Player grades: Louisville basketball outmuscled by Kentucky

A. You cannot ask much more from Louisville’s veteran leader. Cunningham is quickly becoming Louisville’s most important player. Nwora may be the best scorer, and Sutton may be the best all-around player, but Cunningham is clearly the team’s leader. Against UK, he valued possessions, he played quality defense, he created his own shot, and he accounted for more than half of Louisville’s assists.. PG. Louisville Cardinals. CHRISTEN CUNNINGHAM

Perry just isn’t the same player he was to finish 2018 under David Padgett. He is extremely mistake-prone, and handles the ball much too cavalierly. Perry should be one of Louisville’s best on-ball defenders, but Chris Mack couldn’t even trust him enough to play him 20 minutes against UK. Louisville needs more out of Perry going forward. His 5 turnovers to 0 assists put the Cards in a terrible position all game.. PG. Louisville Cardinals. DARIUS PERRY. D

Louisville Cardinals. DWAYNE SUTTON. B. Sutton was in foul trouble late in the first half and early in the second half. He was again consistent on the boards and on defense, but was unable to find any sort of rhythm on offense. The Cards needed more from him on the offensive side of the ball.. SF

B. Nwora had 17 points and 7 rebounds, but shot the ball at a high volume. He had two rim-rocking dunks, but aside from those spectacular plays, Nwora was just 5-15 and 1-5 from deep. Nwora was unable to get to the line, and missed some bunnies inside late when Louisville was trying to charge back. It’s hard to be critical of a guy dropping 17 and 7, but Louisville desperately needed Nwora’s touch from deep against one of the worst perimeter defenses they will play all year.. PF. Louisville Cardinals. JORDAN NWORA

STEVEN ENOCH. B. Enoch took another step forward in this game, most notably crashing the boards for the Cards. Kentucky’s front line has really strong hands and can impose their will on defenders, but Enoch was great on the glass and picking up loose balls. On offense, against skilled defenders, he gets pushed too far away from the basket. He was needed under the rim against UK, but found himself deep enough in the paint that help defense was able to derail his post moves.. C. Louisville Cardinals

SF. Louisville Cardinals. V.J. KING. C. King is what he is at this point. He played some critical minutes in place of Dwayne Sutton, and as always, is a steady presence on defense. He got beat off the dribble once by UK guard Ashton Hagans, and powered past by Reid Travis, but he held his own on defense. He is still a mystery on offense. Twice, King had an open look from deep, but hesitantly threw up a nervous-looking clanker as if he were a frat boy in Sperry’s participating in a halftime contest. King has it in him to turn his game around. He drove a couple of times to the basket, and once got fouled and went to the line, and the other time got mugged and didn’t get a call. Overall, I think fans are frustrated watching him because they know just how good he could be. Against UK though, he didn’t lose it for the Cards, he just didn’t make any winning plays.

Louisville Cardinals. MALIK WILLIAMS. B. We didn’t see the patented Malik Williams scrapping for loose balls against the Cats. However, he crashed the boards with the best of them against an imposing front line. Williams had 6 boards in just 13 minutes, and looked really good at the four spot when Mack played a little zone defense with he and Enoch. He was only 2/4 from the free throw line, and didn’t make a shot from the field. Still waiting for Williams to put together back-to-back really quality performances.. PF

C. If McMahon can’t get off a shot, he shouldn’t play much. Ryan was able to get a wide open look from the corner, but missed, and was unable to get anything else going for the rest of the game. The Cards needed more than two points in 17 minutes from McMahon, especially with Darius Perry not playing up to his potential. Louisville was really unimpressive at the two guard against UK.. PG. Louisville Cardinals. RYAN MCMAHON

KHWAN FORE. C+. Khwan Fore at this point is very much VJ King at the two guard spot: very consistent on defense, and nothing but a body on offense. Credit Fore for taking UK out of rhythm when he was in on D.. SG. Louisville Cardinals

Chris Mack: College basketball’s new big man on campus. dark. Next