Louisville Basketball: Nicholls State – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The long awaited Coach Chris Mack era of Louisville basketball kicked off with a win in an at times sloppy game against Nicholls State.

There is no reason to over react to Louisville basketball’s slimmer than expected 85 – 72 victory over the Colonels. Let’s dig in and discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly and hopefully ease any nerves you may have after just the first game of what is going to seem like a very long season.

Right off the jump there is a collection of you guys out there that need to chill. This was the very first game of the season and I saw way too many “the sky is falling” tweets on my timeline last night.

Coach Mack is still tuning rotations, making quick subs throughout the first half, and we even saw a change in the starting lineup with Dwayne Sutton replacing Jordan Nwora. Again, please do not over think the lineup change.

Mack has stated more than a few times that starting positions would be earned in practice, he also also stated more than once this week how much he enjoys coaching Sutton so again do not read too much into this as I would think Coach Mack is backing up his words so I would not get too comfortable with any starting lineup he rolls out there.

The Good: Steven Enoch is a monster 

In what could very well become a recurring theme to these articles Steven Enoch is good. The Enoch Monster finished with a team high 17 points including breaking the record for best free throw shooting in a debut game as a Cardinal going 11-11 besting Jerry Smiths 9-9 back in 2006. Another free throw related record was tied as Nicholls committed 38 fouls, fouled out 4 players, and led to 42 of Louisville’s points on 55 attempts from the stripe.

More good came from the hustle in Malik Williams, Dwayne Sutton, and Darius Perry. I was worried Malik would not be the back to basket backup to Enoch I feel Louisville needs but he proved me wrong in a big way against Nicholls. Malik grabbed 5 boards, had a big blocked shot and was on the floor scraping for every loose ball he could gather up.

Dwayne Sutton as mentioned earlier started the game and came up big in the closing minutes of the game when it was much closer than anyone thought it would be with 3 minutes to go in the game.

Darius Perry was a huge spark in the sometimes stagnant offense finishing with 14 points right behind Enoch’s 17. Perry was 4-4 from the field and 2-2 from three point land.

Another bright spot to me was in what looked to be sparse crowd on television the student section was the most filled section in the Yum last night complete with free throw distraction fat-heads.

Speaking of fat-heads I am going all in on a push to get my twitter avi as one of those fat-heads at some point this season…I am looking at you Ville’ns.

The Bad: No flow to the Cardinal offense

Well this is a loaded area. The offense at time just could not produce points. Turnovers were a plenty in a pretty sloppy game where at times it was like no one could get a grip and maintain possession of the basketball. While the defense looked good in the first half, there was just no stopping Nicholls’ Jeremiah Jefferson from beyond the arc in the second half. Dude was a lights out 7-12 from three finishing with 24 points that just felt like he could get shots off at will. The Louisville offense seemed to run about as efficiently as 1975 Ford Gremlin with 420,000 miles on it. There were flashes of good ball movement and true offensive sets but over all as mentioned in the post game press conference Coach Mack knows there is a lot of work to do for this team.

Most of the game I got the feeling Louisville was playing too quickly. I could see the idea of what the offense was attempting to achieve in some half court sets but their brains seemed to be a step ahead of their actions most of the night which lead to several turnovers.

The Ugly: Fan Overreaction!

As far as in game ugly I would point to the lack of assists for Louisville. Only 8 assist on the Cards 24 made baskets if further proof the offense never got into a rhythm, The offense was ugly sloppy but again first game of the season folks this is the kind of thing that can be fixed pretty quickly.

While the game was sloppy the ugliest part was fan overreaction to the first game of the season. You guys have to temper expectations for this year if you think Mack can come in, instill an entire new system where only 1 starter (V.J. King) from last year is back, and make a run to the Final Four or win the National Championship then you really need to get a grip.

My extremely early expectations for this team is if they make the NCAA tournament then they are playing with house money. The top 4 scorers from last season are gone so this team is still trying to find themselves and I wholeheartedly believe they will. Like any other season this team will win some games they probably should not have but also will probably lose some games they should not have, there will be growing pains.

Did this team run like a well oiled machine in the season opener? No, but there are plenty of positive takeaways to build upon. This team plays hard and it was evident in the fight for every loose ball. The offense is going to come, VJ King and Jordan Nwora did not have their best offensive performances against Nicholls but the Enoch Monster (who needed even more post touches in my opinion) and Darius Perry picked up the scoring slack.

Rebounding was another bright spot. Hitting the boards was not a strong suit last season and to see VJ, Sutton, and Nwora all pull down 6 boards a piece is another bright spot to build upon.

Up next for the Cards is Southern U next Tuesday in the YUM. I will be in attendance for this game and hope to see the YUM not just more packed but also much more lively. I am not here to tell anyone how to be a fan but watching from home the Yum Center crowd (outside of the student section) did not get up out of their seats and really get behind the team until the game was closer than anyone expected it would be with only 3 minutes to go in the second half.

When the crowd started to get behind the Cards they responded with a quick run and some defensive stops to close the game out. So, get to your seats, get rocking, and stay the entire game against Southern and that could be just what this team needs to close out close games in the future. Coach Mack wants the YUM rockin’ so lets change the set on your hands culture of YUM and give Coach what he is asking for!