Ryan Conwell nets 26 as No. 16 Louisville rolls over Cal
Ryan Conwell scored 26 points for No. 16 Louisville, which won its ACC opener for the first time in four seasons as the visiting Cardinals manhandled the Cal Bears 90-70 in Berkeley on Tuesday.
Louisville (11-2) once again was without freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr., as the five-star recruit missed his third straight game with a back injury. The Cardinals, though, did not miss Brown as they scored the first 10 points and then enjoyed a 12-2 run to go up 31-13 after a Conwell 3-pointer with 8:01 left in the first half.
Adrian Wooley, Brown's substitute in the starting lineup, posted a season-high 21 in the win. Sananda Fru recorded the first double-double of his career as the 6-foot-11 German finished with 13 points and a season-high 14 rebounds.
It didn't matter where Louisville was shooting in the first half, as the Cardinals connected on 54.3% of their shots (19 of 35). They made 8 of 17 3-pointers and outscored the Bears 22-4 in the paint, as the lead eventually grew to 36-15.
Defensively, the Cardinals held Cal to a season-low 33.9% shooting (20 of 59). Chris Bell finished with 20, and Justin Pippen added 17, but the Bears (12-2) saw their nine-game winning streak end.
Louisville's foul trouble allowed the Bears to climb back from deficits of more than 20 points a couple of times, but Cal was never able to get the Cardinals' lead under double figures in the second half. A dead-ball technical foul on Vangelis Zougris allowed the Bears to score seven points in three seconds and cap a 14-0 run on a Bell 3-pointer with 6:44 remaining.
That made it 73-62, but the Cardinals responded with a 17-2 run that erased any hopes of a Cal comeback. Conwell scored 10 straight himself to make it 90-64 with 1:09 left.
The last time Louisville won its ACC opener came on Dec. 4, 2021, when the Cardinals won 73-68 at North Carolina State.