No. 7 Louisville basketball set to host gritty No. 18 Florida State
F Dwayne Sutton, Louisville
The Louisville basketball team is at its best when Dwayne Sutton is playing good basketball. I think we should all understand that by this point in the season and in his career. He hasn’t been scoring that much so far this year, but a lot of that can be attributed to the way the offense is centered around Jordan Nwora. The Cards need Sutton and Steven Enoch to become consistently reliable secondary options that they can fall back upon when Nwora is struggling. I have full confidence that they can both adapt to this role. Against Kentucky, Sutton scored 14 points on 5 of 11 shooting.
He hadn’t scored that many points since he put together a 15-point performance against Western Kentucky on November 29th. Sutton is one of the best rebounders in the ACC, despite being undersized. He brings effort and energy to the court that many other players in the nation are incapable of matching. For the first time in a long time, Sutton looked like he was looking to score against Kentucky, and it resulted in one of his best games of the season. He knows he can be even better than this though, and I’m excited to see how he plays against Florida State. If he can get to the basket and finish against the tough Seminoles defense, he could put together another phenomenal performance.
G Trent Forrest, Florida State
Since his freshman season in Tallahassee, Trent Forrest has gradually grown into one of the centerpieces of the Seminoles basketball team. Now as a senior, Forrest is the experienced leader who runs the FSU squad. He’s started in every game and he leads the team in minutes played. He’s averaging 11.5 points, 3.9 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 0.7 blocks. He’s one of the most productive all-around players in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In the preseason, he was named All-ACC Second Team and it looks like he’s going to deliver on that honor, although it is still early in the season.
Forrest is a pesky defender like many of his Seminole teammates, and he’s one of the reasons that Florida State is one of the better defensive teams in the country. He’ll be looking to cause problems for the Louisville guards with his defense, and he’s also aiming to cause problems for Louisville’s defense with his offense. If last season’s game is any indication, Forrest might be successful, as he scored 15 points and had 5 steals against Louisville in the Seminoles win over the Cards. He’s a veteran player, so it won’t be easy for the Cards to outsmart him, but it’ll be fun to watch them try.
G Fresh Kimble, Louisville
There were only a few positives to take away from the Kentucky game, and Lamarr “Fresh” Kimble was certainly one of them for the Cards. He played a season-high 29 minutes and scored 12 points, as he fell a point shy of his season-high in points. Fresh looked unbelievable against Kentucky, and it was undoubtedly his best game as a Cardinal. He looked like a guy who can solve the team’s woes at the point guard position, as he was able to attack, distribute, and play solid defense against the Cats. He also was able to step back and knock down two three-pointers.
While we came away with all positives there, the concern is that Kimble may not be doing this on a consistent basis. We’ll soon find out when he goes up against Florida State. I don’t think he would start over Darius Perry or Ryan McMahon after having one great game, but nobody truly knows at this point. He’s going to have his hands full with FSU guards Trent Forrest and Devin Vassell, but Kimble is talented enough to overcome a tough matchup and he can be the player we saw on Saturday. If he can start playing like that consistently, I think Louisville has found their point guard and they’ll be a much better team because of it.