Brooks Holton, Louisville Courier JournalThu, December 4, 2025 at 2:36 AM UTC·2 min readFAYETTEVILLE, AR — Pat Kelsey glanced up at the Bud Walton Arena rafters as he left Nolan Richardson Court and made his way to Louisville basketball’s locker room for halftime.
If the coach was racking his brain for answers, he didn’t find enough of them to lead the No. 6 Cardinals (7-1) back from the largest first-half deficit to this point of his tenure.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementUofL trailed No. 23 Arkansas (6-2) for all but 27 seconds and by as many as 20 points en route to an 89-80 loss Wednesday night in the ACC/SEC Challenge — falling to 8-20 against Razorbacks coach John Calipari.
After spending Thanksgiving week feasting on mid-majors, the Cards faced a 47-29 deficit after a sluggish-opening 20 minutes in front of a packed house at the Basketball Palace of the Midwest. They won the second half, 51-42, but could get no closer than 81-76 with 2:48 remaining in regulation.
Going 12 for 36 (33.3%) from the field and 3 for 20 (15%) from 3-point range during the first half hurt … a lot. As did their 13 fouls leading to 14 points for the Hogs at the free-throw line on 18 attempts.
Nine of Arkansas’ first-half points at the charity stripe came during a stretch of 4 minutes, 31 seconds in which Calipari’s team could not get a basket to fall. It won the segment, 9-3, as part of a 14-3 extended run and held Louisville to only 12 points across the final 9:02 before the break.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMikel Brown Jr. netted 16 second-half points to lead all scorers with 22 on 7-for-19 (2 for 13 from 3) shooting.
The player of the night: Trevon Brazile. The Razorbacks forward scored a team-high 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting. Fourteen of those points came before the under-12 timeout in the first half.
Up next for the Cards: a cross-state rival, No. 19 Indiana. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
This story will be updated.
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball stumbles in first half, falls against Arkansas
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