Louisville basketball: Cards vs. Bellarmine game day central

Louisville basketball looks to start off the season strong when it hosts Bellarmine in an exhibition game on Tuesday night at the KFC Yum! Center.

The hype is building as the Louisville basketball team is a week away from their first regular-season game of the season. Before they travel to Coral Gables, however, they’re tasked with playing a talented Bellarmine squad that is led by former Louisville assistant coach Scott Davenport. 

Heading into their final year at the Division II level, Davenport and the Knights are looking to finish this season on the top of the mountain. They certainly believe that there is no better way to start their journey than by pulling off a win over the no. 5 ranked team in the AP Preseason Poll.

Last season, Bellarmine seemed to be well on their way to their second DII National Championship, starting off 18-0 and being ranked #1 in the nation. They made it to the Sweet 16 but fell victim to a second-half comeback by Southern Indiana.

Despite losing their top two scorers in Adam Eberhard and Chivarsky Corbett, the Knights have reloaded and still are very experienced, tough, and talented. They were recently voted as the preseason favorites in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and were also ranked #2 in the country in NCAA.com’s Preseason Rankings. On paper, Bellarmine might be under matched compared to a Louisville team that has such high expectations, but they’ve given the Cards fits in past exhibition matchups, and they certainly can do the same this season.

Recently, Louisville lost to Ohio State in a closed-door scrimmage and head coach Chris Mack said that the Cards “got our ass kicked” by the Buckeyes.

According to Danielle Lerner, the Cards reporter for the Athletic, there were a few big takeaways from the scrimmage like rebounding struggles and effort. The good thing is that it’s not a real game and both of these things can be worked on in practice and in games. Louisville was also not nearly at full strength, with Malik Williams and David Johnson sitting out with injuries. Williams is expected to be back near the end of non-conference play and Johnson’s timetable is still unclear at this moment.

Louisville needs to work on a lot of things in this exhibition game against Bellarmine, and this will be an important step towards finding out tweaks that need to be made by the players, Coach Mack, and his staff. Louisville is experienced, talented, deep, and hoping to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament this year, but Bellarmine won’t be listening to any of the outside noise as they prepare to challenge the Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Coach Mack knows that the Knights are a disciplined ball club that thrives on moving the ball around and finding the best look on offense each time down the floor. Louisville will need to enter the building on Tuesday night with a better mindset and Mack wants his team to block out all of the buzz surrounding them. With that in mind, let’s take a look at everything you need to know ahead of Tuesday’s exhibition game.

Who: #5 Louisville Cardinals vs. Bellarmine Knights

Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky

When: 7:00 PM ET, Tuesday, October 29th

Tickets: As low as $6 per Stubhub.com

Previous Meeting and Series: Louisville won 71-60 last year and has won all 21 matchups between the two schools.

How To Watch: ACC Network Extra. Live Stream Available on Watch ESPN via your TV Provider.

How To Listen: WHAS 840 AM.

Players To Watch:

Jordan Nwora, Louisville F

A 2019 Preseason AP All-American and the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, Nwora is coming into the season as a player expected to be the star for the Cardinals once again. He’ll have an improved supporting cast this season compared to last year, but Nwora is expected to contribute even more as well. Coming off a season where he broke out and emerged as Louisville’s leading scorer, Nwora worked on his defense and scoring off the dribble throughout the offseason and he helped Nigeria qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games. It’ll be interesting to see Nwora’s improvements in live game action and I’m really interested to see how the 6’8 forward attacks the Knights defense, who presumably will throw a lot of different looks at him. I also expect Bellarmine to focus on keeping him off the glass, as he was an underrated rebounder last season, pulling down just under eight rebounds per game.

Alex Cook, Bellarmine F

A senior forward hailing from Male High School in Louisville, Alex Cook has been a huge contributor for Coach Davenport and the Knights since he stepped foot on campus. Last season, he was a major asset off the bench. This season, he figures to step into a role as a starter and one of the primary scorers on the team. Standing in at 6’7, Cook can score at all levels on the court and he tied for the best field goal percentage in the GLVC last season at 63.5%, while shooting 45% from 3-point range. Cook was the Knights fourth-best scorer last season and he figures to be up near the top once again this season. In last year’s game against Louisville, Cook scored six points, grabbed three rebounds, and had two steals as he saw 23 minutes of action.

Darius Perry, Louisville G

A lot of talk over the summer has centered around the tremendous development of junior guard Darius Perry, and it looks like he will be rewarded with a lead role on the Cardinals team as we start the season. The 6’2 Georgia native was very inconsistent last season, but everybody saw flashes of the kind of player he was recruited to be. In the last portion of the season, Perry seemed to be on the court more and Coach Mack said that he trusted him more. Perry is an electrifying guard who can score from the perimeter, mid-range, and can attack the basket fearlessly. He’s got the potential to be a great defender as well, and he could end up being tasked with guarding some of the best guards in the ACC. If Perry can become more of an unselfish ballplayer and can take out some of the inconsistencies that plagued him last season, he could play a pivotal role in Louisville.

Ben Weyer, Bellarmine F

Weyer is another big senior forward who is garnering extremely high praise leading into this season. Weyer hails from Fort Thomas, Kentucky, but he’s clearly made a home at Bellarmine. He was recently named as a second-team Preseason All-America selection by Street & Smith’s. He is returning after a junior campaign that got him named to second-team All-GLVC as he averaged 11.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game on 51.7% shooting from the field. Weyer is expected to become the go-to guy like Adam Eberhard was for the Knights, and he’s certainly capable of living up to those expectations. Weyer poured in 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in last year’s game against Louisville in 26 minutes on the floor.

Dwayne Sutton, Louisville F

The unquestioned captain and leader of this Louisville team, hometown product Dwayne Sutton is looking to leave his legacy on the program in his final year here. Sutton brings ruthless defensive tenacity, tremendous hustle, and has proven to be a guy that can get hot and carry his team on the offensive end. The reason I’m excited to watch Sutton play is because he ended last season on such a sour note. Sutton was phenomenal from the beginning of the season until the middle of February, where he got cold on offense and wasn’t contributing in his normal fashion. After the Duke loss on February 12th, Sutton finished the season shooting 28% in his last nine games and he only managed three points in the Cards NCAA Tournament loss to Minnesota. Rest assured, the former DuPont Manual star can get back to playing at the level we have all come to expect, and we will see he starts it off on Tuesday night against Bellarmine.

Pedro Bradshaw, Bellarmine G

The biggest mystery on Bellarmine’s team might be what they’ll get out of Eastern Kentucky transfer Pedro Bradshaw, who is immediately eligible to play for the Knights. Bradshaw is from Russellville, Kentucky, which is about 30 miles southwest of Bowling Green. At Russellville High School, he was one of the top players in the state of Kentucky and he was a finalist for Kentucky Mr. Basketball, losing out to Western Kentucky guard Taveion Hollingsworth. Bradshaw started his collegiate career at Belmont before transferring to Eastern Kentucky. As a Colonel, he played limited minutes but did well when he was on the court. Bradshaw has the talent and attitude to be one of the stars on this Bellarmine basketball team, but it remains to be seen how Coach Davenport deploys him.

Predictions:

Tristan Beckmann: Louisville 72, Bellarmine 58.

Jacob Lane: Louisville 85, Bellarmine 59.