Louisville Basketball: Cards start week in a bad way, but finish strong

Following tough losses to Syracuse and Virginia the Louisville Basketball faithful knew the Cardinals needed to bounce back this week.

My rule of thumb has always been if the teams playing are pretty evenly matched then the team with best player normally wins. Against Boston College, Ky Bowman, a NBA prospect, proved he was the best player on the court by legit flirting with a triple double. Doing it all against Louisville basketball, Bowman finished with 25/12/8. But the rosters for the Cards and Boston College were nowhere near being evenly matched, which made the loss to the Golden Eagles on the road that much tougher to swallow for Chris Mack and the Cards.

It was another stale shooting night for the Cards with the exception of a BRL’s favorite Steven “The 3nochness Monster.” Enoch put up a career night with 22 points in 24 minutes. Jordan Nwora had a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds on just 4-13 shooting. The Cards shot 20.8% from the arch and combine that with the 14 turnovers and it would be hard to beat anyone. This team has seemed to morph into the definition of “live by the 3, die by the 3” in the last few weeks of the regular season.

Losing to BC had Louisville twitter in full melt mode, the Senior Day match up with Notre Dame had become the closest thing to a must win that really was in a no way a must win as you could get.

Sending off grad transfers Christen Cunningham, Khawn Fore, and Akoy Agau with a loss just was not an option after the way they each helped this Louisville basketball team overachieve in this first year under Coach Chris Mack.

Jordan Nwora led the Cards in scoring with 22 and 13 rebounds and Malik Williams also put up  a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. While Louisville shot the 3 again at a very low clip of just 9% on 2-22 shooting it has to be promising they were able to find a way to win without shooting the 3 well. Louisville also only turned the ball over 9 times.

It has been a very long time since the Cards turned the ball over under double digits. On top of all of this the shining moment for me was the best VJ King game we have had in a good while. 6 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, and some great defense in his 24 minutes the YUM crowd and the teammates all enjoyed seeing this VJ. If King could give performances like this the Cards postseason could be much more exciting.

The Good Times:

• Malik Williams has been rebounding like a mad man. 23 in the past 2 games and 5 offensive boards against Notre Dame alone. It is just the right time of year for Malik to kick it into another gear.
• Turnovers on the decline. Seeing Louisville take care of the ball against Notre Dame and only turning it over 9 times is promising as they are going to have to keep this up against Virginia and into the ACC tournament.
• The Enochness Monster seems poised to have a big post season and Louisville is going to need him. If the 3 point shot is not falling for the Cards they are going to need a force in the paint to keep them in games.
• Shout out to the Louisville Woman as well. Asia Durr went absolutely lights out on senior night pouring in 47 points with 11 3’s as the Cards routed number 10 NC State. Louisville followed that up by wrapping up their second straight ACC regular season championship beating Pitt on the road 67-40. The woman are poised for a run at the title again this year.
• Winter is here and the King is back. I, like all the rest of Card Nation want nothing but the best from VJ King. All hail VJ on his continuing success into post season play.

Also a big shout out to Card for life and number one UofL ambassador Donovan Mitchell. Donovan was the  Rookie of the Year that mattered last season and has continued to carry the Cardinal flag as his has risen to superstar level in the NBA. Donovan dropped 46 Sunday.

The Not so Good Times:

• A loss to Boston College was not what anyone was expecting. Bowman played out of his mind which was hopefully sparked something in the coaching staff to prepare for great players.
• The 3 point shooting has really been on the decline since the Duke game, granted they hit 10 in the first half against Virginia at the YUM but ended up losing that one because the shooting cooled off.
• The season is nearly over. While the NCAA Tournament makes March my favorite month, the thought that the regular season only  has one game left really bums me out.

All is all it was a good Sunday to be a Cards fan. Our Cards have the week before closing out the regular season Saturday on the road at Virginia. I have said all year we would split the series with them this season and I am holding onto that prediction. The ACC tourney starts 3 days later on March 12th so let hope Louisville rides in high of the defeat of the Cavs, Until next week L’s Up and Go Cards!