Louisville basketball game grades: Cards dominate Central Arkansas
Louisville basketball took care of business by overpowering an out-matched Central Arkansas squad at home.
Louisville basketball dominated Central Arkansas from start to finish on Wednesday, in the second game in which they doubled up the other team’s score.
From the opening tip, the Cards game plan was to feed Steven Enoch down low. He made the team’s first 5 baskets in a row.
Enoch showed off his versatility with low a low post hook. Then he backed down his man all the way to the basket. Next was a difficult alley-oop finish, followed by a pretty face up jumper. The Cards were quickly up 10-2.
The rest of the half included a flurry of 3 pointers by Nwora, McMahon, Sutton, Fore, and Williams. The Cards also seemed to get their hands on a lot of balls on the defensive side, including a block by Dwayne Sutton that may have deflated the ball.
Central Arkansas was without their second leading scorer but it is doubtful that it would have made much of a difference. VJ King closed the half with a few good moves attacking the basket and the Card went to the locker room up 52-23.
The second half wasn’t as fast-paced, but Central Arkansas never could dig into the lead. They lost players left and right from foul trouble and injury.
VJ King kept up his aggressiveness in the second half, capped off with a monster put-back dunk with about 3:30 left in the game.
This was one of those games you need every once in while. Louisville was able to dominate from start to finish. Coach Mack got to empty the bench at the end of the game. He was even able to test out a line up with both Malik Williams and Steven Enoch in at the same time. I don’t think we can play that line up very long but it could come in handy during conference play.
Coming off the big wins over MSU and Seaton Hall, the Cards continued to roll and won at home against Central Arkansas 86-41.
MVP:
Steven Enoch. The Big man started 5 for 5 and accounted for the Cards’s first 10 points. He finished with career highs of 16 points and 9 rebounds.
LVP:
SK Shittu. I had to find a way to get his name in this post. LVP may be a little harsh because he was actually Central Arkansas’ leading scorer with only 8 points… I Shittu not. I’m not proud of that but I do feel better now.
X-Factor:
Scott Satterfield. The new Louisville Football coach was introduced to a rousing ovation during a timeout in the first half. He seemed almost surprised by the response, and it was really awesome to see the crowd get behind our new coach. There is a lot of uncertainty but a lot of excitement about the future of the football team.