No. 1 Louisville basketball welcomes in Pittsburgh for Friday night ACC clash
G Ryan McMahon, Louisville
The biggest member of the Ryan McMahon fan club said it best on Tuesday night, as Dick Vitale said he believes that Louisville needs to make an effort to set up better quality shots for their redshirt senior sharpshooter.
We all know that the Sarasota native is ridiculously accurate when you give him space from beyond the arc, and I hope that Coach Mack is finding ways to move him around to get him open from deep. In his last two games, McMahon has only nailed a combined two three-pointers on nine attempts. A lot of this has to do with him being forced into tough shots and not being open.
Despite his poor last two games, McMahon still is hitting his three-pointers at a 50 percent clip and has connected on 22 three-pointers thus far this season. He’s one of the best sharpshooters in the country and I’m confident that the Louisville coaching staff will find ways to implement him into the system and get him more chances.
Against Pittsburgh, I’m looking for McMahon to knock down a few three-pointers and excel on the defensive end. Oh, and if you couldn’t catch yesterday’s game, McMahon undoubtedly played the best defensive game of his collegiate career.
G Trey McGowens, Pittsburgh
As I said earlier, McGowens was one of the reasons that the Cards suffered their heartbreaking overtime loss to Pittsburgh last season. His 33-point outing was one of his most efficient of his freshman season, as he shot 12 for 19 from the field and drained four three-pointers. In the second meeting between the two teams, the 6’3 guard only managed to score 7 points and turned the basketball over 5 times. He was only able to connect on three of his eight field-goal attempts on the KFC Yum! Center rims.
McGowens has improved as a player that Jeff Capel can build around in the next few seasons at Pittsburgh, and he’s showing steady development as a sophomore. In nine games, he’s averaged 12 points, over four rebounds, just under three assists, and just under two steals. He’s knocking down 44.9 percent of his field-goal attempts, which is an increase by over three percent from his freshman season. He’s struggling from beyond the arc, only connecting on 27.6 percent of his three-pointers. We’ve seen McGowens dominate the Cards first-hand, and he’s got the potential to do it again if the Cardinals don’t force the ball into other players’ hands.
F Jordan Nwora, Louisville
One of the premier players in the nation, Jordan Nwora has lived up to his billing as ACC Preseason Player of the Year through eight games this season. He made a statement to the country as he carried the Cardinals in their win over Michigan, and his odds to win National Player of the Year have to be skyrocketing. He had 23 points and made clutch shot after clutch shot to silence the Wolverines. Nwora has led the Cardinals in scoring each game this season, and he’s averaging 21.9 points and nearly eight rebounds per game.
The most impressive thing about Nwora is that he’s been putting up these numbers with efficiency, as he is shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from beyond the arc. He’s also knocking down his free throws at an 85.7 percent clip. Nwora’s defensive game against Michigan’s Isaiah Livers was probably the most impressive moment of the season for me. Livers was the Wolverines leading scorer and best three-point shooter, and Nwora locked him down. Livers was held to one for nine shooting and only had one three-pointer for his only 3 points of the game. Nwora will look to continue his insane start to the season against the Panthers on Friday night.