Louisville basketball: 3 quick takeaways from Notre Dame victory
By Jacob Lane
Louisville doesn’t have to live & die by the three to win
Chris Mack’s Louisville team somehow managed to shoot 9% from beyond the three point line on Sunday against Notre Dame, making just two of their 22 attempts. Normally that would spell a whole lot of trouble for the Cards, but yet they somehow managed to fight through their struggles and pull out a 14 point victory.
Now, it’s highly unlikely that they will shoot less than 10 percent, or even 20 percent which makes this a bit of an anomaly, but what it showed me and hopefully showed Mack’s squad is that they don’t have to live and die by the three like they have on several occasions this season (i.e, Syracuse & Virginia)
Louisville's 14-point win vs. Notre Dame is only its 4th double-digit margin of victory in the past 25 years when shooting under 10% from three-point range.
— Kelly Dickey (@RealCardGame) March 3, 2019
This was Louisville's first win in school history when attempting more than 13 threes and making less than 10%.
The Cards scored 40 of their total 73 points inside of the paint, while knocking down another eight jumpers from mid-range. Compare that to the Virginia game where they hit 12 threes total, while only scoring 10 points combined inside the lane and from mid-range.
For Chris Mack and his team the focus has to be to use their size to their advantage, and get the ball inside with either CC off the pick and roll, Dwayne Sutton or Jordan Nwora off the dribble, or in post up situations with Malik & Steven Enoch (aka the Enochness Monster) and then use that to get shooters open. That will change the way this team plays offensively because it will give them easier looks with a higher percentage and two keep them from becoming discouraged on the defensive end when their three’s aren’t falling.
Say all you want about the quality of Notre Dame’s team and how they are ranked 14th in the ACC for a reason, that’s fine. But what I saw from Louisville on Sunday was a pissed off, locked in team who knew exactly what they had to do in order to avoid losing their fourth game in a row.
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Now with six days off before heading out on the road to Virginia, look for Mack to hammer home these principles in practice and for the Cards to come out laser focused and ready for the next phase and most important part of their season; the postseason. This is where records can be tossed out and a new day can begin, which is something Team 105 desperately needs.