Louisville basketball game grades: The Cards are back

Louisville blew a lead down the stretch in an all too familiar way before flipping the script and beating #9 Michigan State in Overtime last night.

What a win for the Cards. Louisville basketball matured in front of the country’s eyes last night as they controlled the Spartans from the tip before blowing a late lead much like last week in Brooklyn. Ryan McMahon was having none of another loss down the stretch as he came off the bench (much to Dan Dakich’s chagrin) to provide an offensive spark for the Cards and give Tom Izzo fits on the sidelines with deep three after three.

Ryan’s third three of the first half pushed the Cards lead to 12 with 5 minutes before the break and got the Yum! bouncing. The Cards led 38-32 at halftime and briefly increased their lead to 10 before letting it slip down the stretch.

Bad shot selection and missed defensive assignments, especially on Joshua Langford who caught fire in the second half, almost ended the Cards. The big turning point in the contest was when Michigan State stud point-guard Cassius Winston fouled out with 4:01 left in regulation.

With Winston out, Mack attacked Freshman guard Foster Loyer trip-after-trip down the floor and Ryan and C.C. cashed in at the free throw lane late to extend the game to overtime. In OT the Cards continued to go after Loyer and earned important trips to the stripe. McMahon hit four free throws in seven seconds and Jordan Nwora hit one of two to seal it with three seconds left.

The Cards got a massive win despite only 7 minutes from Steven Enoch (3 points), 14 minutes from VJ King (0 points), and only 16 minutes from Darius Perry (2 points). Not a chance a Cardinal fan would have expected a win with anything like this statline for these three key players. Not only does this show how well this team is coached already by Chris Mack, but it also shows the immense maturation that is undergoing and will continue for guys like McMahon, Sutton, Nwora and Williams.

The Cards don’t stay in the game without Ryan’s offense, Malik’s defense or Dwayne’s hustle. Imagine what could happen with the normal go-to-guys clicking and guys off the bench playing out of their minds. We could more than have something here. The ceiling for this time is unknown, but after last night it’s clear it is much higher than experts wanted you to believe preseason.

MVP: Ryan McMahon. Ryan McMahon had the game of his life in an efficient 20 minutes of court time. Ryan was 4-7 from 3-pt range and led the Cards with a career-high 24 points. Ryan converted 12-13 FT’s and keep the ship steady down the stretch.

LVP: Teddy Valentine/Dan Dakich. Tv Teddy was in his top form last night. Teddy even stopped the game a few minutes in because he didn’t like the ball the Cards provided. Teddy’s inconsistency and outright horrendous call landed him a few choice words from Chris Mack (who probably should have earned a tech). Our friend of the program Dan Dakich was on the call last night (ESPN) and lovingly took shots at Jordan Nwora, Malik Williams, and had no response when Jason Benetti roasted him for his fake news report about Jeff Brohm. Dakich professed his love for Joshua Langford and praise Izzo every time the shot clock reset.

X-Factor: Malik Williams. Williams played efficiently on both ends of the floor and played an impressive 28 minutes. He had to be good with other bigs in foul trouble and he was great.

Tweet of the night: Love you coach.