Louisville leads Michigan State 23-18 at halftime

On the game broadcast, former Indiana Pacers star Reggie Miller said it best when he said, “We knew this was going to be a defensive struggle, but this is a real ugly basketball offensively.”

That was the first half was of Thursday’s West Regional semifinal between No. 1 seed Michigan State and No. 4 seed Louisville as the Cardinals lead 23-18 after 20 minutes.

The half was bizarre. Neither team shot well at all, but it was Louisville’s 3-point shooting that kept them in it. The Cardinals were 7-for-15 from deep and only 1-of-15 from inside the arc. MSU shot 6-for-22 in the half, a dreadful offensive performance that included 2-of-9 from deep.

Jared Swopshire hit a 3-pointer near the buzzer for Louisville, making him 5-of-22 from deep this season and 2-for-2 on the night, adding him to the list of unlikely Cardinals to hit a three.

Draymond Green leads the Spartans with seven points and six rebounds while three players have six points for Louisville.