The No. 6 seed Louisville Cardinals are moving on to the Round of 32 after an 83-79 win over the No. 11 seed South Florida Bulls on Thursday at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
Louisville went into halftime with a 10-point lead, and the Cardinals led by as many as 23 with just over 13 minutes to go in the second half.
However, South Florida went on an unreal run, pulling within five points with under 30 seconds to go before Louisville put the game away.
After the win, Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey had a blunt take on the near collapse by his team.
Louisville coach Pat Kelsey on USF's comeback, cutting a 23-point lead to 4: "It was the longest 10 minutes of my life, no question about it."
— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoATH) March 19, 2026
South Florida just continued to fight and make shots, but in the end, Louisville managed to walk away with the victory in the Round of 64.
Louisville was without Mikel Brown Jr., the team’s second-leading scorer, as it was reported that he would miss the first weekend due to a back injury.
Virginia transfer Isaac McKneely led the way with 23 points and Ryan Conwell added 18 points with 6 assists as the Cardinals escaped with a hard-fought win.
Louisville will now face the winner of Arkansas-Hawaii on Saturday, and Pat Kelsey will try and lead his team to the Sweet 16.
