McKneely scores 23 and Louisville beats South Florida 83-79 in 1st round of NCAA Tournament

By Canadian Press on March 19, 2026.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Isaac McKneely scored 23 points, and Louisville hung on to beat South Florida 83-79 on Thursday to win its first NCAA Tournament game since Rick Pitino’s final season as coach.

Ryan Conwell scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half and backup forward Sananda Fru had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Cardinals.

Louisville (24-10) showed signs of struggling without starting point guard Mikel Brown Jr., who missed his fifth straight game with back issues. It was evident in the Cardinals’ issues against South Florida’s press in nearly squandering a 22-point lead over the final 11:25.

Brown is not expected to return for the second round on Saturday. That’s when the East Region’s sixth seed Louisville plays the winner of the game between third-seeded Michigan State (25-7) and North Dakota State (27-7).

Joseph Pinion scored 27 points for South Florida (25-9) in a game in which the Bulls missed 20 of their first 21 3-point attempts. The Bulls were making just their fourth tournament appearance and first since reaching the Sweet 16 in 2012.

Louisville had lost three straight tournament games since an 89-75 first-round win over Jacksonville State in 2017.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

John Wawrow, The Associated Press

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