Louisville Basketball: Ville’ns View of the Cards big win over Miami

After a hiatus, Ville’ns View is back. Louisville basketball opened ACC play with a hard fought win on Beach Night for the Ville’ns Student Section.

While long overdue, it’s great to be back. We’re getting into the thick of the Louisville basketball season now, even though it feels like we’ve already been through a gauntlet of a schedule.

I’m sure the team would say they wished things went differently during non-conference play, but overall I think Louisville finished with a solid resume to build on. Louisville now has has two key wins over Michigan State and Seton Hall heading into conference play. That Michigan State win is looking awesome, they’re now #6 in the country and haven’t lost since falling to our Cards (and that win at Seton Hall just keeps looking better).

All signs point towards Lipscomb and Vermont ending up in the tournament as well, so there’s more decent resume builders. That Marquette heart-breaker still stings though, not gonna lie. Would’ve been really nice to have that one.

But on Sunday night it was time to kick off conference play, and it was Beach Night.

The game got off to a rough start for Louisville, and it looked like for a second that it might get ugly. But then, in the words of Mike Krzyzewski, “Boom”.

Jordan Nwora decided to just take the game over. Which is a huge deal for this team, they need a go-to guy – somebody that can just take over a game. I think that’s what the team lacked last season unfortunately.

A few threes and a glorious alley-oop later, Louisville was back in the game at halftime.

https://twitter.com/LouisvilleMBB/status/1082084393597001730

Probably the best dunk we’ve seen all season for Louisville and I’m not sure it will be topped, and dare I say, maybe the loudest the Yum Center got all season.

This also happened after that play:

It’s fair to say that I was pretty pumped about that dunk. Shout out to Ross for turning me into a gif, one of my life goals has now been fulfilled, I can die happy now.

All jokes aside it was great to see this team have the mental toughness not get rattled, rally, make some huge stops, make some huge shots, and comeback from such a terrible start. Once again, I feel like last year that doesn’t happen and we would have lost that game by 15-20 points.

How about Malik Williams?

https://twitter.com/LouisvilleMBB/status/1082330844746997762

One of the struggles of this team has been able to put away games and bury teams. Malik Williams was a huge factor in putting this game away, especially when Miami started to adjust to Nwora and focus on him. CC was another huge factor in the win, he’s been a pleasant surprise as of late. We all knew he would be a great leader and a great passer, but his play making and shooting has been better than expected. Cunningham was 3-5 from three and was another big factor in putting the game out of reach for the ‘Canes.

It was also great to see McMahon get out of his shooting slump. He’s been off recently but Coach Mack has shown that he has all the confidence in the world in McMahon, and he came through Sunday night.

Overall I think Cards fans gotta feel good now as we march on into ACC play. It’s only gonna get tougher from here, and these guys have been tested in every way at this point. I still feel pretty confident that these guys will be a tournament team and even make some noise.

We’ll see you all on January 16th when Boston College comes to town, and if you haven’t yet this season, come on down to the Yum Center. Coach Mack is building something special here, games are fun again. The dark clouds are going away. Let’s support these guys as we bring Louisville Basketball back to the top. Come see us in Section 111 before and after the game as well, we love hearing from the other fans.

Look for the next Ville’ns View to be after the NC State game or the UNC home game on February 2nd if we pull off a win. Go Cards.