LOUISVILLE -- No. 14 Louisville got 17 points and 11 rebounds from junior center Anas Mahmoud and forced No. 7 Duke into 18 turnovers during a 78-69 win on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center.
"Their big kid, Mahmoud, was terrific today," interim Duke coach Jeff Capel said. "He had a double-double, the plays he made, protecting their basket."
Mahmoud came into the game averaging 5.8 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.
"I thought he was very good," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said of his 7-foot Egyptian center. "He's just going to keep getting better and better."
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In addition to Mahmoud's first career double-double, the Cardinals (15-3, 3-2 in the ACC) got 15 points from sophomore guard Donovan Mitchell, 13 from junior guard Quentin Snider and 11 from sophomore forward Ray Spalding.
The Blue Devils (14-4, 2-3) got 23 points from junior guard Grayson Allen.
"We're getting better and better," Pitino said. "Tonight we played a 40-minute game. There's always going to be certain mistakes, but we played 40 minutes of good defense tonight. That makes me very excited."
Louisville controlled most of the second half, but started off shooting ice cold.
Duke held a 19-12 lead with 8:02 left before halftime, but Louisville scored nine of the next 10 points to take a 21-20 lead on a free throw by Mahmoud with 5:34 left.
Louisville's four big men totaled 35 points and 17 rebounds as Duke's interior defense continued to struggle without senior starting power forward Amile Jefferson, who missed his third game due to injury.
"Everyone has to step up," Capel said. "That's the main thing. ... We don't make an excuse. Guys have to step up and they have to understand the importance of each day of working every second you're out there.
"Obviously Amile means a lot to us, but he's not able to play, so guys have to step up."
The Cardinals and Blue Devils were tied at 21-21 and 24-24 before an 8-0 Louisville run started on a 3-pointer by freshman forward VJ King and included a dunk by Mahmoud and a 3-pointer by Snider.
Duke trailed 32-24, but scored six of the final eight points of the half to close to within 34-30.
Luke Kennard's 3-pointer cut Louisville's lead to one point to start the second half and Duke regained the lead at 37-36 on two free throws by Allen.
The Cardinals went on a 9-0 run to take a 45-37 lead, capped by a layup from Spalding. Louisville maintained a lead and pushed ahead to 57-49 with just over eight minutes left.
"We have to do things together," Capel said. "A lot of it did have to do with Louisville's defense. They pressure you and that's what I mean about having poise. But that was a problem for us today."
The Blue Devils had two runs in the second half, cutting Louisville's lead to 47-45 at one stage and 52-49 at another, but the Cardinals never relinquished the lead.
"I just think we played intelligent defense the entire game, which we haven't done," Pitino said. "We didn't back up. We knew they were going to beat us off the bounce, and we wanted to switch, we took away the high post pass and they started running over and we fouled them too much, and then we changed that.
" ... Just a tremendous game of shutting down the three, getting our deflections and forcing turnovers."
Louisville took its first double-digit lead at 71-61 and closed out the victory on with key shots by Mahmoud, Snider and Mitchell. The Cardinals hit 4 of 6 free throws in the final three minutes.
NOTES: Donovan Mitchell of Louisville was helped off the court by trainer Fred Hina after being shaken up with 12:57 left. He went straight to the locker room, but returned later in the game. ... Louisville and Duke are two of the four schools that have 20 or more wins for 14 straight seasons. The others are Kansas and Gonzaga. ... Louisville is 6-7 all-time vs. Duke.
