Louisville basketball notched their first road win of the season, battling back to defeat a tough Seton Hall team.
Louisville basketball trailed early and often, stayed within striking distance, and then pulled away late against a solid Seton Hall squad on Saturday.
The Cards looked like they were suffering from some hangover from their huge win over Michigan State on Wednesday night. The Pirates full court press looked like it confused the Louisville back court a lot, and they jumped out to a 19-7 lead after grabbing some way-too-easy looks inside.
However, as the half went on, Dwayne Sutton and Darius Perry (who played a lot with two fouls) out-toughed the Pirates and were able to get the offense rolling. The Cards took a 36-34 lead into the half.
The second half began very similarly to the first half. The Pirates used their pesky defense to stave off the Cards, and hit their first nine shots of the second period.
Still, Christen Cunningham stepped in along with the aforementioned Perry and Sutton to help pull the Cards out of a 52-43 hole.
After an 0-4 start, Ryan McMahon picked up where he left off from the Michigan State game and hit two threes at the 13:00 and 11:30 marks.
Louisville and Seton Hall traded places for the last quarter of the game, pace wise. The Cards slowed down the tempo and dictated the pace to finish off the game. Grad transfers Khwan Fore and Cunningham clocked a lot of back court minutes together, and Sutton contributed when needed.
Ahead by 1 with :54 seconds left, Chris Mack used his last time out to draw up a play, and it payed off in a major way. Cunningham drove in the lane with 5 seconds left on the shot clock, drew an extra man, and dished to a wide open Ryan McMahon at the top of the key for the dagger three.
The Cards saw contributions from all ten scholarship players at different points in the game. This is an especially encouraging sign given that they still have a ton of untapped potential as a squad. They will need to continue getting contributions from the whole team going forward if they want to be a tournament team and beyond.
MVP:
Dwayne Sutton. Sutton, once again, did it all for the Cards. He led the team with 12 points, had a team-high 9 rebounds, and played 39 minutes without committing a foul. It’s hard telling where this team would be without Sutton.
LVP:
My nerves. Damn road games.
X-Factor:
Ryan McMahon. Two games in a row, with the game on the line, McMahon was money from deep. He is the difference between Louisville being 5-2 and possibly 3-4.
Stat of the day:
Louisville was 11/12 from the free throw line. The Cards are No.1 in the country in free throws attempted with 35.5 per game. Being limited to 12 attempts after taking 41 the game before is a huge change in mindset. Louisville had to win for the first time without a tight whistle, and they did.