Louisville basketball: Cards show they may be best team in the country vs. Miami

The scoreboard won’t show it, but I thought Darius Perry played well against Miami, particularly with setting the pace.

Although he didn’t shoot well, going 1-6 from the floor and 0-3 from deep and got into early foul trouble, I thought Perry played controlled within the flow of the offense as the “true point guard.”

Perry did a good job, not great, with Chris Lykes defensively forcing him into a few bad shots and for the most part limiting penetration.

Against a good defensive team in Miami with an ACC Player of the Year caliber guard in Lykes, I thought Perry displayed some of the things we’ve heard from Mack this season, especially playing at a controlled pace and not forcing things.

Overall he finishes with two points, two rebounds, and a team-high four assists (with two turnovers) while incurring a +4 +/- rating.

With Louisville struggling in the early going, they needed an offensive spark to get them comfortable and confident as well as back into a game that started at 16-9 for Miami.

The man that stepped up, to no one’s surprise, was sharp-shooting (and starting) guard Ryan McMahon. In a Luke Hancock-esque manner, McMahon splashed three consecutive three’s for Louisville moving the lead back in Louisville favor, while sparking his teammates to keep the hot shooting going.

He’d got hot again in the second half, finishing the game with 16 points.

While we expect McMahon to knock down three’s at a fairly efficient clip, it’ll be extremely important for him to evolve his game as a senior showing improved defensive abilities as well as being able to handle the lead guard role in spots.

We saw that last night for McMahon, as well as the ability to get into the lane – something that he really didn’t have in his game last season. My favorite moment of the night for him came in the second half when he was able to get into the lane and was met by a bigger Miami defender, where he proceeded to hit a step-back jumper.

McMahon will have to prove that he belongs on the floor this season with Samuell Williamson and Fresh Kimble coming off the bench, especially when he’s not hot offensively. He’ll do that by following the same game plan as last night which includes not turning the ball over, taking forced shots, and defending to the best of his abilities.

Where do you even begin with Jordan Nwora? To no one’s surprise, he was one of the best players on the court for the Cardinals against Miami, and he showed he can still score at an extremely high level.

After tallying just seven points in the first half, Nwora exploded in the second half. With Louisville already holding a sizable lead, Nwora’s scoring blew the game wide open getting up as high as 30 towards the end of the game.

He scored from everywhere on the floor and did so in an extremely efficient way, going 8-16 from the field, 4-6 from beyond the arc, and 3-3 from the charity stripe.

While other Cards did most of the damage in the first half, Nwora let the game come to him, and when Louisville’s motion offense began to wear down the opposing defense, the shots were there.

The highlight of the night was Nwora’s alley-oop from Ryan McMahon, but he scored in a multitude of ways. He got it done going to the basket, on back cuts, on catch-and-shoot opportunities and using step-back threes.

All of the different shots in Nwora’s arsenal are what will make him special in 2019-20.

Additionally, Nwora was a problem on defense. While credited with two steals and a block, he made perhaps the biggest impact of any Card on the defensive end, thwarting any and all penetration from the Hurricanes guards and stopping the ball and the flow of the Miami offense.

Much like last season, we might just use this space in the postgame recap to absolutely gush over Dwayne Sutton on a nightly basis. And why wouldn’t you?

Sutton just does so many things and makes his mark in so many different areas that it is hard to imagine what this team would be without him.

The thing that stood out against Miami was Sutton’s pure strength and athleticism. Regardless of his height, Sutton can play almost every position on the floor and fit seamlessly into every lineup. Centers Steven Enoch and Aidan Igiehon only combined for 32 minutes and Sutton did a fantastic job filling in down low in the absence of Malik Williams.

Sutton had three offensive rebounds and was able to use solid physicality and overall fundamentals to push around opposing bigs and have his way against everyone down low.

He finished with 16 points on 6-7 shooting, 5 rebounds, an assist, and two steals. Not a bad day at the office for Louisville’s hometown hero.

