Louisville Basketball: The good, the bad, and the ugly vs. Vermont

Louisville basketball had their first true test of the season on Friday night against Vermont. They passed with flying colors and look prepared for their bout with Tennessee.

Louisville basketball’s route of Southern had fans feeling good going into the matchup with a tough Vermont team that had gone toe-to-toe with Kansas just days before. There were plenty of nerves in the KFC Yum! Center for the first true test of this young inaugural Coach Mack season. All in all the Cards played their best performance of the season pulling out a 86-78 win.

Fresh out the gate my question of where is V.J. King, was answered immediately against Vermont. VJ came out very aggressive, getting to the basket, and seeing a three fall early really got him going.

The starting lineup also stayed the same for the third game of the year with Dwayne Sutton getting the nod over Jordan Nwora. No worries though as Nwora checked in and saw 29 minutes  dropping a career high, 22, for the second time in two games. The Cards were clicking on all cylinders and took a 10 point lead into halftime.

The second half started as the Steven “Enochness Monster” Enoch show. The big man had the first 10 points of the second half including his first three point attempt of the season. The Yum! was rocking as Louisville’s lead ballooned to 21 with 11 minutes to go.

Vermont,a seasoned team, didn’t get their heads down and their three point shooting kept them in it until the end. At the 3 minute mark,the Catamounts pulled within 8 of Louisville, due to big shots from Anthony Lamb. The hero we all knew we needed, Ryan McMahon, came up huge at free throw line and with ice in his veins sealed the deal moving Louisville to 3-0 on the year and the fanbase feeling great about the direction of this team.

https://twitter.com/LouisvilleMBB/status/1063626717053431808

The Good: This Team Has Bought In

Following the sloppy first game of the season against Nicholls, Coach Mack was not thrilled with the performance. The Southern game turned into such a foul fest, while it was a massacre it was hard to feel the game served its purpose since there was not much flow to the game.

Against Vermont, Louisville was tuned into the coaching staff’s message. The offense was making the extra, or in some cases the extra,extra, pass to find the best shot on most possessions. While Nwora led the way with 22 points, my new current favorite Cardinal Darius Perry, played a wonderful game dropping 17 and a team high 4 assists. I could go on and on about how well Perry played both on and off the ball he could have been “The Good” all by himself but this was a team effort.

Aforementioned big man, Steven Enoch, dropped 17 points and was poised for more but was crippled with foul trouble. VJ King also dropped 17. Then there was Dwayne Sutton, Malik Williams, and Ryan McMahon who all did all the small things and hustling that was the backbone of this teams success on both ends of the floor. Also, the streak continues of rim rattling dunks in the YUM with the ally-oop dunk the Enochness Monster threw down to start the second half.

The Bad: Letting Off The Gas

After reaching their largest lead of 22 points in the second half the Cards took their foot off the gas. Enoch went to the bench in foul trouble and the offense seemed to go stale. While Vermont is a good team, if this was say Tennessee (who the Cards have next), the ending may not have been as ideal.

These early season challenges build  teams character and I think this game gave Coach Mack’s staff plenty of teaching experiences even with as well as Louisville played. Lets hope as this schedule builds in strength The Cards keep their feet on the neck when the lead balloons.

The Ugly: Anthony Lamb Straight Eatin’ 

While Vermont’s Duncan brothers were the talking points heading into the game it was Anthony Lamb that really took it to The Cardinals. Finishing with a game high 25 on 9-15 shooting Lamb looked like what would happen if Chane Behanan could handle the ball like a guard and had the shooting stroke of a Reggie Miller.

Lamb was lights out in almost single handedly sparking Vermont’s second half comeback. It was not even a break down on defense that gave Lamb open looks, on the majority of his shots he had a hand in his face but just did not miss. More than once Louisville played fantastic defense only to have it end with Lamb nailing a contested 3 late in the shot clock. Good news from the ‘ugly” section is while Vermont’s best player lit Louisville up they did not bend and continued to play quality defense.

I, like other fans was really nervous for this first real test  of the season. The first two games left a lot of questions but Louisville answered against a good Vermont team. VJ showed out just as we all were waiting for, Perry continues to show how he has grown by leaps and bounds since his freshman season, and Enoch may just be better than anyone thought prior to the season. The team is also deeper than I was expecting. While we more than likely will not see Akoy Agau in every game I have full confidence in Malik Williams, Khwan Fore, and Ryan Mc on the court.

Up next for our Cards is top 5 ranked Tennessee in New York which will lead to a matchup with either another top 5 ranked Kansas or just outside the top 25 Marquette. If there are any questions left about this Louisville team we will be finding out soon enough when yet another ranked team in the Michigan State Spartans roll into YUM on November 27th. I am still holding out hopes to see my twitter avi “brand man” in the student section as a fathead against MSU. Go Cards!