Game grades: Louisville basketball uses late rally to force OT, but falls to Pitt

A+. 23 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 0 fouls. You seriously cannot ask for more from the Cards’s floor general. Nobody expected this from Cunningham coming into the season, but he has been shockingly good. 9-11 from the field, 2-3 from 3, 3-3 from the line, and a constant facilitator on offense. Louisville would be toast without him, and would have not even been in this one tonight. I’d say let CC shoot it 15-20 times a game. He has the hot hand, but is a cool customer at all times.. PG. Louisville Cardinals. CHRISTEN CUNNINGHAM

D. Perry is one of a couple of guys who is just completely out of sorts. He can’t be trusted right now to give this team more than 15-20 minutes a game. He is a liability on defense and turns the ball over at an alarming rate. Tonight was no different, as he made no real positive impact when on the court. Louisville needs Perry to be the ying to Cunningham’s yang, and he just doesn’t know how to be that right now.. PG. Louisville Cardinals. DARIUS PERRY

DWAYNE SUTTON. B. Sutton was his usual steady presence. His 8 rebounds and constant energy in the first half kept Louisville within striking distance. He finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists.. SF. Louisville Cardinals

C-. Nwora has to be able to do more when he can’t score. He did a decent job against the Panthers of knowing his role on an off shooting night. 9 rebounds and 4 assists are a step up from the norm for him. However, 2-14 from the field, 3-5 from the line, 4 turnovers, and a ton of just horrifying defensive possessions ultimately were a huge letdown. Everyone certainly has bad games, and Louisville’s leading scorer is no exception to the rule, but Mack was forced to play him 40 minutes tonight, which proved to be costly.. PF. Louisville Cardinals. JORDAN NWORA

C. Louisville Cardinals. STEVEN ENOCH. B+. Enoch was what Louisville needs him to be. He was a force in the paint and a beast on the boards coming off the bench. The dynamic of Malik Williams starting and Enoch playing quality minutes may be one that Louisville rolls with going forward. Take away the two 3’s that Enoch had to take in the waning seconds, and he was 6-7 from the field with 14 points, 7 rebounds, and a block in only 24 minutes. He was in foul trouble once again, but so was every person on the floor.

No turnovers, no ill-advised shots, 3 rebounds, an assist, 1-1 from the field, 2-2 from the line for 4 points in 10 minutes. Look, it’s not even close to what VJ King is capable of, but this is the VJ King we need to see. His minutes will continue to increase going forward. Nwora was not himself tonight, but Louisville fell behind and needed to run with a scoring line up down 10+ points for 3/4 of the game. For now, I will 100% take this solid VJ King performance and hope that he can build off of it.. SF. Louisville Cardinals. V.J. KING. B

B. Williams earned the start, and was reliable for most of the game. Like everyone else, he was in foul trouble, but brought many of the intangibles to the table that we have come to expect. 3 rebounds 2 blocks, 3-3 from the line, and 7 points in 14 minutes. Solid once again, but certainly a step down from what we saw the last couple of weeks.. PF. Louisville Cardinals. MALIK WILLIAMS

C. Chris Mack commented a couple of weeks ago on how getting a 3 blocked is indicative of a poor basketball IQ. His words, not mine. 22 minutes from McMahon yielded a whirlwind of good and bad results. 11 points on 4-10 shooting, 3 assists… not bad. But McMahon’s shot selection ended up costing the Cards in the end. He shot his way to heroic victories against Michigan State and Seton Hall, but teams are beginning to figure McMahon out. You can tell he truly believes he will make every shot he takes, but that doesn’t mean that his open teammates can’t either. With McMahon you’re getting a lot of exciting moments but, like against Kentucky, Marquette, IU, and now Pitt, a lot of frustrating moments. Once McMahon nails shot selection down, this team becomes that much more deadly.. PG. Louisville Cardinals. RYAN MCMAHON

KHWAN FORE. B. Fore got the starting nod, and notched 2 points and a steal in 14 minutes. Not much to write home about on the stat sheet, but Fore is Louisville’s best on-ball defender, and he is a better option than Darius Perry to this point. He is a no-frills guy who had another solid night on defense.. SG. Louisville Cardinals

AKOY AGAU. C. Not the best night for Akoy. He is typically the aggressor, but he may have pushed the limits a bit when he got the ball in the lane, and really picked up some silly fouls. Agau was just out of sorts in a very out of sort game. 0 points and 2 rebounds in four minutes.. PF. Louisville Cardinals

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