Louisville basketball game grades: Second half shooting leads Cards to W

1 of 2

Chris Mack picked up his first career ACC victory as the head coach of Louisville basketball against the short handed Miami Hurricanes.

After having six days off to digest the loss against Kentucky, Chris Mack and the Louisville basketball program returned to the floor tonight to kick off their slate of 18 ACC games. The Cards got a matchup with a depleted Miami team, who even having only 7 active players, took top 20 ranked NC State to the end just a few days ago.

Chris Mack acknowledged post game against Kentucky and during his weekly press-conference that his team “had to get better,” and fast. With six of the next eight opponents for Louisville outside of the top 50 in the KenPom rankings, the opportunity to improve and take the next step towards a tournament team come March is now.

The Cards got off to a slow start, looking like the same team that showed up to play against Kentucky last week. They were ice cold from the floor as Miami did a great job defensively of keeping them out of the lane, forcing the Cards into bad shots to the tune of 0/5 from 3 point land in the first 9 minutes of play.

The Hurricanes on the other hand got of to an extremely strong start, jumping out to a 32-18 lead behind sharp three point shooting and strong play inside as well as forcing turnovers and bad fouls out of Louisville. Miami’s dynamic backcourt of graduate transfer, Zach Johnson, and sophomore speedster, Chris Lykes, combined to put up 19 in the first half.

After struggling to get any sort of rhythm offensively through the first 12 minutes of the game, things changed quickly as Jordan Nwora finally caught fire. Nwora scored 11 straight points for Louisville in the midst of an 14-5 run that brought the Cards, who once looked lifeless, back to just two points.

While the shooting was solid for Louisville, the Cards were still struggling to play like the team Chris Mack wants them to be. Louisville allowed Miami to shoot 48% from the field in the first half, including 50% from three (7/14) , getting outworked on the glass (20 to 15 – advantage Miami) and turning the ball over 7 times.

More from Louisville Basketball

Louisville went into the half down 41-40, with Jordan Nwora putting up a game high 18 points while Dwayne Sutton pitched in another 11.

After the break the Cards looked like a completely different team, and by the halfway mark of the second half Louisville had a double-digit lead and never looked back. Behind the coming out party of Malik Williams, the game blew wide open. Williams reached a new career high in both points (19) and rebounds (11). Throughout the majority of the half Williams for the first time in his career looked like the best player on the floor. He hits shots from all three levels, rebounded at an extremely high mark, and defended his butt off.

The tide turned in every way for Louisville throughout the second half. The Cards got a strong performance from not just Williams, Nwora, and Sutton, but also from Ryan McMahon, who went for 12 points and 9 assists on the night. Things didn’t look for McMahon early, starting the game 0-6, but after his first three McMahon went on to knock down two more while finding someone for a score on 9 occasions, his highest mark on the season.

https://twitter.com/LouisvilleMBB/status/1082099107995545602

You take away the first eight to 10 minutes of the first half and this was a spectacular bounce back win for Louisville. Finding consistent scoring behind Nwora and overall shot selection really hindered Louisville’s offensive effectiveness against Kentucky, both were far improved tonight against Miami, giving me some hope that the Cards could put together a strong January and really improving.

MVP: There’s no question that tonight’s MVP was Malik Williams, who as mentioned, recorded career highs in scoring and rebounds. His 13 points in the second half came in variety of different ways and he only stepped up his rebounding and defense. I personally believe tonight’s performance, which Coach Mack called Williams’ “best game of the season,” should result in him getting a starting spot for the Cards. Moving Enoch to the bench may help with avoiding early foul trouble, while giving the Cards another scoring and rebounding option to go with Nwora and Sutton. The move works for all parties.

LVP: There really was no LVP tonight as everyone played a role in the win. However, Darius Perry’s play was a bit discouraging as it’s now his third straight game where he really hasn’t looked like himself. Perry played just 4 minutes (a season low), scoring 2 points and producing 2 turnovers. I believe inserting VJ King back into the starting lineup should be an option for Chris Mack, and if Perry continues to perform so poorly, taking him out of the rotation may be an option as well.

X-Factor: Ryan McMahon started this game as about as bad as you could imagine. Going 0-6 from the field, including 0-5 from three, looking like the “shooter” wasn’t going to be able to knock anything down. If McMahon isn’t hitting three’s there’s really nothing else he brings to the table. But tonight his passing and getting other teammates involved really helped Louisville surge to a big lead in the second half. McMahon being a threat to knock down deep shots from anywhere forces defense to get there hands up if he has space. The difference between this year and last year in that scenario is, instead of always shooting (even if it means rushing a shot), McMahon has developed a sweet pump fake. When defenders bite, McMahon is able to get into the lane and then use his skills as a passer to get teammates going. His 9 assists were all extremely valuable for the Cards.

Let’s give out some player grades.

Home/Louisville Basketball