Louisville got 23 points from Jackson Shelstad and a tremendous effort off the bench from freshman big man Obinna Ekezie to open its exhibition season with an 89-83 win at Kansas Wednesday night.
The loss snapped a 58-game home winning streak for the Jayhawks in exhibition games. KU’s most recent exhibition loss at Allen Fieldhouse before Wednesday night was a loss to the Australian National Team in November of 1993.
In front of a crowd that made the contest feel like a top-tier showdown in January, Louisville got smacked in the face early. Former Card Tre White hit a pair of threes as Kansas raced out to a 10-3 advantage that forced Pat Kelsey to burn a timeout before the first media break.
The Cards trailed by seven points at multiple other times in the first half, but thanks in large part to the hot shooting of Shelstad, whittled the lead down to one at the break.
Making his return to Phog Allen, former KU star Flory Bidunga found himself in early foul trouble, forcing Ekezie into early action. The 7-2 freshman who spent much of the offseason dealing with a shoulder injury responded in a major way. He drilled multiple crowd-quieting threes and blocked the shot of fellow 5-star freshman Tyran Stokes on three different occasions. Ekezie finished the night with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks, despite playing only 19 minutes.
Stokes, the Louisville native projected by many to be the No. 1 pick in next June’s NBA Draft, struggled. He shot just 3-of-13 from the field and committed a team-high three turnovers, the last of which coming in the game’s final moments when the Jayhawks still had a chance to win.
I know this was an exhibition game, I know this doesn’t count, I know the performance wasn’t perfect … but this was about as positive a way to unofficially begin a season as possible.
The Cards played in the toughest road environment in college basketball (you can argue, but I’m not going to be swayed). They took an early punch and they withstood a late rally, and they’re heading back to Louisville with a victory.
When it comes to Cardinal basketball, everyone in this fan base wants to be as bought in as they were 10, 20, 40 years ago. For a lot of people, I think the repeated letdowns over the past decade have made that difficult. There are no guarantees, BUT, this was a very, very loud statement of reassurance for all who bleed red.
Game on.