CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Elif Istanbulluoglu scored 12 of her career-high 23 points in the third quarter, and No. 10 Louisville pushed its winning streak to eight games with a 77-68 win over Miami on Thursday.
Istanbulluoglu's college-best entering Thursday was 16 points.
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Louisville forward Laura Ziegler, right, controls the ball as Miami forward Soma Okolo, left, defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Louisville guard Reyna Scott (1) shoots as Miami center Candace Kpetikou, center, defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Louisville guard Reyna Scott, center, drives to the basket as Miami guard Amarachi Kimpson, left, and forward Natalie Wetzel (12) defend during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Miami forward Natalie Wetzel loses control of the ball as Louisville forward Elif Istanbulluoglu (11) and forward Grace Mbugua (24) defend during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Louisville forward Elif Istanbulluoglu (11) goes to the basket as Miami guard Simone Pelish, left, defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Imari Berry scored 16 and Skylar Jones added 12 for Louisville (15-3, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). The Cardinals opened the third quarter with a 15-3 run to build a 10-point lead and didn't trail again.
Amarachi Kimpson scored 18 for Miami (10-6, 2-3), which has now lost 13 straight against AP-ranked opponents. The Hurricanes were without guard Gal Raviv, who is day-to-day with a broken nose suffered in practice.
Vittoria Blasigh and Ra Shaya Kyle each scored 10 for Miami. The Cardinals outscored the Hurricanes 38-12 off the bench.
Louisville improved to 6-0 all-time in Coral Gables, and the eight-game winning streak is the Cardinals' longest since a 15-game streak during the 2021-22 season.
The game started four hours earlier than its original 7 p.m. start time because Miami's football team was playing in a College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl later Thursday.
Miami had cheerleaders, a dance team and one of its mascots at the game as per usual. The Hurricanes invited a band from Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale to fill in for its band, which was at the bowl game.
“I asked them, did they ever expect to be performing at a collegiate level basketball game? And the answer was no," said Voshaun Smith, Dillard's Director of Bands. “So, this is a very good experience for them because it opens up their eyes on what’s after high school."
Miami coach Tricia Cullop played tenor sax in high school and raved about how the Dillard band did. “They were amazing,” Cullop said. “They brought some energy and I was so appreciative.”
Louisville: Host Pitt on Sunday.
Miami: Host Florida State on Sunday.
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Louisville forward Laura Ziegler, right, controls the ball as Miami forward Soma Okolo, left, defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Louisville guard Reyna Scott (1) shoots as Miami center Candace Kpetikou, center, defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Louisville guard Reyna Scott, center, drives to the basket as Miami guard Amarachi Kimpson, left, and forward Natalie Wetzel (12) defend during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Miami forward Natalie Wetzel loses control of the ball as Louisville forward Elif Istanbulluoglu (11) and forward Grace Mbugua (24) defend during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Louisville forward Elif Istanbulluoglu (11) goes to the basket as Miami guard Simone Pelish, left, defends during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
VATICAN CITY (AP) — In his most substantial critique of U.S., Russian and other military incursions in sovereign countries, Pope Leo XIV on Friday denounced how nations were using force to assert their dominion worldwide, “completely undermining” peace and the post-World War II international legal order.
“War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading,” Leo told ambassadors from around the world who represent their countries’ interests at the Holy See.
Leo didn’t name individual countries that have resorted to force in his lengthy speech, the bulk of which he delivered in English in a break from the Vatican’s traditional diplomatic protocol of Italian and French. But his speech came amid the backdrop of the recent U.S. military operation in Venezuela to remove Nicolás Maduro from power, Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine and other conflicts.
The occasion was the pope’s annual audience with the Vatican diplomatic corps, which traditionally amounts to his yearly foreign policy address.
In his first such encounter, history’s first U.S.-born pope delivered much more than the traditional roundup of global hotspots. In a speech that touched on threats to religious freedom and the Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion and surrogacy, Leo lamented how the United Nations and multilateralism as a whole were increasingly under threat.
“A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies,” he said. “The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined.”
“Instead, peace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion. This gravely threatens the rule of law, which is the foundation of all peaceful civil coexistence,” he said.
Leo did refer explicitly to tensions in Venezuela, calling for a peaceful political solution that keeps in mind the “common good of the peoples and not the defense of partisan interests.”
The U.S. military seized Maduro, the Venezuelan leader, in a surprise nighttime raid. The Trump administration is now seeking to control Venezuela’s oil resources and its government. The U.S. government has insisted Maduro's capture was legal, saying drug cartels operating from Venezuela amounted to unlawful combatants and that the U.S. is now in an “armed conflict” with them.
Analysts and some world leaders have condemned the Venezuela mission, warning that Maduro’s ouster could pave the way for more military interventions and a further erosion of the global legal order.
On Ukraine, Leo repeated his appeal for an immediate ceasefire and urgently called for the international community “not to waver in its commitment to pursuing just and lasting solutions that will protect the most vulnerable and restore hope to the afflicted peoples.”
On Gaza, Leo repeated the Holy See’s call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and insisted on the Palestinians’ right to live in Gaza and the West Bank “in their own land.”
In other comments, Leo said the persecution of Christians around the world was “one of the most widespread human rights crises today,” affecting one in seven Christians globally. He cited religiously motivated violence in Bangladesh, Nigeria, the Sahel, Mozambique and Syria but said religious discrimination was also present in Europe and the Americas.
There, Christians “are sometimes restricted in their ability to proclaim the truths of the Gospel for political or ideological reasons, especially when they defend the dignity of the weakest, the unborn, refugees and migrants, or promote the family.”
Leo repeated the church’s opposition to abortion and euthanasia and expressed “deep concern” about projects to provide cross-border access to mothers seeking abortion.
He also described surrogacy as a threat to life and dignity. “By transforming gestation into a negotiable service, this violates the dignity both of the child, who is reduced to a product, and of the mother, exploiting her body and the generative process, and distorting the original relational calling of the family,” he said.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
