Louisville basketball game grades: Cards score more points but still lose

Louisville basketball returned back to the floor in Brooklyn, taking on Marquette in a consolation game of the Preseason NIT. The Cards played well enough to win, but were robbed of their fourth victory.

The Louisville basketball program returned back to the Barclay’s Center in a matchup against a very good Marquette team. Both teams played just two days ago, and fell to their respective opponent. Louisville, went down at the hands of #5 ranked Tennessee, in a very close game where the Cards played extremely well amidst foul trouble. While Kansas was able to pull out the victory over Marquette in another very close game.

That left the former foes to go head-to-head for the first time since 2013 when both programs were in the Big East.

Chris Mack decided to switch things up against Marquette and start Ryan McMahon at the other guard position, opposite Christen Cunningham – even after Darius Perry’s big game against Tennessee. The Cards got off to a hot start hitting two consecutive threes from deep, one by VJ King and the other by Steven Enoch, who didn’t score a single point against the Volunteers on Wednesday night.

After that the Cards would miss their next eight shots, before an and-1 by Jordan Nwora got the Cards rolling again. Louisville jumped ahead to a 21-13 lead halfway through the first half behind solid interior offense from Steven Enoch and Akoy Agau along with some nice shots from Christen Cunningham, who played with a lot more aggression on the offensive end of the ball.

For Marquette, Sam Hauser was hot throughout the first half. The 6’8 inside/outside forward, hit two open threes for Marquette, and also had several nice plays inside. The Cardinals struggled in the paint as both Hauser and Theo John were able to get easy buckets with their back to the baskets against Steven Enoch and Malik Williams. VJ King made probably the play of the first half as he forced a steal on a Marquette save, which he then proceeded to slam home for one of the best Louisville dunks of the season.

This is what they call “a poster” boys and girls.

Though they struggled at times to guard the post, the Cardinals all-in-all played a pretty good half even while shooting poorly from the field. Louisville’s defense smothered Marquette’s best offensive player from the perimeter in Markus Howard, which forced others not named Joey Hauser into some bad shots.

Marquette’s Sam Hauser finished the half with 12 points while Jordan Nwora led the Cards with 7 points. Louisville went into the break with a 35-30 lead.

Louisville came out strong in the second half, forcing Marquette to go 3-7 from the field to start while jumping out to a 46-39 lead. The Cards would continue to play scrappy, solid defense throughout the second half, but small mishaps and missed rotations allowed Markus Howard and Sam Hauser to continue to have opportunities to hit big shots. Though Louisville was shooting fairly well, Marquette continued to keep the game within reach throughout the second half.

The Golden Eagles went on a nice run with 8:00 minutes to go taking the control from Louisville away in the process. Sam Hauser knocked down a three with 8:35, which was followed up with a pair of free throws from Ed Marrow, that brought the game to 53-51. Then came a nice move around the basket from freshman Joey Hauser (little brother of Sam) followed by a nasty slam by big man Theo John. During that stretch of time the Golden Eagles took the rebounding advantage, going 5-1 over Louisville.

Louisville and Marquette went back and forth for the final remaining four minutes of the game, as both teams. Marquette had a lot of momentum building until Akoy Agau took matters into his own hands and scored a huge basket and grabbed the foul, helping the Cards get the game back to three. Not only did Akoy Agau get a bucket, but he showed some real leadership barking at his teammates prior to his free throw for the poor ball screen defense on the other end of the floor that allowed an easy Theo John basket the previous play.

Down the final stretch of the game Marquette continued to keep things extremely close, but once again, solid defense and big time shot making kept the Cards ahead. After four straight free throws pulled the game to one point, Dwayne Sutton knocked down a huge corner three to pull the lead back out to 4 at 67-63, Louisville.

Earlier in the second half, Louisville’s Jordan Nwora made a huge step back jumper from the corner of the floor. The shot was called a two by the referees, and nothing was thought of it, until a replay showed that the shot was indeed a three and it wasn’t even close. The refs, who literally used replay in three other scenarios in this game, decided that it wasn’t worth looking at and the shot stood as a two pointer. I tell you that because down the stretch of this game, that point would have made the difference for Louisville.

Within the final seconds Marquette knocked down more crucial free throws (they made their final 17 of the half) and a basket by Markus Howard tied the game at 68-68. Louisville got three OPEN opportunities to hit a shot for the win, but none would go. This sent the game tied (yes this really happened) at 68.

Here’s a great shot of the shot courtesy of @Melody_Murphy.

In overtime Marquette spent the majority of the extra time with the lead. However, it was the refs who made the bigger impact on the outcome of the game. Several horrible calls, including a bad call on VJ King (on a illegal screen), a missed call against Ryan McMahon, all of which had a huge deal in keeping Marquette with the lead.

Missed calls and missed shots deemed to be too much for Louisville at the end of the game, as Marquette pulled out the victory, leaving the Cards at 0-2 in Brooklyn. The Golden Eagles were great down the stretch and made nearly ever basket they took, making the most of the trips to line.

MVP: The MVP of this game for Louisville was one Christen Cunningham. His play on both sides of the floor was phenomenal, easily his best game as a Cardinal. He was aggressive offensively for the first time this season, going 5/10 from the field, finishing with 16 points. He also played a huge role in keeping Markus Howard from getting going from deep in the first half, which was crucial in the Cards lead.

LVP: V.J. freaking King. At some point he’s got to look at himself in the mirror and ask “why do I do this?” In the same game we got a microcosm of the career of King. His posterizing dunk in the first showed what he could be when he applies the aggressiveness that we know he all has. While the missed game winning tip-in in the final seconds of the second half with no one around him, showed what we’ve gotten used to seeing as of late. King has to be better, he just has to. He has done nothing this season to help the Cards win.

X-Factor: 1 point… 1 freaking point was all it took to make this game go into overtime. If the refs go to the replay table, like they did once before this play and once after, and you get the score right. Nwora’s two from deep in the mid second half, which was clearly a three, left the Cards tied at the end of the game. The refs did everything they could to take the outcome of this game out of the hands of the two teams on the floor and put it on themselves. This was easily one of the worst officiated games and tournaments I’ve ever seen in my 17 years of watching basketball. Chris Mack has every right to refer to this crew as “soft.”  The NCAA should fire these clowns into the sun for their poor display of simply doing their jobs correctly.