Game grades: Louisville basketball uses late rally to force OT, but falls to Pitt
By Jacob Lane
Louisville basketball falls way behind, makes late push to force overtime, before ultimately falling to Pitt.
After picking up a nice win at home in the ACC opener against Miami, Louisville basketball took to the road for the first time in conference play to match up with a new look, Jeff Capel led basketball team.
The Panthers literally look like a new team, because they are a new team. After the dismissal of Kevin Stalling and hiring of Jeff Capel, the Panthers had 9 players from their previous team graduate or transfer away.
The Panthers have been competitive this season winning 10 games, mostly against lesser competition, but looking like a team with potential to get back to their former glory a few years down the road. But after getting blown out by North Carolina on Saturday, I thought there was good chance Louisville might roll early.
Instead the Cardinals came out and played without a question their worst half of basketball all season. Both teams struggled to shoot the ball for the early portion of the first half, but freshmen Trey McGowens and Xavier Johnson got Pittsburgh rolling on the offensive end. While on the on the other side of the floor Louisville couldn’t buy a basket.
Once again Louisville got into some dangerous foul trouble early with Malik Williams, Steven Enoch, Dwayne Sutton, and Jordan Nwora all picking up 2+ fouls. Louisville was forced to play Darius Perry, Ryan McMahon, and Akoy Agau heavy minutes and let’s just say it didn’t go well.
Louisville turned the ball over 10 times, committed 12 personal fouls, and 32% from the field and just 20% from three. No matter the lineup the Cards could not get a bucket late in the first half, ending the half scoring just two points in seven minutes, while allowing freshman Trey McGowens to put up 20 points by himself. Jordan Nwora finished the first half 0-8 from the field, and 0-5 from three.
Louisville found themselves down 38-28 going into the locker rooms for halftime.
In the second half, the Cards found themselves, like they so often do, playing from behind- and with half of their team in foul trouble nonetheless. Louisville would pull within 8 or 10 and then the Panthers would pull away again.
It wasn’t until late in the game that Louisville began to take over. Trey McGowans’s unreal performance was somewhat mitigated by foul trouble, and Xavier Johnson finally missed a few contested shots. This opened the door for Louisville to climb back in. The Cards finished the second half with a 14-2 run, capped off by a Ryan McMahon deep three to pull the Cards within two and a Dwayne Sutton driving lay up to tie the game for the first time since 22-22.
Louisville was headed to overtime with the Panthers.
Unfortunately, the Cards couldn’t pull through in the end. Although momentum swung in their favor going into the overtime period, the Cards couldn’t buy a basket in the closing minute of OT. Ryan McMahon missed a three that would have put the Cards ahead, and that lead to a fast break from the Panthers, which put them up two. Another, even deeper, McMahon three point try with :20 left hit back iron, and Louisville was forced to foul.
After Pitt missed 1 out of two from the line, Louisville quickly got the ball up court over the Pitt press and Steven Enoch barely missed a wide open look that would have tied things up. One more shot with five seconds on the clock went begging, and another heave as time expired from Enoch was nowhere close, and the Cards’s comeback was for naught.
MVP: Christen Cunningham. This is Christen Cunningham’s team, and he is going to keep bringing night in and night out. Without Cunningham, the Cards didn’t stand a chance in this one. He is the heartbeat of this team. Here’s to hoping his teammates can provide some more help going forward.
LVP: Perimeter defense. It’s hard to pinpoint just one problem from the Cards against Pitt, but we will go with the awful perimeter defense all. game. long. Trey McGowens, who was averaging 12 points on the season, dropped 33 with ease, and 20 in the first half. Xavier Johnson chipped in a cool 21 and 10 assists. The two guards for Pitt got into the lane, scored easy buckets, and put the Cards’s bigs in foul trouble all game. Absolutely inexcusably bad defense against a fairly mundane Pitt backcourt.