Louisville Falls To Stanford 80-76

Mark BlankenbakerJanuary 3, 2026

The University of Louisville men’s basketball team dropped its first Atlantic Coast Conference matchup of the season, falling to Stanford 80-76 in a back-and-forth battle.

“Obviously because of our ranking and stuff like that, it’s going to be a rock fight every single night,” said head coach Pat Kelsey. In the second half, they scored 45 points, they got 50% of their misses back on the offensive glass. For the game, they scored at [1.212] points a possession, which is really high. We scored at [1.246] which is really high. But you can’t go on the road and get beat on the glass like that in the second half and not guard. It was a three-point game with a minute left and they drove right to the basket and got an easy layup. You have to be able to get stops, defend at a really high level to win on the road. Credit Stanford, they were better tonight. We have to get back home, rest, recover, have a couple really good days of preparation for a terrific Duke team in a few days.”

UofL (11-3, 1-1 ACC) used the starting lineup of Ryan Conwell, Isaac McKneely, Adrian Wooley, J’Vonne Hadley and Sananda Fru for the fourth consecutive game.

Stanford scored four straight points to begin the game, but the two teams tied it up at 11 with under 14 minutes left in the first half. The Cardinal then went on a 13-5 run before two shots from the charity stripe by Kobe Rodgers stifled their momentum.

The opposition held the advantage for the remainder of the half, leading by as much as nine, but back-to-back field goals by Conwell pulled Louisville within one point with 0:50 remaining. The two teams traded field goals in the last minute of the period to give Stanford a narrow 35-34 edge heading into the locker room.

During the first nine minutes of the second half, the two teams swapped leads 14 times and were tied three times. Stanford went on a 9-4 run with 11:07 to take the largest lead of the half at a six-point advantage. Louisville rallied back to tie the game at 65-65 with under five minutes of the period.

The final four minutes of regulation were down to the wire as Stanford never had more than a two-possession lead. The Cards brought the deficit down to two twice in the final 10 seconds of the game but were unable to complete the rally as Stanford won by a score of 80-76.

Conwell led the team in scoring with 18 points in 35 minutes of action. Three other Louisville starters reached double figures in McKneely (17), Fru (15) and Hadley (14). In addition to his scoring effort, Hadley tallied seven rebounds, a block and a steal.

Stanford (12-3, 1-1 ACC) was paced by freshman Ebuka Okorie who totaled 28 points on 50% shooting. Senior Chisom Okpara also had a productive night for the Cardinal with 17 points and eight rebounds.

The Cardinals will return home to face No. 6/5 Duke on Jan. 6 for its first ACC contest of the season at the KFC Yum! Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on ESPN.