Louisville basketball game grades: Second half shooting leads Cards to W
By Jacob Lane
Louisville Cardinals. CHRISTEN CUNNINGHAM. A. CC played an incredible game for Louisville, scoring 11 points, including three 3 pointers, dishing out 5 assists and limiting himself to just one turnover. Where CC really made the difference for Louisville was on the defensive end, helping to defend Chris Lykes and Zach Johnson, and helping to dictate pace. Against a depleted team like Miami, tempo was huge for the Cards.. PG
D. Perry’s really struggled as of late, and it carried over to ACC play tonight against Miami. Playing a season low in minutes, Perry finished with 2 points and 2 turnovers. His poor play on offense has carried over to the defensive side of things, where normally Perry is solid. He’s got to get that fixed if he wants to play solid minutes.. PG. Louisville Cardinals. DARIUS PERRY
For most of this game Sutton was Louisville’s second best player. He played a huge role in helping the Cards fight back into the game after being down by as many as 15, as he was his usual self defensively and also hit several buckets around the rim. Sutton’s performance against was anomaly, and moving deeper into ACC play I expect more and more games like tonight.. SF. Louisville Cardinals. DWAYNE SUTTON. A-
A. It took Nwora a bit to get going but once he did, it changed the complexion of this game fast. Nwora was extremely efficient from the field, shooting 50% from the field & from three (he hit 3/6) and he rebounded as we’ve come to expect him to. There will be plenty of games where his spark offensively will have to carry this team through tough stretches. Tonight he showed he can do that as needed.. PF. Louisville Cardinals. JORDAN NWORA
Louisville Cardinals. STEVEN ENOCH. C+. As per usual, Enoch got into early foul trouble for Louisville which resulted in him playing just 13 minutes but allowed the break out game for Malik Williams. When he was on the floor Enoch played well, scoring 6 points on 5 shots and grabbing 2 boards. Early foul trouble continues to be a big issue.. C
B-. Nothing spectacular to see here, but overall a solid game for VJ King. Playing 10 minutes, he scored 4 points (it should’ve been six) all on easy putbacks around the rim. I love seeing his effort on the glass and on the defensive end even with the struggles offensively. The more he sees the ball go through the basket the better.. SF. Louisville Cardinals. V.J. KING
A+. Against a short handed front court, Malik Williams was able to put together the best game of his Louisville career. Williams played a great game in all facets, and did it in such a NBA stretch five type of way. His shooting was on tonight, which forces defenses to have to come out and guard him around the arc, opening the lane for other slashers. The better he gets the better Louisville will be. May be time to get him into the starting five.. PF. Louisville Cardinals. MALIK WILLIAMS
A. As mentioned, McMahon struggled with shooting early on but it didn’t stop him from getting his teammates involved while he waited for good looks. McMahon dished out 9 assists and hit 3 big threes in the second half, which gave Louisville the juice they needed to get the lead and the victory.. PG. Louisville Cardinals. RYAN MCMAHON
Louisville Cardinals. KHWAN FORE. B. Fore’s impact will rarely ever be seen in the stat book, as he finished tonight with 3 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist in 13 minutes of play. However, what he does defensively, which is typically guarding the best perimeter player night in, and night out, and how he keeps the ball moving offensively, make him a quality fit for the floor for the Cards. As long as Darius Perry continues to struggle, Fore deserves to be playing quite a bit.. SG
C. 3 minutes, 1 turnover, and 0-1 from the field – not Akoy’s best performance but it didn’t really matter. Giving Malik a breather was his biggest contribution.. PF. Louisville Cardinals. AKOY AGAU
The days of having two games in 16 days are now in the rear view and Louisville will have to quickly get prepared for their first ACC road game against Jeff Capel and Pittsburgh. The young Panthers showed flashes of potential throughout conference play, but mostly against low mid-major teams, and currently hold a 10-4 record.
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The Cards can’t afford a night off in the ACC and have to play with the same sense of urgency that they showed throughout the second half. Getting two straight victories would also serve the Cards well as they’ll head to Chapel Hill on Saturday for the first time in the Chris Mack era.