How new Louisville basketball rotation can propel them deep in March
Louisville basketball is rounding back into form at the right time thanks to much-needed contributions from some key role players.
Before the 2018-19 season, had you been told that Louisville basketball was turning things around with key contributions from Darius Perry and VJ King, you probably would not have been surprised.
However, over the course of the 2018-19 season, two of Louisville’s key returnees lost their form along the way.
Louisville was able to become a top 15 team in the country in January due in large part to players who were role players in 2017-18, or were not even on the team at all.
Jordan Nwora, the ACC’s most improved player, played sparingly under David Padgett last year. As did Malik Williams, who only played 10 minutes per game in his freshman year. Back up Steven Enoch sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, and three of Louisville’s 10 scholarship players are graduate transfers.
Surmise it to say that anyone who thought Louisville had a shot at success in 2018-19 certainly envisioned VJ King and Darius Perry as a huge part of the picture.
King was Louisville’s lone returning starter. He seemed destined for a breakout season after waiting in the wings behind the likes of Donovan Mitchell and Deng Adel in his first two years.
Perry was electric off the bench as a freshman, averaging 14.3 minutes per game, and most expected him to see extended clock at both the point guard and shooting guard spots.
That’s the way King and Perry began the season. Both started game one for Chris Mack’s squad, and both contributed at an admirable level. Perry in particular got off to a hot start, contributing 14,13, and 17 points in Louisville’s first three match ups.
A mid-season slump
As the season wore on though, Louisville’s back up wing Dwayne Sutton’s play was outshining that of King, while grad transfer Khwan Fore was providing much more consistency and reliability than Perry at the two.
The two players that most thought would be workhorses for the Cards wound up finding their minutes decreasing with every game. Perry only played 4 minutes in Louisville’s conference opener against Miami, and only saw 2 minutes when the Cards hosted Virginia. King didn’t even get in during that same Virginia game, nor their match-up against Duke the week prior.
Louisville went on a six game winning streak early in conference play, notching wins against North Carolina and NC State along the way. During that streak, which propelled them to first place in the ACC, Louisville did so mostly on the backs of Jordan Nwora, Christen Cunningham, and Dwayne Sutton. Meanwhile, Perry and King became less and less of factors.
When the Cards fell on tougher times, King and Perry’s impact was lessened even more. Mack was forced to shorten the rotation, and only use King and Perry to spare the starters, or give them longer rests before and after time outs. It was clear at that point that Mack’s plan was to try and make it work with limited minutes from his two former starters.
Finishing strong
Louisville’s loss at Boston College was a turning point for the season. The lackluster performance came on the heels of close battles with Virginia, Duke, and Clemson, and a blowout loss to Syracuse. The loss capped off a 3 game losing steak at a time when it was ill-afforded.
It was around that time when VJ King paid Mack a visit in his office, asking what he could do to earn more playing time. Mack often lauded Kings effort in practice, and noted that his performance simply never transferred over to in-game action.
However, since inserting King and Perry into the lineup more often, the Cards have a new energy. Although they are 2-2 in their last four games, Louisville looks like the team fans came to know in January, not the reeling team a month later.
King and Perry have given serious contributions off the bench, allowing Cunningham, Nwora, Fore, and Sutton to get some much-needed rest in more important games.
And those two losses in the last four? They came against Virginia and North Carolina- the two hottest teams in the country, and near locks as No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. Still, Louisville played right with them.
Grading Louisville's performance against North Carolina. dark. Next
Even better news for the Cards is that they are unlikely to play anyone nearly as talented at UNC and Virginia until the sweet 16. All the more time for King and Perry to become more acclimated to their increased roles for the Cards.
Should they keep up this level of play, it allows Louisville basketball to take their game to the next level.