Louisville basketball: Cards use strong finish to push past Miami in 74-58 win

Louisville basketball struggles early in the second half but finishes strong in 74-58 win over Miami on Tuesday night in the KFC! Yum Center.

Once again, it was not a pretty game for the 13th-ranked Louisville basketball team, but they came out victorious. A win is a win in college basketball, although it came with more panic by the fanbase. After a hot start, Louisville could not buy a bucket at various moments down the stretch. They honestly were lucky to come away with a 74-58 victory over the Miami Hurricanes, who just played downright worse when it comes down to it.

Louisville led by as many 20 points with under eight minutes remaining in the opening half, but Miami played with heart to close the first half as they cut the deficit to 11. The Hurricanes continued their comeback to start the second half and they actually were down by five points with less than four minutes left in the game. That’s when Louisville finally awoke and decided to put them away.

Darius Perry got multiple buckets down the stretch, Ryan McMahon drained a dagger three, and Malik Williams had a nice tip-in bucket to firmly end this game. Louisville definitely should’ve won by 20-plus, but there’s nothing they can do about it now. Miami only shot 27.9 percent from the field as a team and they shot an even-worse 25.8 percent from beyond the arc. The Cards were a lot better, shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 40 percent from three.

Neither team turned the ball over much and the Cards dominated the glass, outrebounding Miami 48-37. There were aspects that weren’t pretty, but the Cards dominated this game according to the stats. If only the actual game film was showing that! Louisville still has a lot of room for growth as we continue to fully delve into the next few months of ACC play.

Game MVP: Jordan Nwora

Nwora did most of his work in the opening 20 minutes of the game, but he once again was the leader for a Cardinals team that struggled to score when he wasn’t scoring. The preseason All-American added another strong performance to a resume that is already filled with them. He scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. He shot the ball well from all areas of the court and it marks his second straight game of such efficiency since his tough game against Kentucky. He drained six of his 12 field goal attempts and connected on 3 of his 5 threes. He also went four for four from the free-throw line. Nwora also dished out four assists, which is a rare high mark for the junior forward.

Game X-Factor: Darius Perry

Chris Mack’s most defining postgame comment in his press conference was that he believed Darius Perry played the best of all the point guards against Miami. He was undoubtedly correct. Fresh Kimble struggled and David Johnson did as well, but the junior guard stepped his game up and helped Louisville pull away down the stretch. Perry had 10 points on four of seven shooting from the field, and he also knocked down one of two three-point attempts. He also dished out three assists and grabbed two rebounds while also not turning the ball over once. The Cards need Perry to continue playing at this level if they want any chance at winning the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Defining moment: Darius Perry’s and-one layup in the final minutes

With the lead cut to five with just under four minutes remaining, Louisville was really struggling to buy a bucket and Miami was starting to gain momentum. Needing a big basket, Darius Perry aggressively drove to the basket and went heads up with one of the taller Hurricanes defenders. He put up a shot and it fell as the referee blew his whistle, signaling for a massive and-one to extend the Cardinals lead. It was all smooth sailing for the Cardinals after that, as Perry’s and-one basket proved to be just what the Cards needed to finally put Miami to sleep.

What win means for Louisville and what’s next: 

The win over Miami is an ACC victory, which always has some added value to it, but it ultimately will just be a resume filler at this point. It was good that Louisville was able to end their two-game slide as well, but it’ll remain to be seen whether they can move forward with momentum gained from the win.

Louisville will embark on an extremely tough three-game road stretch over the next week and a half, as they’ll face Notre Dame on Saturday in Southbend, Pittsburgh on Tuesday, and Duke following after that. If they can win these three games, I’ll be feeling a lot better about this team when they come home for a home game against Georgia Tech on January 22nd.