Big Red Louie
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Louisville basketball: An early season review of Team 106

By Tristan Beckmann

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: Steven Enoch #23 of the Louisville Cardinals and Dwayne Sutton #24 react during the first half of the game against Marquette Golden Eagles at the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at Barclays Center on November 23, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: Steven Enoch #23 of the Louisville Cardinals and Dwayne Sutton #24 react during the first half of the game against Marquette Golden Eagles at the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at Barclays Center on November 23, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – NOVEMBER 13: Dwayne Sutton #24 of the Louisville Cardinals shoots the ball against the Indiana State Sycamores at KFC YUM! Center on November 13, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – NOVEMBER 13: Dwayne Sutton #24 of the Louisville Cardinals shoots the ball against the Indiana State Sycamores at KFC YUM! Center on November 13, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

Offense

It might be early in the season, but Louisville ranks as the best field goal shooting team in all of college basketball, tied with Gonzaga. The Cards are knocking down a ridiculous percentage of their shots, 56.6 percent to be exact. Louisville also has shot the longball particularly well, hitting three-pointers at a 44.3 percent clip, good for 10th in the entire country. The Cards haven’t been terrible at the free-throw line or even close to it, but they understand they can be better from the stripe as a team. They’ve drained 52 of their 70 attempts from the line, which sets them at a 74.3 percent rate as a team, ranking 80th in the nation.

Coach Mack teaches his teams to play a selfless brand of basketball that has proven to be one of the keys to winning a national championship at the collegiate level. You can see the results paying off thus far in 2019. Louisville ranks 34th in the country in team assists with 72 through four games. They’ve shown that they are not afraid to make the extra pass as well as being able to move the ball around to find the best shot. This is one of the big reasons why the team is playing so efficiently on the offensive end of the floor.

Combine the selflessness of the team with their ability to avoid turnovers and the Cards are one of the more disciplined teams in college basketball. They aren’t being too sloppy with the basketball, only having turned the ball over 45 times. They have a 1.60 assist-to-turnover ratio, which is the 22nd best in the nation. They’re also avoiding foul trouble as a team, and they would rank way higher than 200th if not for the mass amount of cheap foul calls in the NC Central game.

Thus far, Louisville has the second-highest adjusted offensive efficiency in the country according to Ken Pomeroy, trailing closely behind Michigan State. They are scoring an average of 1.25 points per possession, which is the third-most in the nation. The Cards also have a 64.4 percent effective field goal percentage, which is the best mark in the country. They also lead the nation in true shooting percentage. Basically, the Cards are a top tier team in every offensive metric through their first four games.

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