Louisville Basketball: Predicting the Top 3 Leading Scorers in 2018-19
By Jacob Lane
3. Darius Perry
As a true freshman, the former four-star guard, Darius Perry, received a decent amount of minutes, and to say he was inconsistent would be an understatement. Perry appeared in all 36 games for Louisville, starting 3, averaging a mediocre stat line of 3.9 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. There were games when Perry got in and provided an electric spark with his infectious energy, 3-point shooting and tick-like defense. But there also were games where he made terrible freshman-like decisions, committed poor fouls, and took poor shots.
He played less than 10 minutes on fourteen separate occasions, as Padgett often chose to play his veterans in the back court, despite Perry showing he could keep up. Depending on the match up, as well as the play of Quentin Snider, Perry was inserted when he was needed, and most of the time he made the minutes count when he got them.
You saw in small doses why Perry was labeled as the Cardinals point guard of future, especially in the George Mason, Southern Illinois, and most importantly the ACC tournament opener against Florida State. Perry showed the ability to play on the ball as the team’s lead guard, and as the off-guard when he played side-by-side with Snider. This season with the Cards bringing in Christen Cunningham, a pass first guard, and Khwon Fore, a dynamic slasher, Perry will be used similarly. His versatility will give Mack a swiss army knife in the back court who can provide whatever is needed at the time.
I expect Perry’s numbers to see a big increase this season as you might expect. Though we don’t have any idea who the starting five will be for Louisville under new coach Chris Mack, you would have to guess that Perry is going to be in that lineup, more than anything for his defense.
When you take a look at the games where Perry played 20 minutes or more in 2017-18 (10 games), the 6’2 guard was extremely efficient from the field. Perry scored in double figures only two times, but he shot 46% from the field, and averaged 7.4 points per game. This led me to take a look at the per 40 minute statistics, which is a good indicator of what a player could do with more time played. This statistic looks at what a player does on a “per minute” basis, while the “per game” basis looks at the entire game Last season, Perry averaged 11 points and 4.2 assists per 40 minutes.
If I had to guess today, I would honestly tell you that’s where I think he ends up next season. Perry will be relied upon to do more scoring when he plays with Cunningham, which I believe will be the starting/closing back court, and when Fore and/or King in the game, Perry will be asked to be a distributor and a slasher.