Kansas got a big night from Tre White, Melvin Council Jr. and Tyran Stokes, but it wasn’t enough to protect the home floor Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
No. 11 Louisville used a blistering second-half shooting stretch to turn a halftime deficit into an 89-83 win over the 17th-ranked Jayhawks, snapping KU’s run of 58 straight exhibition victories at Allen Fieldhouse.
White led Kansas with 25 points, a total that topped anything he produced last season. Council added 20, while Stokes finished with 15, with much of that damage coming at the free-throw line.
Louisville answered with balance and shot-making. Jackson Shelstad scored 23 points and closed the game out at the line after Stokes missed a chance at the rim with KU trailing 86-83 in the final minute. Obinna Ekezie Jr. scored 16 and did a lot of his work from deep, while three other Cardinals also finished in double figures.
The game opened with Louisville struggling to get traction offensively, and Kansas took advantage. Karter Knox came off the bench and hit a right-corner 3 to bring the Cardinals even, but the Jayhawks answered with a 7-0 burst. White’s defensive play on a Seth Trimble pass led to a fast-break dunk for Council, forcing a timeout.
Kansas kept leaning on its size early, and Flory Bidunga finally got on the board at the 12:39 mark with a hook shot after backing down Keanu Dawes. Louisville managed to steady itself after that, getting five points from Ekezie out of the under-12 timeout and quickly climbing back to a tie at 17.
The Jayhawks held a slim edge for most of the first half and put some Cardinals, including Bidunga, in foul trouble. But Kansas missed a chance to build on that advantage when Paul Mbiya couldn’t cash in at the line.
Council hit back-to-back 3s, yet the offense stalled soon after, and Louisville grabbed its first lead on a Shelstad 3 with under two minutes left before halftime. Still, Stokes kept attacking, drew fouls and went 7-for-10 at the stripe in the first half, helping Kansas take a 37-36 lead into the break.
White and Council carried KU’s scoring early, finishing the half with 12 and 11, while no Louisville player had more than seven points before the intermission.
Then came the turn.
Louisville came out in the second half letting it fly from long range, drilling three of its first four 3-pointers. Two belonged to Adrian Wooley and one to Alvaro Folgueiras, and that quick strike pushed the Cardinals into the lead. Shelstad kept pouring it on, scoring eight straight points by himself, and De’Shayne Montgomery added two free throws to stretch the margin to 11.
Kansas answered in spurts. Council scored on a putback and then finished a three-point play, trimming the gap enough for Pat Kelsey to call timeout after Stokes found Mbiya on an alley-oop to make it 63-56.
Mbiya later finished another lob from Council to cut it to 67-62 with under nine minutes left, but Ekezie immediately drilled his third and fourth 3s. White answered with a corner 3 to keep KU alive at 75-68, but Shelstad came right back with a deep step-back from the left wing.
Stokes made one more push when he stripped Shelstad and raced in for a transition layup that made it 82-80 with 2:16 left. From there, though, Louisville took control at the stripe.
Dennis Parker Jr. and Stokes each fouled Trimble on the next two possessions, and Trimble converted enough free throws to keep the Cardinals in front. Dawes later split a pair at the line, Bidunga missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Dawes dunked to make it 85-83.
Kansas had one more chance, but Council was whistled for an unintentional foul on Trimble, who added another free throw. After Stokes’ contested layup spun out, Shelstad knocked down two more free throws, and White’s turnover ended it.
Kansas will host Duke for its final exhibition at noon on Sunday.
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