Louisville basketball gets back on their feet with blowout win over Eastern Kentucky

Louisville basketball sends fans home happy as they dominate from start-to-finish in 99-67 bounce-back victory over Eastern Kentucky.

Following up on their tough loss against Texas Tech on Tuesday night, Louisville basketball was in immense need of a major statement victory at home on Saturday against Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels were hoping that the Cards would come out in a hangover, but that did not happen at all. Louisville rolled right through EKU, not looking back in a dominant home win.

The victory, which is Louisville’s 10th win this season, was never really in doubt. A solid crowd packed into the KFC Yum! Center for the early afternoon game and they were rewarded with plenty of highlights. Louisville never trailed in the game despite Eastern Kentucky hanging around during the first half. Near the end of the opening half, the Cards just pulled away.

The Colonels were not a tough opponent for the Cards, but it’s a great sign to see Louisville once again riding its strong offensive play to a victory. Louisville raced out to a 50-32 halftime lead, led by a terrific first half on the offensive end of the floor. The Cards hit 6 of their 12 three-point attempts in the first 20 minutes, and they shot nearly 63 percent from the field overall in the opening half.

Contrary to what we’ve seen on multiple occasions this season, Louisville continued their offensive success throughout the entire second half, and never really endured a stretch where they struggled offensively. They once again nearly shot 63 percent from the field in the second half, despite only making 3 three-pointers. 12 players saw action for the Cards, and 11 of them reached the scoring column. Louisville was once again led by star forward Jordan Nwora but they got plenty of contributions elsewhere.

The 6’8 junior scored 26 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and dished out a season-high 3 assists. He also came away with two steals and did not commit a single turnover. He put up all of these numbers in an efficient manner as well, connecting on 10 of his 14 field goal attempts, while hitting 3 of his 5 three-point attempts. Steven Enoch had his best game of the season, dominating EKU inside the paint while scoring 23 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. He only missed one of his 10 field goal attempts.

Dwayne Sutton and Malik Williams both scored 11 points. Sutton went 3 for 4 and also grabbed 5 boards while dishing out 3 assists. Williams had 6 rebounds and 2 assists off the bench while also knocking down two three-pointers. Ryan McMahon scored seven points and dished out six assists after returning from an apparent ankle injury in the early stages of the game. Darius Perry played a lot better in this one, scoring five points and only committing two turnovers. David Johnson saw increased minutes in this one, and he played well enough to the point where he might’ve earned more time on the court in the future.

The Cards still aren’t where they want to be at this point in the season but they bounced back in strong fashion today. They still turned it over way too much, turning it over 16 times as a team, but forcing turnovers was one of the few strengths of Eastern Kentucky. They dominated the glass against EKU and they were nearly automatic from the free-throw line, only missing one of their 23 attempts from the charity stripe. Nearly everybody played productively and Chris Mack simply cannot complain about that.

The Cards can still improve on so many things, but they are now 10-1 and still likely to be ranked inside or around the top 5 in the next AP Top 25 poll despite losing to Texas Tech. They’re still in the early stages of what is shaping up to be a season for the ages.

Louisville has only one game left before they face Kentucky in Rupp Arena on December 28th. They’ll welcome in a 4-5 Miami (OH) team on Wednesday night for an 8:30 tip. It should be used as a massive tune-up game for Louisville but it should be a game the Cards will win.