Louisville basketball: 3 quick takeaways from Notre Dame victory
By Jacob Lane
Louisville basketball got back to their winning ways with a 75-61 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday, and we’ve got three quick takeaways from their performance.
So that’s what winning feels like? Louisville basketball finally picked up a win after struggling to much but blow leads over the last two to three weeks. The Cards controlled the game against Notre Dame the entire way, keeping a fairly comfortable distance and putting together an all-around impressive performance.
While you don’t typically takeaway much from games against teams as bad as the Irish, this was a game where Louisville fans had to see something change after losing three in a row, including Boston College on Wednesday night, and six of their last eight.
The effort and toughness, something Chris Mack has preached to his team from the day he stepped on campus, was finally there after going aloof over the last several games. The team clearly got his message after he spent nearly the entire Boston College post-game press conference questioning their desire and ability to play tough.
After experiencing a rather difficult couple of games, Mack praised his team during his press conference on Sunday, saying:
"“I’m happy for our group. This league can steal your confidence, rob you your confidence at times. Playing some of the best teams in the country. Social media can rob individuals of confidence sometimes. I don’t care if you say ‘put it away.’ Kids have grown up with it. I’m really happy for our group. They’ve worked hard the entire year. From the time those guys arrived on campus and worked with our staff, to be able to go out on senior night the right way… being able to face all the adversity, some will say ‘self-inflicted, not playing well.’ Like I said. This League can rob you of your confidence at times. And for our guys to be able to respond the way they did today, I’m really happy for them.”"
Looking back on Sunday’s victory there were several things that popped out to me as takeaways. Here are the three that I think are the most important.