Louisville basketball: Cards offense continues efficient ways in win over NC Central

Louisville basketball goes wire-to-wire, never trailing as they cruise past the NC Central Eagles in an 87-58 home victory on Sunday afternoon.

Unlike last Sunday’s game against Youngstown State, Chris Mack had to be thrilled with his team’s performance in every aspect of the game. Louisville basketball jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first three minutes of this one and never looked back, as NC Central proved to be no match. With the win, Louisville improved to a 4-0 record on the young season, and they should be the number three team in the nation when the AP Top 25 poll releases on Monday afternoon.

They’ve run through their first four opponents and have lived up to the preseason hype thus far, despite not having played the best level of competition. Coach Mack has been using these early season non-conference games as opportunities to finetune some things and find weaknesses for his team to work on in practice, but he might have a hard time finding an area that the Cards struggled in against the Eagles.

Heading into the game, Louisville ranked 9th in the country in terms of field goal percentage, shooting 54 percent as a team. They also found themselves as the 15th best three-point shooting team in the nation, shooting 43 percent from beyond the arc as a team. The Cards did not slow down at all against NC Central, and they actually increased their efficiency numbers. They shot a ridiculous 66.7 percent from the field as a team and they drilled 10 of their 21 three-point attempts, good for a 47.6 percent mark.

You probably guessed who led the Cards in scoring. Jordan Nwora poured in 17 points on 50 percent shooting as he continues to perform on a nightly basis. The crazy thing is Nwora missed some shots that he usually connects on, and he would probably tell you that this was easily his worst game of the season to date. Dwayne Sutton scored 12 points, grabbed five rebounds, and hit two three-pointers as he continues to be a do-it-all player for Louisville. Ryan McMahon also hit two three-pointers and he has started his senior season particularly hot from deep.

The most impressive players of the game were Steven Enoch and Darius Perry, however. Enoch could not be stopped by anybody on the NC Central roster and he had the ACC Network commentators drooling over his play. He hit seven of nine field-goal attempts en route to scoring 15 points, grabbing five boards, and having two great assists. Perry continues to showcase the incredible improvements he made during the offseason, scoring 11 points and dishing out 7 assists while not missing a shot and only turning the ball over once.

Fresh Kimble also had another impressive game, following up his breakout performance on Wednesday night against Indiana State. The former St. Joe’s star scored eight points and dished out five assists. Samuell Williamson continues to be an impactful player off the bench, and he looks like the best Cards freshman in a long time. He scored nine points and only missed one shot. Aidan Igiehon showcased some of the potential that we all knew he had coming into Louisville, scoring three points, grabbing seven rebounds, and swatting away one shot. The freshman center still has a ways to go for his development, however.

Louisville held NC Central to a poor performance offensively, as LeVelle Moton’s team shot 33 percent from the field, 23 percent from beyond the arc, and 56 percent from the free-throw line. Those numbers won’t beat many Division I college basketball teams. The referees officiated a pretty sloppy game, calling a lot of cheap ticky-tack fouls, and that’s evidenced by a combined 44 fouls for the two teams.

There are obviously still some things to improve upon for the Cards, but this team is 4-0 and they’re going to continue to get better with more time on the floor. There’s not much negativity swirling around Card Nation at the moment and hopefully, it stays that way. The Cards football team is bowl eligible and the Cards men’s and women’s basketball teams both look extremely promising. Oh, and Malik Williams and David Johnson should both be back very soon. Next, the Cards are set to host the SC Upstate Spartans on Wednesday night at 7 pm at the Yum! Center.