The only knock you can really have on Steven Enoch was that he only played 19 minutes in the opener, but that may have been by design.

Enoch, who missed Louisville’s exhibition against Bellarmine, was forced to the sideline midway through the second half when he apparently reaggravated his injury.

Though he likely wasn’t at 100 percent, the Cardinals’ senior center took advantage of his opportunities and looked comfortable in his role with this team. He is going to quietly be a double-double type of guy all season, snagging rebounds on both ends and scoring in a multitude of ways.

In only 19 minutes, Enoch finished with 11 points, 12 boards, and a block. With Enoch in the lineup, the Cards are a match-up nightmare, and when Malik Williams returns from injury, Louisville may be nearly impossible to stop down low.

Samuell Williamson is already who so many Cardinals fans expected Wayne Blackshear and VJ King to be in their careers and we only have a small sample size to work off of.

In Williamson, the Cards have a legitimate do-it-all scoring threat. He connected from deep, on the fast break, creating off the dribble, and was extremely useful in Louisville’s offense.

On the other end, Williamson was more than capable as a defender. When he was in the game, there were not really any moments where it felt Williamson didn’t know where he was supposed to be or what his assignment was- which is impressive for a true freshman in his first game.

13 points on 6-9 from the floor, 5 rebounds, and an assist are all promising. Now, as the season goes on, Williamson could become scary when he gets his turnover numbers down and his drives to the baskets turn into more trips to the free throw line.

How about some love for the unheralded graduate transfer Lamarr “Fresh” Kimble? Though he was projected as a starter entering the season, and he still very well may be Louisville’s starting point guard by season’s end, Kimble quietly gets the job done when he’s in the game.

Credit Kimble with 6 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block in his first appearance in red and black. If you are taking an overarching look at this team, who is down a significant player in the backcourt and a team captain in the frontcourt, Kimble is a guy who is likely going to collect a bunch of games with stats almost exactly like this.

When he is in the game, Kimble is playing extremely hard, and he is going to do all of the little things for this Cardinals team. And as he learns and grows in Mack’s system, Kimble could eventually turn into a glue guy come full-time conference play.

Aidan Igiehon was the must-get shining star of the 2019 recruiting class, but he is still quite raw as he learns and tries to catch up to the speed of the college game.

While guys like Samuell Williamson played on the AAU circuits and cut their teeth in all-star games, Igiehon is still a guy who got a late start on his basketball career. He didn’t grow up dreaming of playing in the NBA or binge-watching college basketball games. It’s just going to take some time.

But what you saw out of “The Irish Hulk” in 12 minutes was pretty much what you wanted to see. He was active on defense, knew his place on the floor, and did not appear timid or afraid of the moment.

Going forward, the Cards are going to be fine with Aidan not lighting up the scoreboard, but he does need to get into the rebound column if he wants to see a lot of playing time in the grand scheme of things.

Like Igiehon, it was apparent this was Josh Nickelberry’s first real college game, but there wasn’t anything that happened that made you dislike what you saw.

Nickelberry moved within the flow of the offense, and as he said in the preseason, he wants to become a lockdown defender for this team. Though he recorded 0’s across the board, Nickelberry was effective at the top of Louisville’s defense. The stats will come, but his impact was felt.

If one had to describe Quinn Slazinski’s game in one word, it would probably be “unafraid.” He was recruited to be a redshirt on this team, but after reclassifying from 2020 to 2019 and getting some run with Chris Mack’s guys, it was apparent there’s a place for him.

You’d have to think Slazinski is going to make a major impact in a game or two down the line, as well. He is already instinctive with the ball, and there’s no telling him that he is a freshman in his first game ever- a conference road game at that.

Slazinski made some good moves to get open looks and was barely off the mark, and he also was able to free up a teammate for an easy bucket on a down screen late in the game.

He knows what he is doing when he’s on the floor, and going up against Jordan Nwora and Dwayne Sutton daily is going to give him a ton of knowledge and confidence going forward.