Who does Louisville play next? Cardinals move on to Round 2 after dominating USF

Despite being the trendy upset pick, Louisville controlled South Florida for much of their game Thursday afternoon before surviving a wild comeback attempt and holding on for a 83-79 win. The Cardinals held the Bulls to 5-of-33 shooting on 3-pointers and became the fourth team to advance in the tournament, joining TCU (66-64 win over Duke), Nebraska (76-47 win over Troy) and High Point, who upset Wisconsin, 83-82

The next step for Louisville is the round of 32, where they will play the winner of Michigan State and North Dakota State. The Spartans, who are the No 3 seed in the East Region, are 16.5-point favorites and expected to win comfortably. 

It's hard to believe, but this is the Cardinals' first trip into the second round since 2017. Louisville hasn't made it out of the first weekend since 2015 and, if the Spartans are the second-round opponent, that will be a tough task once again.

Louisville advances after 83-79 win over South Florida

Louisville led by as many as 23 and dominated the first 30 minutes of the game before the Bulls began to turn up the pressure on both ends of the floor to cut the lead down to four with 5.2 seconds left. The Cardinals, however, were able to salt the game away with free throws down the stretch to survive the late surge. Ryan Conwell had 13 points in the second half, including two free throws with 10.2 seconds remaining.

If Michigan State ends up being the opponent as expected, the Spartans and Cardinals have a pretty rich history in the tournament starting back in 1959 when the Cardinals beat the Spartans in the Midwest region finals. In more recent history, Michigan State beat the Cardinals in the Midwest Region final in 2009 and the East Region final in 2015, while Louisville upended the Spartans in the Sweet 16 round of the West Region in 2012. 

The second round game will be held Saturday at KeyBank Arena in Buffalo with a time still to be determined with the winner advancing to next week's Sweet 16 round in Washington, D.C.