlighted by three-pointers from Samuel Williamson and Ryan McMahon gave the Cardinals a 15-point lead with 4:46 remaining and effectively put the game away.
Louisville connected on 12-of-27 shots from distance (44 percent) while Boston College made 7-of-22 (32 percent) 3s. They were only 2-of-9 from distance in the second half. Nwora finished 7-of-14 shooting from distance. Louisville dominated the boards to a tune of 43-29 including a 25-15 edge in the second half as they pulled away to the win.
Louisville (18-3, 9-1) heads to Raleigh to play North Carolina State on Saturday afternoon while Boston College (10-11, 4-6) plays at North Carolina, also on Saturday.
This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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