Duke Blue Devils vs Louisville Cardinals Match Player Stats On Mar 10, 2021

Freshman Mark Williams posted career-highs with 23 points and 19 rebounds to keep Duke's slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive following a 70-56 victory over Louisville on Wednesday night in the second round of the ACC tournament in Greensboro.

The No. 10-seed Blue Devils (13-11), who have not missed the NCAA Tournament since 1995, would likely need to win the conference tourney to keep that from happening this year. Duke's next hurdle will be a quarterfinal matchup on Thursday against No. 2-seed Florida State (15-5).

Williams shot 9 of 14 from the field and recorded only the second double-double of his career. He dominated in the paint, earning his team several second-chance points with seven offensive rebounds.

All-ACC first team forward Matthew Hurt also had a solid performance with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting and collected five rebounds as Duke beat Louisville after losing twice to the Cardinals during the regular season.

David Johnson totaled 14 points and 11 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Cardinals (13-7), who ESPN's Joe Lunardi had projected to make the NCAA Tournament entering the game.

But Louisville's own All-ACC first teamer Carlik Jones was held without a field goal for the first nine and a half minutes of the game and finished with 13 points on 5-for-14 shooting.

The Cardinals opened the game missing 11 of their first 13 shots before a 9 of 16 hot streak just before halftime during a 14-0 run tied the game at 29.

But while Louisville tried to push the ball up the court and speed up the tempo, Duke did a good job limiting the Cardinals with their defense. Louisville shot only 30.6 percent from the floor and 28 percent from 3-point range.

Wendell Moore Jr. finished with nine points, seven rebounds and five assists for Duke, which went 6-for-15 from 3-point range one game after making a season-high 15 triples against Boston College. The Blue Devils shot 44.8 percent overall. DJ Steward and Jeremy Roach also chipped in nine points.

--Field Level Media