No. 9 U of L wins first ACC game

• Up next: Louisville vs. Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. Wednesday, KFC Yum! Center.

ATLANTA - Donovan Mitchell scored 20 points and Quentin Snider added 12 to help ninth-ranked Louisville notch its first ACC win with a 65-50 victory over Georgia Tech here at McCamish Pavilion.

U of L (13-3, 1-2 ACC) started fast, taking a 16-3 lead in the opening five minutes, but the rest of the game was a mostly sloppy affair, with both teams shooting worse than 40 percent from the field.

The Cards were, however, 9-of-16 from 3-point range, led by Mitchell's season-high five 3-pointers. The 6-foot-3 guard, who scored 20 points for the third straight game, was 5-of-7 from long distance.

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"Anytime you can get a road win, especially in conference play, you'll absolutely take it," U of L assistant coach David Padgett said. "There's no such thing as a bad road win in conference play. Not only because it was a road win, but because we started 0-2 in the league. We really, really needed this game. We don't use the term 'must-win games' but this was about as close to one as you can get."

The victory didn't come without a cost, though. Deng Adel, Louisville's starting small forward, suffered a concussion in the first half and did not return to the bench or game after totaling six points and three bounds in 12 minutes.

That after Louisville's myriad travel troubles just getting to Georgia Tech in time for the matchup, which was U of L's second consecutive road conference game and third away from the KFC Yum! Center.

Anas Mahmoud continued his strong play at Georgia Tech, contributing 10 points, five rebounds and two blocks for the Cards. It was his ninth game this season with at least two blocks, and the sixth consecutive game with two or more blocks since he returned from a concussion that sidelined him for three games.

"I was recruited by Georgia Tech; maybe they still like me, I don't know," Mahmoud said when asked why he's had so much success in games here. Mahmoud scored a career-high 15 points last season at Tech.

But Mahmoud and his fellow U of L big men had their hands full with Tech's Ben Lammers, who led the Yellow Jackets with 24 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.

Ray Spalding finished with six points and tied a career-high with 12 rebounds. Mangok Mathiang added seven points, six rebounds and three blocks off the bench.