By Matt Bradshaw —
No. 10 seed Minnesota (22-13) defeated No. 7 seed Louisville men’s basketball (20-14) in the opening game of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. They mustered a late comeback, but the Cardinals trailed by as much as 19 points during the contest and lost 86-76.
“It’s a really tough feeling, you know, to end your season so quickly in the NCAA Tournament,” head coach Chris Mack said. “I am very proud of our group. They exceeded a lot of people’s expectations. It’s sorta hard to see that in the moment, but to get a group that was picked 11th preseason in our conference and to represent our conference in the NCAA Tournament, I don’t take that lightly.